Monday

Swim 2000 meters
800 warm up
2X500 free
200 cool down

Run on Hines drive
8.3 miles 1:09:05 HR 145

Training Thoughts

With one more week of prep to go I'm feeling good about starting a new cycle.

Last week went OK but the Holidays screwed up the beginning an I felt like I was catching up all week. I met my goals for the week with:
4 swims, 14000 meters in 4:40. A little more distance than I really planned but the 500's went pretty fast during the week.

4 bike rides between spin class and the trainer. Exactly what I expected for the week with 4:10 of riding at varying intensities

6 runs between the treadmill and the road. The weather didn't cooperate every day so I had to cut some runs short and do some on the treadmill instead of outside but I got my 30 miles in 4:22.

January will see more biking while reducing swimming slightly since I seem to be spending a disproportionate amount of time in the water compared to the other 2 sports. I would like to be 5 to 6 hours per week on the bike, about 4.5 hours of running and near 4 hours of swimming.

I'm not really sure if I can (or want to) commit 14 hours a week right now but I'll set the bar at the higher point right now since I've been pretty consistent in my prep. With any luck it will be warm enough for me to get the bike on the road once in a while and continue running on Hines drive consistently.

The last sunday of the year

Bike in spin class 60 minutes HR 127

Easy run on Hines Drive 6.45 miles 56:17 HR 140

Saturday (continued)

Swim 4000 meters
800 warm up
Moderate
300 straight :25 rest
300 (50 hard / 50 easy) :25 rest
2X150 pull
4X75 :10 rest
6X50 :10 rest

200 straight :25 rest
200 (50 hard / 50 easy) :25 rest
2X100 Pull
4X50 :10 rest
8X25 :10 rest

100 sprint :45 rest (1:25)
2X50 sprint :30 rest
4X25 sprint :30 rest

200 cool down + 200 to get to 4K

More to follow, I just had lunch :)

Here's more
Bike 1:05 on trainer 142 watts HR 127
An interesting indoor ride again. These have been working well for me.
15 min warm up
10X2 min hard (180 watts) 1 min easy
3X4 min hard (180 watts) 2 min easy

Run on Hines drive in the cold
6.4 miles 54:23 HR 143

Friday / Rainy day

Swim at LTF 3000 meters ~ 1:00
Staying with the 500 theme I did some more
800 warm up
500 as 100 hard, 100 easy, 100 hard, 100 easy, 100 hard (1:00 Rest)
500 moderate pull (:30 Rest)
500 as 100 hard, 100 easy, 100 hard, 100 easy, 100 hard (1:00 Rest)
500 pull w/paddles
200 cool down

I think I'll stick with the 500's for another week with mixed up more like today.

Run was cut short cuz of the rain. I was concerned about getting sick.
3.3 miles 28:50 HR 141

Thursday Run / Bike

Run on treadmill for 40 minutes ~4.5 miles HR 142
HR seems skewed for the speed, that treadmill was weird.

Bike spin class HR 133, I felt pretty good on this ride.

Wednesday - Sticking with the plan

With the holidays this week I missed my ride on monday so I made it up today.

This morning:
Run on Treadmill, I should have waited and ran outside.
30 minutes 3.5 miles HR 141

Swim 4000 meters 1:20
800 warm up
6X500 alt swim, pull...last one with paddles.
200 cool down

This evening:
Bike 1:05 on Trainer HR 132 bpm 142 watts
15 min warm up
10X1:30 @~180 watts :30 easy (about 88% of last season FT)
5X1:30 @~210 watts 3:00 easy (about 102% of last season FT)
Cool down
This workout was relatively difficult at the end.

Monday Tuesday

Monday Christmas Eve
Swim 3000 meters
Long sets today
800 warm up
4X500 swim, pull, swim, pull
200 cool down

Tuesday Christmas
After the festivities I went for a run on Hines Drive
6 miles about 52 minutes HR 141

Training Thoughts

A pretty decent week with:
4 swims @ 14000 yards
4 bike rides between spin class and trainer @ 72 miles
5 run @ 25 miles
Just over 12 hours of training

So the frequency has been fairly consistant and now it's time to bump up the running miles and bike intensity.

Shooting for 30 miles on the run this week, no particular intensity just junk miles and whatever I feel is fun.

I want to stick with about 4 hours of cycling if it's all done indoors but I want a little more intensity at home. If I get on the road I'll just go however I feel.

I discussed my swimming goals with a friend from my club (Drew), I want to swim the best that I can in the 1650 at Michigan Masters State meet in April and he suggested longer sets for a while, specifically a bunch of 500's at varying intensity. I think I've exhausted my benefits from my 200's and the new stress is in order. Now my swims might be a little bit long for a while but hopefully my long stuff will get better as I'm not really concerned with any shorter than 500 yards.

My 1650 PR is 24:15 and my 1000 PR is 14:33 so I figure my harder days I will need to be bringing in my 500 meter* sets near 8 minutes with the appropriate amount of rests to do the repeats with enough intensity. I think it is realistic for me to drop my 1650 time to the low 23's and my 1000 time to the high 13's.

*(I nomally swim my workouts SCM and compete SCY)

Sunday

I got on the spin bike on Sunday morning but I was so tired I couldn't push my HR up like normal. I just spun through the class easy and took the rest of the day off.

Saturday

It was a great swim at LTF Novi this morning. It was funny to see other LTF members' look of amazement at us swimming with more than one person per lane in the lap pool. One of the lanes had five people in it which is nothing for us, but to them it's inconceivable. We had 15 total with some club members getting others in with guest passes.

Anywhoo...3800 meters plus some more 50's at the end

12/22/2007
Jaret's Crazy Sets of 200's
800 Warm up
2 times through:
200 straight
200 w/25 non free 175 free
200 pull
2X100 :15 rest
4X50 :10 rest
8X25 :10 rest
200 easy pull no paddles

200 cool down

Run on hines 8.5 miles 1:09:46 HR 144
A little warmer today (40 degrees F) but I should have had something on my ears.

Monday to Friday

Mon
Run 3.4 miles 30 min on Treadmill
Swim 3500 meters
Bike Spin class 60 minutes

Tue
Run 3.5 miles 30 minutes on road

Wed
Swim 3100 meters
Run 3.4 miles 30 minutes on Treadmill

Thu
Run 6.1 miles 51 minutes on road
Bike Spin Class 60 minutes

Fri
Swim 2200 meters
Bike on Trainer 1:00 141 watts HR 124

Catching up

Wed 12/13
Swim 1500 meters
Run 5 miles 41 minutes

Thursday
Cycle 60
Run 5.3 miles 44 minutes

Friday
Off

Saturday
Swim 3500 yards
Run 7.25 miles 1:01

Sunday Off

Tuesday

Yes, I ran in the rain (light rain).  Those new shoes work really well in the wet stuff even when I was running through the puddles.  

They are exceptionally warm, maybe too warm but that's OK with me as long as my feet don't sweat too much.  This is exactly what I need to get me through the cold winter months.

6 miles in about 51 minutes HR 141

I decided not to make up the bike ride from yesterday and went to bed early.

Monday

Only time for swimming

3300 meters 1:10
800 warm up
4X200 :15 rest decend
100 kick
4X150 :15 rest decend
100 kick
4X100 :10 rest decend
100 kick
4X50 fast :15 rest
200 cool down

Training Thoughts

Still got my frequency in although it was a little bit longer last week.

A lot of time came from swimming which I was doing more of since my club it in the USAT Club Challenge and this month is the swimming part of it. 18,600 yards (5.5 hours) is a lot of swimming for me and I won't keep doing it after we reach 500 miles for the club. I'll go back to about 12,000 a week probably after today.

Running went well except for tuesday when I just couldn't stand the treadmill any more. I got a pair of waterproof trail running shoes that I'm breaking in to keep me running during the cold sloppy months. 5 runs on 4 days worked out well. I was just so tired on saturday that I moved that run to sunday morning.

Biking went OK as I got some trainer time in but still mostly spin classes. January is the month I'm planning on biking a lot on the trainer since that's when my next training cycle.

Saturday Sunday

Saturday
Swim with FAST 4200 yards.  Very close to Wednesday's swim but in yards.
650 warm up
6X200 free decending 3's on 3:30
2X250 pull :20 rest
10X100 free decending 5's on 1:45 (came in as fast as 1:20)
8X50 on 1:00 decending 4's
250 extra easy pull
200 cool down

I was really tired so I took the rest of the day off.

Sunday
Run on Treadmill 30 minutes 3.3 miles HR 133

Bike Spin class HR 121

Run on Hines, trails and road  46:52 5.3 miles HR 139

Thursday Friday

Thursday
Run in the snow with my new Gortex trail shoes.  I'll get some pictures soon.  
Salomon XA Pro 3D XCR  They are incredibly warm, my feet were sweating while the outside temp was 28°F.

7.3 miles 1:02 HR 142

Bike spin class 1:00 HR 136

Friday
Swim 3000 meters at LTF

Bike on Trainer

Wednesday

Run 20 minutes during lunch...that is all I could take :P 2.3 miles HR 136

Swim long after work
5200 meters
800 warm up
3X300 pull,swim,pull
6X200 free decending 3's on 3:50
2X250 pull :20 rest
12X100 free decending 5's on 1:55
8X50 on 1:00 decending 4's
200 cool down

Tuesday

Run 7.3 miles in 1:01:07 HR 141

It was pretty cold for me. (25°F or -4°C) While I dressed warm, my hands got really cold and felt like they chilled the rest of my body. So much I took a hot shower when I got home instead of riding on the trainer like I had planned.

Monday

Swim 5000 meters...Yes 5K
800 warm up (200S,100K,200P,100K,200S)
1500 as 10laps, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 with 15 sec between
1000 (100K,200S,100K,200P,100K,200S,100K)
1500 again as 10laps, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 with 15 sec between
200 cool down

Bike Cycle 60 spin class HR 131

Continuing with Frequency

I got all of my workouts that I planned done last week.  Those included:
4 swims
4 bike rides
5 runs
Now they were short like I planned and it's a good start to my prep period.

This week I plan to increase my bike time from 3.5 hours to 4.5 hours and since we have the USAT club challenge going on now, I'm going to increase my swim volume this week only since the club should be at 500 miles by the end of the week.  My shoulders are feeling good so I'll be looking at 4500 to 5000 meters a swim.

Sunday

Bike spin class 60 minutes HR 134
HR 142 without including warm up and cool down

10 min transistion run...I really didn't feel like running on the treadmill

Friday Saturday

Friday
Swim 3000 meters - sets of 400 plus warm up and cool down
Bike 30 minutes on new trainer - Just trying it out.  I got a brand new Kurt Kinetic Road Machine.  It's very smooth and very quite.

Saturday
Swim 2500 yards in about 1 Hour, I had to stop early to tape people in the pool
Run 6.3 miles 52:51 HR 145, easy run in the cold weather.  I dressed right and only my hands were cold.

Wednesday Thursday

Wednesday

Swim 3000 meters
800 warm up
300 pull
16X100 free on 1:50
300 cool down

Run 2.9 miles 24:23 HR 142

Thursday
Run 3.5 miles 30:00 HR 143

Bike Cycle 60 spin class 60 minutes HR 134 
HR 140 not including the warm up and cool down

Tuesday's faster run

Mile repeats again, I really like doing them but I had to run them on the treadmill this evening

7.55 miles 1:02:35 HR 151
15 min warm up
3X1 miles w/5 min easy @ 7:20 HR 158, 7:10 HR 162, 7:00 HR 168
15 min cool down

I bumped back down to 3 repeats since I'm not really training for a race right now.

Monday training

Consistant with my plans to bring my frequency up.

Swim 3000 meters
800 warm up
300 pull (no paddles, I'm letting my shoulders get better)
11X150 (50 moderate, 25 fast, 50 moderate, 25 fast)
250 cool down

The 150's are harder than then look.

Bike 60 min Spin class HR 139 which is high for a spin class.

Time for frequency

Some might call this a prep period since I am getting ready for my next training cycle.

My goals for this year is to peak for DATT and Steelhead 70.3

In 2007 I went 11:39:29 for the DATT. Looking at the times I feel it is very possible to drop 20 minutes from that.
In 2006 I went 5:05 for Steelhead. I made many mistakes during that race and will do my best not to repeat them.

The most important race for me is Steelhead. Not cuz I want to qualify for Clearwater, that might be a disaster, but cuz I want to do better than the last time. Other than DATT in 2007, I've never put together a solid HIM run.

Steelhead Goals '08
Swim 0:32:00
Bike 2:25:00
Run 1:45:00
Transitions 0:07:00
Goal 4:49:00

Now I'm considering these goals as what I can do on a good day, tapered and well prepared. They are not far fetched in any way.

Swim: On a calm day with the current at the race site this is very well within my reach. In 2006 I swam a 34 while getting beat up, I'm a much better swimmer now. I will follow the same plan as last season being consistant from week to week. I have other goals leading up the the Michigan Masters state meet which coincide with this one including the 1650 at 23:45 and the 1000 at 14:10. 4 swims a week totaling near 12,000 yards/meters on a consistant basis should keep me heathy and improve my times.

Bike: This is the key. I rode a 2:25 in 2006 but it was a bit quick for me and it showed on the run. I want to be able to ride a 2:25 and still be strong. Smart bike time is the answer and I'm going to put more focus on the bike that I ever have before. Consistant weeks of longer rides and intervals is how I'm going to do it. I'm also going to start earlier this season unlike last season (which wasn't bad) where I focused on the run.

Right now I want to get the frequency up to 4 rides a week. I'll start with 3 spin classes and 1 trainer ride. The spin classes are 60 minutes each and in my opinion, if they are done right can be very benificial. Some people don't believe in them but the classes at LTF seem to have good ideas behind them. The trainer ride will start at 60 minutes and build from there, the details of the bike plan are still being worked out. If I can get outside for any of those rides without compromising my health, I'll do that instead.

Run: I can allready run my goal time easily so longer stuff to maintain while still doing my usual tuesday fast stuff will be the plan. I seem to get so much out of mile repeats that I'll continue them untill my returns diminish. After that I'll test some workouts from Daniels and see if that stimulates me.

Right now I will get my run frequency up to 5 runs a week starting with shorter 30 to 45 minute run with one longer one. I want to start with 3.5 hours of running peaking with 5 to 5.5 hours.

My next cycle starts January 7th, I will loosly follow the training plan from the book I've been using substuting workouts that I feel will train my weaknesses while not compromising my bike time. 20 weeks untill DATT then another 10 weeks untill Steelhead. The race season is still up in the air but other races I am planning to do include:
AnnArbor Triathlon or Rockman Tri (HIM)
Waterloo Tri (Not sure of the date)
Peterborough (HIM)
Sylvania Oly
USAT MERCRS Championship Lake Mattoon Beach, Mattoon, IL
An XTerra Rac in late August, race details haven't been released yet.

Sunday

Bike Cycle 60 1 hour
Run 5K easy

missing time 11/9 to 11/25

Some training from 11/9 to now

Weekend swim Saturday 3500 yards
Monday swim 3000 meters Cycle 60 1 hour
Tues Run mile repeats 4X1 mile 7:25,7:20,7:16,7:16
Easy Run 5.4 miles Swim 2500 meters
Thurs Cycle 60 1 hour
Friday run easy 5.4 miles
Sat Swim 3500
Monday swim 3000 meters
Tuesday off
Wednesday off
Thursday Turkey trot 10K 43:30 HR 175---PR moved VDOT from 45 to 47 :)
Friday swim 2500 meters
Saturday swim 3200 meters

Wednesday Thursday

Wednesday

Run 5.3 miles 44:10 HR 138

Easy run on Hines Drive

Swim 2000 meters, same workout as monday only shortened

Thursday

Run 5.6 miles 45:46 HR 140

Easy run again on Hines Drive

Bike

Cycle 60 Spin Class HR 136

Tuesday

It was pretty nasty outside so I moved my faster run indoors.
Run 8.5 miles 1:10:34 HR 147
15 min warm up
1 mile at 7:25 HR 152
5 min easy recovery
1 mile at 7:25 HR 155
5 min easy recovery
1 mile at 7:19 HR 160
5 min easy recovery
1 mile at 7:14 HR 162
~10 min easy cool down

I felt pretty strong like I could have gone harder, that's good...I think.

Monday

Swim at LTF 3000 meters
One of my swims

1 X 800 Warm up
--200S,100K,200P,100K,200S
1 X 200 Free Straight
1 X 200 25 non-free 175 free
1 X 200 Pull
4 X 50 Free :10 rest
1 X 200 Free Straight
1 X 200 25 non-free 175 free
1 X 200 Pull
4 X 50 Free :10 rest
2 X 100 Free :15 rest
1 X 200 Pull
2 X 100 Cool down

Friday Saturday Sunday

Friday
Swim 2500 meters at LTF

Saturday
Swim 3600 yards with FAST
Run long 12.2 miles 1:41:50 HR 141

Sunday
Mountain Bike on the Poto again, this time a little easier.
18 miles 1:47 HR about 135

Thursday

Run short hilly route during lunch
5.35 miles 44:42 HR 142
Felt good, really wanted to get an earlier run in

Bike on Poto
18 miles 1:43 HR 146
Felt really good, that's the best time I've done on that trail.  Did a lot of riding on the big ring.

Wednesday

Run 5.3 miles after work 44:48 HR 139
Easy run for junk miles

Swim 2000, tired and non-motivated

Tuesday - Dave's track workout

Run 8.1 miles 1:01:52 HR 154 ave

2 mile warm up
10X500M with 300M recoveries
~1 mile cool down

Getting better at these workouts, think my footspeed is getting better

Edit:
Am I getting better?
I found the workout file for the exact same workout done on June 5.  It doesn't appear that I am running much faster at all :(
Here is some data:
From 6/5/07
Dist  time HR
500 1:58 160
300 1:31 143
500 1:58 165
300 1:35 145
500 2:02 167
300 1:32 148
500 2:00 167
300 1:41 143
500 2:01 169
300 1:39 147
500 2:00 170
300 1:37 145
500 2:03 170
300 1:43 143
500 2:02 169
300 1:43 146
500 2:00 170
300 1:40 145
500 2:01 169

From 10/30/07
Dist  time HR
500 2:03 158
300 1:43 141
500 2:05 162
300 1:41 144
500 1:59 172
300 1:39 154
500 1:59 173
300 1:43 157
500 1:59 175
300 1:42 158
500 1:58 177
300 1:44 156
500 2:01 176
300 1:45 151
500 2:01 176
300 1:44 153
500 2:00 177
300 1:45 152
500 2:00 177

Monday

Back to swimming at LifeTime
3100 meters
600 warm up
300 pull
2X150
300 pull
3X100
300 pull
4X75
300 pull
6X50
100 cool down

Bike
Spin Class Hills 60 minutes HR 131

Friday Saturday Sunday

Friday - Off

Saturday
Swim with FAST 4000 yards - mostly free
Run on Hines 5.4 miles 46:37 HR 139

Sunday
MTB with Dave Z at Island Lake Rec area 14.5 miles ~1:30 easy
Run Long(er) 10 miles 1:24:56 HR 136
HR was abnormally low, I would have expected an average closer to 140.  Legs were tired near end.
Just over 36 miles for the week, that's where I would like to hold it while I bring my bike volume up some.

Thursday

Not too cold to run outside yet, I had a little time before it got dark.

Run 8.4 miles 1:09:53 HR 144
Felt OK, had to keep a watch on speed to keep the pace lower, fairly pleasant run out past the taboggan hill that I plan to do hill repeats on this spring prepping for DATT.

Tuesday Wednesday

Tuesday
Run Dave's track workout
3X1 mile with 400m rests
6.2 miles 49:14 HR 155

I like doing mile repeats, I feel they give me the most bang for the buck.  The next day I allmost allways run faster with a lower PE and HR.

Wednesday
Run 6.25 miles 51:31 HR 143  Seemed easy had to slow myself down.

Swim with LALA 2200 yards
300 swim warmup
3X100 free
300 pull
3X100 kick
8X50 on 1:00
6X50 on :55
4X50 on :50
2X50 on 1:00

Catching up

Thursday
Run 8.5 miles 1:10:24 HR 147 8:13 pace

Friday
Run 5.4 miles 44:06 HR 146 8:13 pace
Swim 3000 yards - a lot of breast stroke

Saturday
Swim 4000 yards - mostly free

Sunday
Run 10.4 miles 1:28:54 HR 144 8:34 pace

Monday
Off - I worked on my son's car :P

Wednesday - Shoulder is feelling good

Like the title says my shoulder is feeling good, no problems with the swim at all.

Swim with LALA 3000 yards
After the warm up we did a 1650 that was kind of interesting.
After so many laps we got an 18 second break, it went like this:
11 laps, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
So the swim got faster and faster as it got closer to the end.  In fact, I think I swam the 4 laps under1:30.

Run on Hines
Easy run 4 miles about 35 minutes really low HR

A bit of a rocky weekend

Friday
Swim with LALA 3000 yards with some stroke work but I got it all in

Saturday
Swim with FAST 4000 yards...Stroke and drill work too but one again, we got it all in.

Bike at Holley Rec area on Gruber's Grinder
15.5 miles in about 1:45
Very difficult trail to ride. Sometimes hard to follow cuz of the leaves. Sometimes very difficult physically with steep climbs and technically with odd turns, obstacles, rocks, roots and trees.

Overall this is probably the most technically difficult trails I've been on. I put it on par with Highland Rec area's trail. I fell pretty hard about 10 miles into the ride.I was making a quick sweeping left and my front tire ran over a small branch and slid away from me. It dropped me down on my left elbow which in turn jammed my shoulder. About 10 minutes later I did it again. At first I thought I broke my collarbone but I was OK, the second time I was really felt that something was broke, but again I was OK. I rode easier for the rest of the ride.

Since I had the shoulder issue I decided to take Sunday and Monday off so no running or swimming but Sunday morning I did go canoeing with Karen and friends and I felt OK. That little trip was a lot of fun.

Tuesday I was still a bit sore but feeling much better and since this is the off season I decided not to do the track workout and rest. I'm going to try and swim on Wednesday and see how I feel.

Thursday

It's not so nice outside now so I decided not to go mountainbiking.  It looks like it's going to rain at anytime.

Run 7.7 miles 1:04:36 HR 139
Easy run, shoes felt good, starting to get colder outside at 51°F.

Wednesday

Run 5.25 miles in about 44 minutes HR 141
Easy run, just junk miles since swimming is today's focus.

Still working with the new shoes, hopefully they break-in soon cuz I'm going to be pissed if I blew 90-some odd dollars on a pair of shoes I'll delagate to just walking with :P

Swim with LALA
Didn't get the whole workout in cuz we ran out of time.  Stroke work takes me forever.  I got to swim with my buddies Jon and Gary.

400 warm up
4X100 Kick - fly, back, free w/fins, brst w/out
2X100 IM

10X150 pull, free, stroke, repeat
That's as far as I got

Tuesday - Dave's Track Workout

I've been doing these for about 4 weeks now and I don't know if I am any faster.  I'm getting better at pacing for the workouts though.

Looking at data from 4 weeks ago I noticed that I'm now running 5 to 7 seconds faster per mile.  I really think that is from learning the pacing and not from a gain in fitness.  Last week I ran about 24 miles, this week I'll probably be closer to 30 miles now that I'm feeling recovered from IM Wisconsin.  

So last night I had about a 10 minute warm up and then 8X600m trying to stay under 7:00 min/mile with 200m recovery followed by a 10 minute cool down
Times were:
2:37 started easier
2:31 too fast
2:32 too fast
2:36 better
2:36
2:35
2:32 finishing up trying to stay with Jon
2:27 Just about everything I had

The new shoes I've been doing my junk miles in aren't doing so well but the jury is still out on them sinceI only have about 40 miles on them so far.  I got a pair of Mizuno Wave Precision 8's.  I biggest difference between them and my Wave Riders is that the forefoot has less cushioning while the heel area seems to be about the same.  That big heel seems to create a void under the arch of my foot that I don't like.  The shoes are about the same weight as my Asics DS Trainers that have a more "Balanced" feel to them.  The only thing I don't like about the DS Trainers is the heel section doesn't allways agree with the skin on my heel.

Monday

Swim with LALA 3300 yards
300 warm up
2X150
300 on 5:30 (I should have picked a quicker interval)
3X100
300
4X75
300
6X50
300
12X25
300

Fri Sat Sun

Friday
Swim 3000 yards with LALA - all free

Saturday - Off, I was so tired that I slept 12 hours

Sunday
MTB at Pontiac Lake 20 miles (2 loops) in about 1:50
The trail was fun, difficult on the first loop but the second loop was better and quicker.  Not as physically demanding as the Poto but much rockier with some different types of technical decents.  

Run later in the day 8 miles 1:06:41 HR 150

Thursday

MTB both loops at Island lake
14.5 miles is about 1:02:xx HR 147

Run 4 miles in 32:30 HR 141

Wednesday

Run about 5.25 miles in about 45 minutes HR 141.  Fairly easy since I knew I would be swimming afterwards.

Swim 3000 yards in about 60 minutes
All Free and I felt pretty good
4X250 on 4:30 (came in about 3:50)
4X200 on 3:30 (came in about 3:00)
4X150 on 3:30 (came in about 2:15)
4X100 on 1:40 (came in about 1:27)
4X50 on :50 (came in about :40 to :43)

A little swim around for the cool down

Dave's Track workout - Tuesday

5X1000M at around 5K pace with 400M recovery jogs.

Since I don't know how fast I can run a 5K I set out at 7 min/mile which seems reasonable since it is near my Daniels "I" pace for 1000M

First 3 I held back and ran 4:22, 4:23, 4:22
The fourth one I went a little quicker at 4:16
The fifth I went as hard as I could and ran 4:10.  All of the guys I was running with just took off and left me in the dust :(

Looking to improve my short running speed to under 7 min/mile by one of the Turkey Trots in about 6 weeks time.  If I could get my 5K under 21:00 I would be pretty happy

Monday

Swim with LALA
All I could get in was 2400 yards
400 warm up

4X100 kick IM order

8X100 middle 50 Stroke IM order

8X75 Revolving IM
Some people don't know what this is, here you go:
Each stroke is a 25
1 fly, back, breast
2 back, breast, free
3 breast, free, fly
4 free, fly, back
5 fly, back, breast
6 back, breast, free
7 breast, free, fly
8 free, fly, back

200 cool down

Fri Sat Sun

Lots of swimming again
Fri
Swim 3200 yards with LALA

Sat
Swim 3650 yards with FAST

Sun MTB on the Potowatami trail
18 miles 1:46:30 HR 145

Wednesday Thursday

Wednesday
Run 5.3 miles in about 45 minutes HR 139

Swim got cut a little short

200 warm up
5X200 (Pull, IM, Free, IM, Pull)
3X100 Kick
200 back working on rotation and balance
200, 150, 100, 50 back :15 rest
12X25 sprints
200 cool down

Thursday
Run 6.35 miles in 54 minutes HR 138
New shoes to try out, Mizuno Wave Precision 8.  So far they are OK, we'll see more when I've got 100 miles on them.

Training Thoughts

What to do for next year?

Well for the last 2 seasons I've tried to run a lot to build endurance, I've gotten faster but only a little last season. Why? I feel it's because I have a difficult time running faster cuz I'm inefficient. I'm really good at running 8 min/miles but when I get under 7:30 it really kills me. Because of this I think a change is in order.

I'm not going to focus on run volume this winter where as last winter I ran 40 to 50 miles a week, I'm going to focus on quality for 2 of my runs per week and leave the other 3 days as easy and short running so I can recover easily. One of my workouts will come from Dave Peterson's track day and the other I'll just get out of Daniels Running Formula. I'm looking to peak at 35 mpw while holding average milage near 30 mpw.

In place of the time spent running I'm going to put that toward biking, easy, hard or whatever I feel like doing untill January when I will start my next training program prepping for the Triple T again. This year I want to peak for that race weekend and not use it to train through. So that will be my first "A" race so to speak and then peak again 10 weeks later for Steelhead 70.3.

My swimming volume will be about the same as last season (10,000 to 14,000 a week) and I will continue to swim with LALA (masters club) throughout the fall/winter/spring. We may have a VIP coach soon, I don't think I'm allowed to say who yet but she is very influential in the world of swimming and triathlon.

A preliminary race schedule for next season:

Duathlon in April or early May
Triple T in late May "A"
Ann Arbor Tri or Rockman Tri in early June
Peterborough HIM in July
Probably a sprint in here somewhere
Steelhead 70.3 in early Aug "AA"
Sylvania Oly in mid Aug
Another Oly in Sept, maybe the Great lake Escape in Ohio

Tuesday

Run with Dave's group again but at Farmington Harrison High School.  

This speed stuff is hard and I'm not used to it.  They have said it will take 4 to 6 weeks to notice any difference, I sure hope so.  Now that I feel recovered from IMMoo I'm going to start getting back to 5 shorter runs per week but still no structured plans for a while, just Dave's workout on Tuesdays will have any thought to them.

Anywho the workout went as follows, he said to run these at my 5K pace which would be near 7 min/mile.

Warm up ~1 mile, I got there late and didn't get in as much as I wanted to.
3 times through:
400M - 200M recovery
600M - 200M recovery
800M - 400M recovery
1 mile cool down

This was just over 6.5 miles.  I started a little harder than I should have, 6:30 to 6:45 for the first set then settled into 7:00 for the next two.  I could not have done another set as I had a side stitch that was killing me.  I walked a little bit afterwards then got in my cool down after a few minutes.

Monday

Swim with LALA
2600 yards I couldn't get the whole workout in
Warm up:
300 easy
300 pull
8X50 kick

Main set:
4X as follows:
100 free
100 IM
100 off stroke
100 free (I finished the 4th set)
12X25 sprints
Cool down:
200 easy

Friday Saturday Sunday

Still another light weekend of training.  Really just doing fun stuff.

Friday
Edit: I forgot I ran at Cass Benton, about 3 miles in the bigger hills ~ 27 minutes ~ 141 bpm

Swim with LALA 3200 yards

Warm up 400 yards free
8X100 (25 swim 50 drill 25 kick)
Main Set
4X Below
100 fly/free
50 back
50 breast/free
50 back
50 breast/free
50 back
100 free
Cool down
200 free

Sat
Swim with FAST 4100 yards
Warm up
200 S 100 K 100 S
4X50 drill (catch up, fist, one arm, fingertip drag)
Main set
200 easy pull
500 free ~ 9:00
5X100 on 1:50
400 ~ 7:30
4X100 on 1:45
300 ~ 5:00
3X100 on 1:40
12X25 kick IM order :15 rest
4X100 pull if finished early
200 cool down

Sunday Off - Worked on GF house

Thursday

MTB about 10 miles in nearly an hour at Maybury State Park.  Just rolling around having fun.

Might go out to Pickney this sunday to ride.  I really like that trail.

Tuesday Wednesday

Tuesday
Track workout with Dave Peterson
About 15 min warm up
4X1200 at 6:50 -- 2 to 2.5 min jogs between
10 min cool down

6.5 miles approx 50 minutes

Wednesday
Swim with LALA (Oh yea, I joined another masters club)
Warm up
200 free
10 X 100 IM on 2:00
3X100 backstroke kick w/fins
Main set
200 easy back working on rotation and body position
200,150,100,50 back :20 rest
8X25 back sprints (about :30 rest)
500 free or pull (I got 250 into this and it was time to quit)
200 cool down

Gonna start posting again

This summer has been really busy with work and training and that's why I stopped posting for a while.  

Work has had it's busy moments and left me without much web time.  When I would get home from training I would go to my GF's house or rest.  I really filled this time with other things and want to start recording it again.  Since this is off season I'll have time to fill in what I'm doing now.

Tuesday

Bike 28.1 miles 1:14:41 168 watts NP 188 HR 146

Rode with Amy C's group, a little faster than planned but there was a fair bit of drafting.

Run 3.1 miles easier (but really easy) 25:22 HR 147

Planning on taking it easy today and tomorrow to rest up for the weekend.

Entire workout (168 watts):
Duration: 1:14:41
Work: 749 kJ
TSS: 109.9 (intensity factor 0.941)
Norm Power: 188
VI: 1.12
Distance: 28.088 mi
-----------------Min Max Avg
Power: ---------0 928 168 watts
Heart Rate: ----102 167 146 bpm
Cadence: -------37 108 87 rpm
Speed: ---------2.2 30.7 22.6 mph
Pace -----------1:57 27:35 2:39 min/mi
Hub Torque: ---0 351 52 lb-in
Crank Torque: -0 933 173 lb-in

Monday

Swim 3000 meters
600 warm up
300 pull - concentrate form
5X200 free :10 rest (on 3:45)
8:50 sprint :20 rest (on 1:05)
12X25 kick (boring :p)
200 cool down

Bike with local club, pretty hard ride and I really wanted to guage early season fitness. I could outclimb everybody save 1 person but the big guns weren't there either.

36.6 miles 1:37:23 172 watts NP 210 watts HR 150

(file)
Entire workout (172 watts):
Duration: 1:37:23
Work: 999 kJ
TSS: 177.4 (intensity factor 1.049)
Norm Power: 210
VI: 1.22
Distance: 36.571 mi
-----------------Min Max Avg
Power: --------0 852 172 watts
Heart Rate: ---84 192 150 bpm
Cadence: ------29 114 88 rpm
Speed: --------2.2 36.6 22.7 mph
Pace ----------1:38 27:35 2:39 min/mi
Hub Torque: --0 435 55 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 739 179 lb-in

Sunday long run

Long Run 2:00:34 14.24 miles HR 137

Purposely went slower so I wouldn't be toasted for monday.

Long run HR was unusually low. The only mile that was over 140 was the last one at 8:05 and 141 bpm.

Saturday

Swim 4000 yards 1:20

Bike 2 hours easy 37.8 miles 146 watts 164 NP HR 129

Entire workout (146 watts):
Duration: 2:00:02
Work: 1042 kJ
TSS: 133.2 (intensity factor 0.819)
Norm Power: 164
VI: 1.12
Distance: 37.85 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 564 146 watts
Heart Rate: 7 224 129 bpm
Cadence: 34 131 87 rpm
Speed: 0 38.1 19.1 mph
Pace 1:35 0:00 3:09 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 378 56 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 593 152 lb-in

Friday

Bike 35.3 miles 1:44:xx HR 133 155 watts NP 176 watts
7 Intervals 1.5 min hard 3 min easy

Swim 3100 yards in about 1 hour

Power-Tap #1: Hard Interval #1
Duration: 1:31
Work: 25 kJ
TSS: 4.3 (intensity factor 1.305)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.66 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 217 465 272 watts
Heart Rate: 125 158 147 bpm
Cadence: 88 96 93 rpm
Speed: 20.9 27.5 26.2 mph
Pace 2:11 2:52 2:17 min/mi
Hub Torque: 56 141 73 lb-in
Crank Torque: 196 436 247 lb-in

Power-Tap #2: Easy
Duration: 3:00
Work: 25 kJ
TSS: 2.9 (intensity factor 0.761)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.953 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 270 136 watts
Heart Rate: 113 158 134 bpm
Cadence: 60 105 90 rpm
Speed: 8.4 23.5 19.0 mph
Pace 2:33 7:09 3:10 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 188 53 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 320 138 lb-in

Power-Tap #3: Hard Interval #2
Duration: 1:29
Work: 23 kJ
TSS: 4.1 (intensity factor 1.28)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.602 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 185 376 260 watts
Heart Rate: 133 158 149 bpm
Cadence: 80 100 93 rpm
Speed: 18.3 26.8 24.3 mph
Pace 2:14 3:17 2:28 min/mi
Hub Torque: 49 140 75 lb-in
Crank Torque: 168 361 237 lb-in

Power-Tap #4: Easy
Duration: 3:00
Work: 25 kJ
TSS: 2.7 (intensity factor 0.737)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.989 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 194 140 watts
Heart Rate: 129 161 138 bpm
Cadence: 78 94 89 rpm
Speed: 18.4 23.9 19.8 mph
Pace 2:30 3:16 3:02 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 73 50 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 208 137 lb-in

Power-Tap #5: Hard Interval #3
Duration: 1:31
Work: 24 kJ
TSS: 4.2 (intensity factor 1.295)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.554 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 170 412 263 watts
Heart Rate: 133 160 151 bpm
Cadence: 73 98 89 rpm
Speed: 19.2 24.3 22.0 mph
Pace 2:28 3:07 2:44 min/mi
Hub Torque: 53 141 84 lb-in
Crank Torque: 153 464 251 lb-in

Power-Tap #6: Easy
Duration: 2:59
Work: 22 kJ
TSS: 2.3 (intensity factor 0.684)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.995 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 256 124 watts
Heart Rate: 121 159 134 bpm
Cadence: 54 99 90 rpm
Speed: 18 23.9 20.0 mph
Pace 2:30 3:20 2:60 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 97 44 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 223 115 lb-in

Power-Tap #7: Hard Interval #4
Duration: 1:31
Work: 25 kJ
TSS: 4.6 (intensity factor 1.356)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.6 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 197 360 273 watts
Heart Rate: 130 162 150 bpm
Cadence: 80 99 91 rpm
Speed: 18.9 25 23.8 mph
Pace 2:24 3:11 2:31 min/mi
Hub Torque: 64 124 80 lb-in
Crank Torque: 194 362 255 lb-in

Power-Tap #8: Easy
Duration: 3:00
Work: 24 kJ
TSS: 2.7 (intensity factor 0.734)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 1.008 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 206 132 watts
Heart Rate: 125 162 135 bpm
Cadence: 80 99 89 rpm
Speed: 18.2 24.3 20.2 mph
Pace 2:28 3:18 2:58 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 78 46 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 204 130 lb-in

Power-Tap #9: Hard Interval #5
Duration: 1:31
Work: 24 kJ
TSS: 4.1 (intensity factor 1.278)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.583 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 211 321 259 watts
Heart Rate: 132 161 150 bpm
Cadence: 82 100 94 rpm
Speed: 19.4 25 23.1 mph
Pace 2:24 3:05 2:36 min/mi
Hub Torque: 59 112 78 lb-in
Crank Torque: 188 327 234 lb-in

Power-Tap #10: Easy
Duration: 2:59
Work: 25 kJ
TSS: 3 (intensity factor 0.775)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.893 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 359 137 watts
Heart Rate: 117 161 135 bpm
Cadence: 46 98 86 rpm
Speed: 8.9 22.5 18.0 mph
Pace 2:40 6:42 3:20 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 180 55 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 386 139 lb-in

Power-Tap #11: Hard Interval #6
Duration: 1:31
Work: 23 kJ
TSS: 3.7 (intensity factor 1.213)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.618 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 148 378 254 watts
Heart Rate: 139 161 156 bpm
Cadence: 80 100 94 rpm
Speed: 17.1 28.5 24.5 mph
Pace 2:06 3:30 2:27 min/mi
Hub Torque: 40 150 74 lb-in
Crank Torque: 127 385 228 lb-in

Power-Tap #12: Easy
Duration: 3:00
Work: 21 kJ
TSS: 1.9 (intensity factor 0.621)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 1.039 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 219 119 watts
Heart Rate: 119 162 131 bpm
Cadence: 76 100 88 rpm
Speed: 18.4 26.8 20.8 mph
Pace 2:14 3:16 2:53 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 75 40 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 243 119 lb-in

Power-Tap #13: Hard Interval #7
Duration: 1:31
Work: 24 kJ
TSS: 4.7 (intensity factor 1.36)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 0.591 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 157 385 268 watts
Heart Rate: 129 162 149 bpm
Cadence: 77 100 91 rpm
Speed: 20.5 26.8 23.5 mph
Pace 2:14 2:56 2:33 min/mi
Hub Torque: 53 124 80 lb-in
Crank Torque: 173 412 250 lb-in

Power-Tap #14: Easy
Duration: 3:04
Work: 20 kJ
TSS: 1.6 (intensity factor 0.566)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 1.016 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 208 106 watts
Heart Rate: 120 162 130 bpm
Cadence: 47 100 91 rpm
Speed: 16.7 26.9 19.9 mph
Pace 2:14 3:35 3:01 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 80 38 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 226 104 lb-in

Power-Tap #15: Hard Interval
Duration: 52:24
Work: 476 kJ
TSS: 56.4 (intensity factor 0.804)
Norm Power: 161
VI: 1.06
Distance: 17.857 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 716 152 watts
Heart Rate: 109 146 132 bpm
Cadence: 39 103 89 rpm
Speed: 3.3 29.2 20.5 mph
Pace 2:03 18:13 2:56 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 268 53 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 743 150 lb-in

Entire workout (155 watts):
Duration: 1:43:54
Work: 968 kJ
TSS: 133.5 (intensity factor 0.878)
Norm Power: 176
VI: 1.13
Distance: 35.291 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 716 155 watts
Heart Rate: 83 162 133 bpm
Cadence: 34 105 89 rpm
Speed: 3.3 29.2 20.4 mph
Pace 2:03 18:13 2:57 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 334 54 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 743 153 lb-in

Thursday

Bike 1:30:13 30.1 miles 157 watts NP 166 watts HR 135
Still seem tired from last weekend, it still was a good ride

Transition straight to a 4 mile run
32:15 4.06 miles HR 135

HR was unusually low for this run. I was running low 8's untill the last mile which was high 7's. Normally HR would have been in the mid 140's for this type of run.

I'm a little concerned that I'm over-reaching right now or maybe haven't recovered from last weekend yet. I would like to believe that my run has gotten that much better but I am skeptable about that.

Power file

Entire workout (157 watts):
Duration: 1:30:13
Work: 846 kJ
TSS: 103.4 (intensity factor 0.83)
Norm Power: 166
VI: 1.06
Distance: 30.1 mi
----------------Min Max Avg
Power: -----------0 461 157 watts
Heart Rate: -----66 167 135 bpm
Cadence: --------34 103 90 rpm
Speed: ----------2.2 26.6 20.0 mph
Pace ------------2:15 26:49 2:60 min/mi
Hub Torque: -----0 261 55 lb-in
Crank Torque: ---0 510 152 lb-in

Lunch swim

I haven't done this in a while during lunch.  I'll need more time the next time I do it and then just work over to cover it.

Swim 2300 meters
400 warm up
300 pull (concentrate on stroke)
6X200 with :10 rest (on 3:45)
4X100 with :05 rest (on 1:40)

I didn't get to finish cuz I ran out of time, the rest of the workout was:
another 3X100
400 cool down

Tips for cyclists from a car driver

Tips For Cyclists - video powered by Metacafe

Tuesday Wednesday

I took tuesday off cuz of the weather, I should have swam though.

Wednesday
Bike 21.8 miles 1:10::28 HR 127 Power 147 watts NP 163 watts
Easier ride with Amy C.  A bit chilly and breezy.

Run right afterwards
6.2 miles 50:38 - First 5K easier, second 5K under M pace

No long run today cuz I'm trying a new plan and have moved my long run to sunday.  I'll try that for a few weeks and see how I feel.  One of the reasons I'm doing it is cuz I'm pretty toasted after my wednesday run and can't get a quality workout in 'till friday when I am time constrained.

Monday

Swim 3000 meters
600 warm up
300 pull (concentrate on stroke mechanics)
12X100 free :05 rest (about on 1:45)
8X50 sprints :20 rest
12X25 kick :15 rest (worked on breast stroke and fly kick)
250 cool down

Training weekend (a little more detail)

6 of us went down to Portsmouth over the weekend to do some training on the DATT courses.  Most are exactly as I remember them, one was hillier.

We rented a 15 passenger Van to hold all of our stuff, the drive down was pleasant but a little behind schedule.  Thanks so much to Gavin and Lesley for setting this up.

The water was warmer than expected with some cold pockets here and there.  I would say around 75 degrees average.  I wore the full suit but could have gone without.

Friday
Swim 20 minutes, about 1000 meters
Bike about 28 miles 1:40
First oly course including Thompson Hill Road
Run 3 miles 25:30

First oly bike course:
Route 3 has a bunch of short ups and downs, then up Thompson Hill road which is like 15% grade to start with (about .5 miles), it then goes down to about 8% for the rest of the way. Basically a lot of downhill after that with some bumps and a moderate climb on route 125.  After the moderate climb it's just about all downhill to T2.

Saturday morning
Bike easy 41.5 miles 2:45:35 117 watts 167 NP
1 loop Little Smokies course plus a little more
Run 4 miles easy

Bike course.  
Starts off a little hilly then a left turn on FR1, a little bit down the road, about mile 6 I think, it starts going up.  This is the best part of the course, a good climb and it's just about all shaded, don't start off too fast, it's a long way up.  After the climb it goes down in a hurry but watch the first turn, it comes up quick and it's sharp.  There's a lot of downhill afterwards, if you know the road you will be faster, watch the people in front of you if you can to alert you to the turns.  After a little while you will cross a small bridge, hold on to your water bottles, I lost on there last year and had to go a get it.  
A bit of climbing after that but not as steep as the first climb then back out on 125 at the same place as sat morning's ride, back to T2 the same way.  Grab you bottles when you get back then do the loop again.

Saturday evening
Swim 20 minutes
Bike 23.1 miles 1:21 161 watts 190 NP
Shorted version of the Little Smokies course with Gavin
Run 3 miles easy

Sunday
Bike 21.3 miles 1:18 164 watts 190 NP
Out and back loop on Route 125 with Gavin
Run 10.2 miles 1:28:24 HR 138

Bike course:
This is the out and back that is done on Saturday afternoon.
Out of the park and turn left and go straight down 125.  It will go up and down several times (more than I remembered).  Finally, when you see the road sign that indicates a big downhill, get ready for a fun ride.  The first left turn is the tightest one so be carefull, all of the others can be ridden pretty fast.  The speed limits for the curves will let you know about how fast you can go, after the first couple it's all out over 40mph.  When you get to the bottom it flattens out for a while, you turn around and start going back uphill.  It took me allmost 10 minutes to climb back up so don't start off too hard.  I use a 39-27 with 650 wheels and wish I could put more gear on the bike but then again I'm a wussy.  Over the bumps on the way back and you're back at the transition area.  That climb is in my opinion, the hardest one on the series.

Up to date

It's been a while again.  Work is killing my Internet time

May 3
Easy Bike 14 miles 50 minutes
Hard fast run 5.7 miles 46 minutes HR 170 with wu and cd

May 4
Run easy 3.5 miles 31 minutes
I had stuff to do

May 5
Swim 3000 meters 1:10
Bike 39 miles 2:00 HR 132
Run 10 miles 1:22 HR 145

May 6
Bike 29 miles 1:20 HR 133
Run 6.5 miles 55 minutes HR 139

May 7
Swim 3100 meters 1:10
 
May 8
Brick
Bike Very Hard, pretty much as hard as I could go.
21.7 miles 56:xx Ave power 190 watts Norm power 196 watts HR 166 23.0 mph
(this had a few traffic lights in there but we made most of them)
Run easier 6.2 miles 51:20 HR 150

I could probably conclude that my FTP is 196 watts right now.

May 9
Run in rain
10 miles 1:25:04 HR 138

Wednesday easy bike

Easy bike ride
35.5 miles 1:49:xx HR 132 148 watts

Just a ride to get legs moving after yesterday's long run.  I allways feel sore and drained after the run and wanted to get at least 90 minutes on the bike to see how I would feel.  After riding for 30 minutes I felt pretty good.

Tuesday long run

This weather is getting really screwy. The weather channel said it was going to rain all day but I found a little break in the storm to get a short run in...so I thought.

I have this theory that there is some kind of anomaly that disrupts the weather right around my home and for some reason it steers most of the bad weather to the north or south. Only the harshest weather can break through. That happened again in my favor. Once I got a break in the rain I started off. The sky in the west looked pretty clear so I grabbed my fuel belt in case I could get some extra running in. After about 30 minutes the sky cleared up with no rain clouds in sight so my 5 mile run turned into a long run.

Run 14.2 miles 2:00:01 HR 139

Since I did the long run on tuesday I plan on biking and/or swimming easy on wednesday, then resume my normal schedule.

Monday

Looking ahead I noticed that tuesday was going to have some poor weather so I decided to ride today. Hopefully I can get a short run in between the raindrops.

13 miles on the MTB at Maybury 1:10 HR 142

Swim 3000 Meters 1:00
Sets of 200
Warm up 800 (200S, 100K, 200P, 100K, 200S)
200 Straight :20 rest
200 Alt 25's non-free
200 Pull
4X50 fast
200 Straight :20 rest
200 Alt 25's non-free
200 Pull
4X50 fast :10 rest
2X100 :10 rest
200 pull
2X100 easy cool down

Sunday

I had planned to do a run bike run brick but I was just too tired to do it effectively so I just did a short run and bike

Run 5.1 miles 45:xx HR 138

Bike 22.8 miles 1:10:xx HR 133 144 watts

Still 2 hours isn't nothing to sneeze at

Saturday

Swim 4000 yards 1:20 with FAST
500 warm up
450 on 7:30
5X100 on 1:45
350 on 6:00
4X100 on 1:40
250 on 4:30
3X100 on 1:35
150 on 3:00
2X100 on 1:30
50 on 1:00
1X100 on 1:25
300 pull
8X25 IM order
250 cool down

Bike 85 miles in about 4:30 HR 132 142 watts
Plymouth to Dexter and back

Run 4 miles after the bike ride 34:xx HR 139

Thursday and Friday

Thursday
Swim 1500 meters easy about 30 minutes
I had stuff to do that evening.

Friday
Run 8 miles 1:08:xx on Hines drive
Swim with LALA 3200 yards
200 warm up
2X1500 (had fun)

Wednesday run

Not too long, just easy on Hines drive. I had to run between the raindrops.

10.05 miles 1:25:45 HR 139

Purposely ran easy, targeted between 8:30 and 8:45 miles

Training thoughts

5 weeks untill the Triple T and time to get serious about the bike (as if I wasn't serious before).

After Triple T, I will go into my Ironman plans that are not finalized yet, just a rough draft right now. I'm still seeking advise about periodization and dealing with my limiters.

Goals for the next 5 weeks.
Week ending 4/29/07
--Get running frequency back with 4 shorter runs and 1 long run, no need for more intensity this week. ~ 35-40 miles
--Ride long on hills and get used to them, no need for more intensity this week ~ 120 miles
--Maintain swiming ability. I'm at the best I've ever been right now. ~ 10,000 yards

Week ending 5/6/07
--Run hills twice short, run long once (1:45) run mid long (1:20), run fast and short, run short. ~ 40-45 miles
--Bike hills long 1 time (3:00), 2 mid distance ride (40 miles) 1 ride mid long easier maybe Gordo HIM brick. ~ 170 miles
--Maintain swim ~ 10,000 yards

Week ending 5/13/07
--Run hills twice short, run long once (2:00) run mid long (1:30), run fast and short, run short ~ 45 miles
--Bike hills long 1 time (4:00), 2 mid distance ride (40 miles) 1 ride mid long easier ~170 miles
--Maintain swim ~ 10,000 yards

Week ending 5/20/07
--Run hills twice short, run long once (2:00) run mid long (1:30), run fast and short, run short
--Bike hills long 1 time (4:00), 2 mid distance ride (40 miles) 1 ride mid long easier maybe Gordo HIM brick ~ 200 miles
--Maintain swim ~ 10,000 yards

Week ending 5/27/07
Race week so shorter quick stuff
Run ~ 20-25 miles
Bike ~80 miles
Swim 6-8,000 yards

Tuesday

Bike 42.3 miles 2:02.xx
HR 148 171 watts
A little spirited ride up and down Hines to 7 mile and Beck. I felt really strong and just went with it. HR was a bit high but that's normal for me to have a slightly higher HR when I've been off for several days.

Run 5.1 miles (normal 5.1 mile loop)
40:08 HR 155.
Near the same intensity as the bike and slightly higher HR also.

Monday swim

2700 meters just to get tri-training going again.

500 warm up
400 free moderate
4X100 on 2:00
300 free
3X100 free
200 free
2X100
100 moderate
100 quick
200 cool down

Michigan Masters swim meet times

I've still been training but have taken it easy for the Michigan Masters state meet. I wanted to be at my very best for this meet.

I set a personal record in every event I swam in.

Meet times:
1650 free 24:15.21 previous best 25:03.79
1000 free 14:33.08 previous best 15:02.1
500 free 7:04.56 previous best 7:15.xx
200 free 2:31.99 previous best 2:37.xx
100 free 1:08.97 previous best 1:09.4
50 free 29.89 previous best 30.xx
50 fly 43.36 :P
50 free 28.99 (200 mixed free relay) previous best 29.89 earlier in the day Thanks to the track start :)

Wednesday

This week is jumbled a bit cuz of the weather. I also don't want to blow myself up with a long run and screw up my swim training since I have Michigan Masters state meet in 2 weeks. For this week and next week I won't run over 10 miles. After state meet I will resume my long runs.

I want to swim 5 times this week with 3 of them shorter and faster to work on my speed. Next week I'll swim easier but still frequent.

Today was just a swim cuz it's raining pretty good outside.

Swim 2500 meters about 50 minutes

Tuesday

Nicer weather, I'll take it when I can
Bike 50 miles 2:26:37 HR 142 166 watts

Entire workout (166 watts):
Duration: 2:26:37
Work: 1457 kJ
TSS: 193.1 (intensity factor 0.89)
Norm Power: 178
VI: 1.07
Distance: 50.035 mi
----------------Min Max Avg
Power: ---------0 523 166 watts
Heart Rate: ---61 167 142 bpm
Cadence: ------33 105 87 rpm
Speed: ---------2.3 33.9 20.5 mph
Pace -----------1:46 26:06 2:55 min/mi
Hub Torque: ---0 445 58 lb-in
Crank Torque: -0 668 169 lb-in

Run 8 miles right after 1:04:40 HR 147

Monday

Feeling much better after time off
Run 1 lap around Kensington 8.3 miles 1:10:xx? HR 140

Swim 3100 meters with monday evening group

750 warm up (200S,100K,200P,100K,150S)
4X200 on 4:00 Free Decending
50 kick
4X150 on 3:00 Free Decending
50 kick
4X100 on 2:00 Free Decending
50 kick
4X50 on 1:00 Free Decending
200 cool down

Last half of week ending 4/8/7

I needed some time off last week cuz I was getting to the point that I didn't want to do my workouts plus it was cold and nasty outside. So here is a summery of the end of last week.

Wed run 3.6 miles on treadmill 30:00 HR 132

Thu Swim 1500 meters

Friday run 3.6 miles on treadmill 30:00 HR 134
Swim 2300 meters

Sat and Sun off

Tuesday evening ride

38.5 miles 1:54 HR 130
ave power 156 watts Norm power 169 watts

Hines drive end to end, just a little bit breezy. I felt pretty good and would have rode further but it started to rain.

Tuesday lunch run

OK, I've never had an issue running during lunch. Most of my run is on either a paved trail or a sidewalk. When I come to a driveway I look to make sure it's safe. If there is a car comming they are more than polite to me just about every time. People will go so far as to back up and let me pass.

There is about 1.5 miles where I have to run on the side of the road and again people are very curtious to me.

Now today everything was going just fine, drivers were cool, my run was safe. Then as I'm running across a driveway on a sidewalk, this guy comes flying into the driveway as I'm most of the way through it. He lays on the horn so I let the bird fly about 15 feet in front of him. Of course he is pissed since I made him 5 seconds late to the Asian Buffet and he's going to let me know about it. I see him pull next to the sidewalk so I go over to have a conversation with him.

He says "You're going to cause an accident" and "You don't have the right of way." Umm, I'm on a sidewalk wearing a bright red shirt on a sunny day, (pretty hard to miss if you ask me) and yes, I have the right of way, pedestrians allways do and it's not like I didn't even look cuz I know it's a dangerous place and I'm more cautious in that area. So I explain that to him in a way that I'm not so proud of. I start to run away and he calls me back saying "Hey kid, I wasn't done," Umm, I've got a 17 year old son, I'm not a kid, that pissed me off so I told him to get on a stairmaster and (you know what) off. I ran back to work and started working on the Heater Core Calorimeter again without missing a beat.

Well, with that said:
6.5 miles 42:40 HR 141 Hilly run

Monday

Run right after work, I want to hold down the run volume a little while I add bike time. Trying to add 5 hours of biking to my schedule all at once is just too much for me right now.

Run on hines
6.05 miles 49:03 HR 140
Pleasant running about 60 degrees. I got to wear my new red visor for the first time :)

Swim 2800 meters
One of my favorite pull workouts

800 warm up (200S,100K,200P,100K,200S) I like longer warmups
300 pull w/paddles
6X50 fast on 1:00
300 pull
4X50 on 1:00
2X300 pull
2X50 on 1:00 last one fast one - thanks Amy :)
200 cool down

Weekend training

I was pretty tired this weekend and decided to take some time off from running since that is where I am the strongest right now.  I've been light on sleep for about 2 weeks now and am feeling tired.

Remedy:  Back to getting 8 hours of sleep instead of 7 and then judge my situation from there.

Saturday
Swim 4300 yards 1:20
550 warm up (250S,200P,100K)
1X350 on 5:45
2X250
3X150
4X100 2250

1X275
2X150
3X75
4X50

4X50 fast
4X20 fast
200 cool down

there is more I'll have to figure out

Sunday
Bike 38.5 miles about 2 hours HR 129 160 watts
I went out to Island lake and rode the hills out that way.  1 lap of Island lake, through Kensington, 1 time up Kensington road and over Tower Hill, then I rode east past the GM proving grounds, south on Milford Rd and back into Kensington for another go at those two hills.  Out the gate and back to Island lake

Thursday Friday

I was pretty tired on thursday so I took it easy on the swim. It was colder and windy so I bagged the bike ride.

Thursday
Swim 1500 meters about 30 minutes.

Friday
Bike MTB
43.6 miles 3:12:24 HR 144
My longest ride of the year and it was on the mountain bike :)

Swim 2200 with LALA
A lot of stroke work

Wednesday long run

Run on Hines
15.2 miles 2:07:53 HR 137

Kind of cool compared to yesterday and monday. I held the pace down on purpose so I would be fresher for tomorrow. I'll see if it works.

Tuesday

Run during lunch
6.5 miles 53:16 HR 141
Hilly route near work

Swim after work
I need to work on my short stuff, this was out of "Workouts in a Binder", one of the Anerobic workouts
3150 meters 1:00
Warm up
900 meters (300S,300K,300P)
600 meters (200S,200K,200P)
Main set
6X75 fast on 2:00
300 pull
6X50 fast on 1:10
100 kick
6X50 sprint on 1:30
200 cool down

Monday

A record high today so I moved my swim to tomorrow while it's supposed to rain and got some quality bike time in today.

Hilly Run during lunch
6.5 miles 53:03 HR 144

Bike after work
41.8 miles 2:02:2 HR 149

Entire workout (179 watts):
Duration: 2:02:02
Work: 1302 kJ
TSS: 169.8 (intensity factor 0.916)
Norm Power: 192
VI: 1.08
Distance: 41.827 mi
-----------------Min Max Avg
Power: --------0 585 179 watts
Heart Rate: --53 185 149 bpm
Cadence: -----37 108 88 rpm
Speed: -------0 34.8 20.7 mph
Pace ------1:43 0:00 2:54 min/mi
Hub Torque: ---0 416 63 lb-in
Crank Torque: -0 688 183 lb-in

Friday Saturday Sunday

Friday
Bike18 miles 54 minutes HR 134 (to Dearborn)
Run 5.1 miles 38.36 HR 145 (a faster run)
Swim about 2500 yards with LALA with a lot of off-stroke work

Saturday
Swim 3800 yards with FAST
warm up
150 swim
150 kick
150 IM (fly/free,back/free, breast/free)
150 pull
150 swim
Set 1
8X50 on 1:10
6X50 on 1:05
4X50 on 100
2X50 on :55
Set 2
500X6 as follows (I only did 4 sets)
--4X25 on :30
--3X50 on :55
--2X75 on 1:20
--100 on 1:45
200 cool down

Run 8 miles 1:05:xx HR 137

Sunday
Bike 1:56:xx 35 miles HR 128 146 watts
Run 6 miles about 50 minutes HR 136

Thursday bike ride

Bike
2:04:xx 39.3 miles HR 138 156 watts

I've been sacrificing a swim to get a bike ride in since I feel I am behind on my biking. The weather was very nice and I really felt like riding. It was a bit windy going out and I saw a lot of 200 watts, which is high for me, so the speed was down in the beginning. I decided to ride up 5 mile hill (.6 miles at 5-6% grade) at 300 watts. I was a bit gassed at the top but still held on to that effort. HR went up in the high 160's for that effort.

The first 19 miles I averaged just over 170 watts (I turned around then) and was well on my way to staying that high. Around 30 miles in I hooked up with Roman and Shawn and road easy for a while, somewhere around 120 watts so that brought the average down a bit but was nice to talk to friends and get some inspiration from them.

Overall a good day, had fun and got done with training early. I still desperately need to clean my bike though.

Wednesday Long Run

Really a long run for me

The weather started out crappy today, cold. Then at lunch time I checked outside and it was raining and cold, I said "Oh well, looks like a treadmill day." Then I got off work, walked to my car and said "Holy Shxt, it's nice out here, I'm running outside." I got on the road and all it did was get warmer, started at 45 and finished at 48, what a pleasant surprise.

15.2 miles 2:04:36 HR 143
8:12 average with the last 4 miles just under 8 min/miles. I felt great and hope I didn't run too fast. I did put down the gels though, one at 4 and 8 miles each, at 9 miles I felt crappy so I put another down. After that I felt like superman, since I had one more with me and wanted to finish strong I ate a fourth one at 12.5 miles.

Tuesday

I got the bike on Hines Drive, OH IT WAS SO COLD!!!!
I wore so much clothing I don't know how I could pedal.
Normal shorts
Leg warmers
Cycling pants
Thick socks
Shoe covers
Under Armor Cold Gear top
Cycling jersey
Cycling jacket
Bright yellow vest
Full hat (Blacava?)
Knit gloves under full Gloves
Helmet with vents taped off

I actually had to open my coat cuz I was too warm. I should have left the cycling jersey at home.

Bike 17.8 miles 54 minutes HR 133 154 watts, it was kind of breezy.

Run right after bike ride
8.1 miles 1:04:30 HR 143 but I was pushing 150 at the end
This is the first time I've run 8 miles under 8 min/mile comfortably. It just seems so much easier to run 7:30's than ever before.

I saw Jon L on his bike just riding comfortably, I swear he must be part Eskimo

Monday

Run
3.5 miles 30 minutes HR 133
I got bored on the treadmill and just couldn't take it any more.

Swim 3500 meters
700 warm up
300 stroke drills
200 more warm up
400 free moderate
4X100 on 1:55
300 free
3X100 on 1:50
200 free
2X100 on 1:45
100 moderate
100 fast
200 cool down

ATP

Well it's getting important that I balance out my training with biking as well as running and swimming. I wouldn't mind comments about this if anyone has any, I'm still learing how to do this and would welcome constructive critizism. This is just a plan for the long stuff, I will continue with running 45 mpw and around 10,000 yards of swimming but now adding more cycling to the mix.

Here is my plan:

Friday Saturday Sunday

Friday
I had to work on my car so I missed my run for that day

Swim
3000 yards
Don't remember the whole workout. It had a lot of off-stroke stuff though :P

Saturday
Swim 3800yards
650 warm up
4X225 on 3:45
8X50 kick
8X100 last 25 non free
250 pull
12X50 rotating IM
200 cool down

Run 8.3 miles 1:06:20 HR 144
I picked it up in the last 2 miles and felt pretty good. In the last 3/4 mile I wanted to know what I could do so I went pretty hard and finished at a 6:40 pace. I was surprised that I could run that fast and feel that good, yes I was going pretty hard but still not that uncomfortable like it would have been last year. This route is Hines Drive out to Newburg Rd without taking the loop through the park (it's flooded) and then running down to Plymouth road to pick up the extra .4 miles to finish over 8.

Sunday
Run 2 miles on the treadmill to get warmed up. I decided not to go further and work on some flexability instead.

Bike spin class 60 minutes HR 133

Run 8.3 miles 1:06:35 HR 143
Same route as saturday but I ran the miles evenly this time and without the fast ending. Felt pretty good again and ran a lot of miles under 8 min/mile which has seemed to be a roadblock for the last few years in training. I feel the reason I'm running faster is because of the quicker turnover I have now, the lower HR is something that's still a mystery to me. Maybe the lower HR is from my legs pumping blood from the quicker turnover, just a thought.

Thursday

While hitting it hard on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, it seems like reducing training stress on Thursday is the right thing to do. I had to work over yesterday cuz of our audit at work (TS16949) so I missed my short swim.

Bike Spin class 60 minutes HR 127.
I found it difficult to get my HR up over 130, my friends said I looked tired but I still felt perky and ready to go. It would be nice if the spin bikes had power meters on them to see if I had a low HR that day or just couldn't produce the power.

Training Thoughts

It's looking like running over the winter is helping me out quite a bit. Looking over last years' running I'm noticing that my HR is about 15 beats lower and I'm running 20 to 30 seconds per mile faster. I'm also 7 to 9 lbs lighter than this time last year.

Have I made my winter running goals? Of course I have but I still want more and don't plan on cutting running down at all. I want to stay at 45 miles per week if time and health allows. It is much easier to run under 8 min/mile pace now where that allways seemed like a barrier to me before. In fact the last 2.4 miles of my long run on wednesday were at a 8:01, 7:52 and a 7:48 pace while HRs were 143, 147 and 146, still much lower than my cap of 148 that I figured I should stay below while base building. I've paid a bit more attention to HR this winter, not running to it much but still guaging my efforts from it. Running in the low 140 most of the time has kept the stress down and allowed me to run longer.

Weekly running during the off season starting with the week ending Oct 8
29.5 miles, 29.3 miles, 30.3 miles, 30.5 miles
40.2 miles, 40.5 miles, 45.6 miles, 45.8 miles
45.2 miles, 53.5 miles, 46.2 miles, 45.3 miles
38.5 miles, 46.2 miles, 33.6 miles, 34.0 miles
3.3 sick, 50.7 miles, 27.6 swim meet, 46.7 miles
43.0 miles, 30.5 swim meet, 50.4 Last week

I really need to focus on biking now, as much as I have on the running. Whenever it's warm enough I'll be on the bike. 3 two hour bike rides plus 1 more hour is where I'll try to start while working one of those rides to 3.5 hours by mid-April. I have to start thinking about interval planning but that should be a week or two away.

Swimming will start to take a back seat but not forgotten. I want to work on shorter faster stuff since that is where I am the weakest. Pulling with paddles has historically been very benificial to me so I will continue it, just have to be carefull not to hurt my shoulders like I did last November. Looking to get 9 to 12 K a week in 3 to 4 swims.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Monday
Still a bit tired from the weekend, the run felt terrible.

Run 5 miles 44:05 HR 132

Swim 4000 meters
Swim with IMMoo group at Canton. Everyone seemed to like the workout, I got there early and got the extra laps in while waiting for the others

600 warm up
2X200 pull extra
500 more warm up extra
3X450 as
--50 kick
--100 swim
--150 pull
--100 swim
--50 non-free
6X75 :15 rest
6X50 sprints :45 rest
200 cool down
200 more cool down extra

Tuesday
Bike on Hines drive, nice to be on the road
1:56:00 38.5 miles HR 135 156 watts

Run right after the bike ride. Karen rode while I ran and kept me company. If she wasn't there I probably would have turned around at 2 or 3 miles. Felt a little sick to my stomach for the first 4 miles then it cleared up :)
8 miles 1:05:26 HR 145

Wednesday
Long run, still nicer weather and ran on Hines drive again
2:00:00 14.4 miles HR 140
I did my best to hold down the pace going out. (7 miles 58:44) and then ran comfortable on the way back (7 miles 57:58) When I hit 14 miles I just ran around the apartments untill I got to 2 hours. Felt pretty good after 5 miles, sure does seem like it's taking longer and longer to warm up.

Saturday and Sunday

The weather has been so nice that I'm able to get outside and train

Saturday
Swim with FAST
4100 yards 1:20
I haven't done a long swim in a while so I was tuckered out at the end.

Bike on Hines Drive
23 miles 1:14 HR 137 152 watts
Very nice to get on the road again. The tri bike is much twitcher than the spin bikes :)

Run on Hines Drive
6 miles about 50 minutes HR 141
Felt kind of tired, origionally planned on 8 but cut it short

Sunday
Bike spin class (should have waited and rode outside)
60 minutes HR 129

Run on Hines Drive
8 miles 1:05 HR 142
Nice and warm near 50 degrees F. Saw Jon L and yakked for a minute.

Ended up with running 50 miles for the week, a little more than planned but I've done it before so I suppose it's no big deal.

Thursday and Friday

I was a bit tired on thursday so I listened to myself and took it easy.

Thursday
Swim 1500m 30 minutes
Bike on trainer 30 minutes.

Friday
Run on Hines Drive
8 miles 1:03:54 HR 146
I just ran brisk and was turning out miles under 8 min, I tried to slow down but it seemed too easy. Looking like running all winter on the treadmill is paying off. I'm so much further ahead of last year at this time. I still have to be carefull not to hurt myself and go too far.

Wednesday long run

Hopefully this will be my last longer run on the treadmill for quite some time. With warmer weather moving in I'll be moving outside.

Run 2 hours 14.2 miles HR 141

The only reason I ran that far is cuz I felt it would probably be my last one. I origionally planned on 1:45, hoping to get to 1:30 but I felt good and motivated, when I got to 1:45 I bumped the time to 1:50. After that I just figured I might as well run the full 2 hours. Sounds like a Forrest Gump story :]

I'm a little bit ahead on running this week so far and I like that. Now I don't have the pressure of running X amount of miles by sunday. Today is my day off from running so I'll have 3 days to get in 17 miles, looks like I'll be a bit over this week :)

Tuesday lunch run plus evening bike

Run 6.15 miles in 50 minutes HR 139

Ran at Daniels M pace which is 8:00 min/mile after 2 miles of warm up at 8:35 and 8:20.

HR seemed low for this pace, felt it should have been near 145-148. It seems as I warm up and my cadence gets up over 180 my HR goes back down a few beats, don't know why that is, it seems strange.

Bike in the evening
Spin class 60 minutes HR 132
HR was kind of flakey so 132 is just a guess.

Monday

Since I was short on just about everything last week I opened this week with just over 3 hours. No gels or bars, just Gatorade, I had plenty of energy.

Run 8 mile 1:08:11 HR 141
Treadmill run really easy

Swim with Amy and Amy
3000 meters 1:05:00 - shortend set of 300's
They seemed to like the workout.

Bike Spin class 60 minutes HR 136
Anerobic Intervals - I actually felt pretty good for this class

Weekend

I took Saturday off from training so I could be rested for a swim meet on Sunday. It was a pretty good meet for me with 2 of my best times that really matter.

Sunday
1650 yard Free 25:03.79 9 seconds better than my 1500m free (1640yd) from a few weeks ago.
Went fairly well. Started a little harder than usual and then maintained pace through the middle 1000 yards. I finished strong but still slower than my goal of 25:00. I think I can go under 25:00 at state meet in about 6 weeks.

200 yard Free 2:38 1 second faster than my best.
I was put in a heat with a lot faster swimmers and they took off from me really quick. I stuck to my plan of swimming the first 100 quick, the next 50 as hard as I could and then the last 50 with whatever I had left.

100 yard Free 1:11
I totally blew the last turn, allmost hit the wall with my head. Don't know how I missed it and probably spent a second and a half on the wall :(

100 yard Back 1:38
Just for fun cuz I didn't want to swim the 50 free. It was between the 100 and the 500 so I didn't put much emphasis on it.

500 yard free 7:16
Just off my best time of 7:15 but it was the last event of the day and felt pretty good. Blew a couple of turns in the beginning but oh well. Karen swam next to me and was really fast.

Lunch run

Run 5.7 miles 45 minutes HR 144

Thursday

Very tired today, I'm going to have to replan thursdays if I'm going to do my long run on wednesday.
I didn't run on monday cuz I wanted a cut on my heel to get better so I had to run today.  I hate missing the run on monday, I feel like I'm playing catchup all week.

Swim
2000 meters 40 minutes easier to get in some laps but wanted to not stress my legs.
200 warm up
4X400
--200 pull
--200 pull w/paddles
200 cool down

Run
47 minutes 5.5 miles HR 137

Bike
Spin class 60 minutes HR 133
I allmost bagged the spin class but I made myself do it.  After I got going I noticed the instructor was playing a bunch of 80's and 90's music, that was cool and kept me interested.  I also had some friends there to help pass the time and get me motivated.

Mon Tue Wed

Monday
Swim with friends at LTF Canton
3100 meters in about 1:10
Bike
Spin class immediatly after swim HR 135

Tuesday
Run during lunch with a fire drill so I only got 1.5 miles in about 13 minutes
Run after work 45 minutes 5.3 miles HR 138
Bike spin class after run 60 minutes HR 135

Wednesday
Long run 1:42:30 12.5 miles HR 144
Run on Hines, it was a bit cold for me at 38 degrees and a slight drizzle. It was nice to get on the road again

Got a little behind

Thursday feeling generally tired, nutrition not too good this week. Remember to eat for performance, not pleasure.

Swim 2000 SCM ~ 45 minutes
Started to run then bagged it.

Friday, feeling good
Run during lunch 45 minutes last 3 miles tempo pace HR 145

Swim 2500 pull sets of 300 plus warm up and cool down and 50 meter sprints

Saturday
Swim with FAST 3700 yards, mostly freestyle

Run 8 miles 1:07 something HR 139. Easy running on TM

Sunday
Bike spin class 60 minutes HR 137. Hill workout

Run on TM 5 miles about 43 minutes HR 141.
A bit tired, not much sleep that night :)

Wednesday's long run

Run 12.5 miles 1:43:46 HR 143

Back outside again!!! It's so much better than running on the squirrel cage. I felt good and did my best to hold the pace down but still ran quicker than planned.

Worked on quick turnover during the run and when I did I really had to concentrate on shortening my steps to keep from going too fast. Several times I checked my turnover and I was at 180 to 182 spm. Origional plan was 2 hours or 14 miles but I was getting cold (as I went out lightly dressed) so I took my shortcut and cut 1.5 miles from the run. On the way back I just ran comfortable near an 8:10 pace.

The weather doesn't look pleasant today so I will be back indoors for a little while. It's supposed to be nice again on sunday.

Tuesday

A great start to the day. It's warm enough for me to run outside so I took the first opportunity.

Run Hilly route during lunch
6.5 miles 54:00 HR 144

Felt great to get outside and run, felt very fast and despite the snow on about 1.5 miles of the route (some as deep as 8 inches) I was only about 30 seconds off of my fastest time and I really wasn't trying to go hard. Looks like all this running I've been doing is working.

Bike 60 minutes spin class HR 135
Uneventfull but still interesting. HR was a little lower today than normal. It's different not doing a 3-a-day today and I was much fresher for the ride without having to swim beforehand. I really debated on riding outside since it was 43° today but I figured it would be dark outside near the end of the bike ride and I don't want to get run over for an early season ride that doesn't really mean anything.

Monday

Swim with friends at LTF since LALA doesn't have practice this week. I probably wouldn't have swam without them.

3000 meters
600 warm up
2X300 pull
4X400
--100 build
--100 70%
--100 pull
--100 (50 easy 50 sprint)
1 min extra rest
200 cool down

The pool was cold, just about right for lap swimming, probably near 74 degrees. It was a bit of a shock for a few laps but we got used to it quickly.

Run 45 minutes 5.3 miles HR 143.
Stopped early cuz I really had to go #1. Since I was on the treadmill I really couldn't go to the bushes, people would have probably said something :P

Inspirational training log

I don't know what happened to BIGZACH's blog but his training log is inspirational to me

http://www.workoutlog.com/log/public/BIGZACH/log.cfm

Check out all of the biking he's doing. Maybe that's what it takes

Training thoughts

Swim
A bit more than planned at just over 14K. I was generally tired in the water all week. Tuesday I swam a bunch of 500's and I feel the distance was too long for me to swim fast enough. Maybe 300's would be better. 500's are allmost 9 minutes long and 300's are around 5 minutes long. Taking 30 seconds between them the workout should only take a few minutes longer. The reason I wanted to swim long straight sets was just to get in the laps in as little time as possible and still be able to swim fast enough to stimulate improvement.

Bike
I got a little bit extra time but not the 5 hours that I wanted. Everytime I was on the bike I felt really good. In fact, I was on my bike at home on saturday and felt really comfortable putting out 160 to 170 watts. That's my preliminary goal for IMMoo as it is about 75% of the FT I will need to achieve. I figure 160 to 170 watts will be close to a 5:30 bike ride or around 21 mph for 112 miles.

I am so much further ahead of last year at this point and I feel it is due to the quality of the bike riding I've been doing at the spin classes. Some people think that spin classes are bad cuz the instructors push you too hard. That's not the case with the classes at LTF. All of the instructors want you to stay riding mostly in zone 2 (although they define it differently than I do) so I'm not killing myself with their rides. Most of my target HR's for the classes (which they call AT* and I call AeT*) are just over 140 bpm. That keeps me riding in an easy training zone. Sometimes they bring us up above the AT* for a few minutes and sometimes we stay below for the whole session. It's mixed up and stays interesting, without it I wouldn't be riding at all.

Today I forgot my HRM but had my transmitter, I used it (the transmitter) for the runs since Astro's walker (treadmill) picks up HR and give you the average at the end of the workout. The spin instructor noticed I didn't have mine (watch) with me and loaned me hers cuz she thought I was going too hard. Turns out I was a bit higher than I should have been. That just shows that these instructors do care about the people in their classes and how they are training. I thanked her for letting me use it, I would have gone way too hard without it.

What I need now is a longer ride, I'm planning on trying to get that in on Saturdays from now on. Maybe this saturday will see a 2 hour ride or maybe even friday since I won't be swimming then.

Run
Running went well too, 46.65 miles in 8 runs over 6 days was fairly easy. The second run on thursday was a bit short but still there, I tried to run it too fast and burned out early. What I was trying to accomplish was to get a 10 beat HR differential from the earlier run. Sunday's second run was easy and completed the week's planned running milage. I had a couple runs that were faster while the rest were done easy at 8:20 to 8:30 pace.

I don't feel blasted this week despite going overtime on 2 of 3 disciplings. I had a lot of sleep this weekend as well as some quality healing time during the week and last night* Overall I haven't been this happy for a very, very long time and I expect things to get better.

Planning for next week is close to this week but it should be warm enough to run outside at least 4 times as the temps will be going up to the upper 30's. If it's dry enough I may even get back to the hilly run. Going to seriously try to get 5 hours on the bike with a 2 hour ride on saturday in addition to the spin classes. If it gets over 40 degrees I may get the bike on the road. I want to bring swimming back to 12K and used the extra energy for cycling as that is growing in importance.

Totals
Swim 14,050 yds - 4:35
Bike 73 miles (roughly) - 4:05
Run 46.65 - 6:34:44
Total 15:14:44

Sat evening - Sun morning

Sat evening
Bike easy on home trainer
1:00 HR 125 145 watts

Sunday morning
Run
45 minutes 5.3 miles HR 141
Bike
Spin class 60 minutes HR 138
Run
60 minutes 7.2 miles HR 143

Sat morning swim

Swim 4350 yds

500 warm up
4X250 pull on 4:00
4X100 IM on 2:15
8X50 (start at center of pool, work on pushoff after turn)
4X75 kick on 1:40
10X125 (100 free, 25 stroke)
1-3 fly
4-7 back
8-10 breast
3X100 on 1:35
200 cool down

Friday nite swim

Swim with LALA
2800 yards
400 warm up
400 kick IM order
4X100 pull
1000 free
8X50 IM order
200 cool down

Another lunch run

This one was easy as I want to be fresher for the swim this evening and tomorrow morning.

Run
45 minutes 5.3 miles HR 141

Thursday evening

I got behind on calories and was a bit tired for these workouts. I focused on the biking.

Swim 2800 meters 55 minutes
I was pretty gassed for this one. I planned on doing pull sets to make the workout easy but stupid me, I left my pull bouy at home.
4X500 free on 9:00 :30 RI
200 kick 200 swim 200 kick 200 swim
Then I got out and stretched a bit.

Bike spin class 1:20 HR 133
I got into the studio early and started riding as soon as I could. I was hoping nobody would kick me out. After a few minutes a couple more people came in and started setting up.

Run right after the biking
2.5 miles 20 minutes HR 148
Brisk running to keep legs moving

Got home and tried to catch up on calories, I did (somewhat). I had to stop by Meijer on the way to get some things like bananas, wallnuts, peanuts and this giant tub of Gatorade that makes 6 gallons and was only 8 bucks

Another lunch run

This is beginning to be a common thing for me. It helps break up the 3-a-days.

Run 45 minutes 5.6 miles HR 147.

Still planning on swimming and biking today. I would also like to run 30 minutes after spin class. I'll see how I feel then, it's nothing that a few gels can't motivate me to do.

Wednesday

I tried to go for 90 minutes but the squirrel cage was just killing me.

Run 8 miles 1:07:43 HR 139

Very uneventfull and boring, I've got to get one of those radio - MP3 things just for the TM. Hopefully only a few more weeks of this and it's back to real running :)

After work

Swim 3500 meters in about 1:05
7X500 moderate pace :30 rest interval

Bike Cycle 60 class HR 138
Got there a little early and got an extra 15 minutes in.

Overall I felt really strong today, I would like to keep this up all week but I know I shouldn't. I will run longer tomorrow but with less intensity than yesterday and today.

Lunch run

Well since I can't (won't) run outside in this cold weather I figured I would run some tempo indoor on the treadmill.

Run 5.75 miles 45 minutes HR 148

I was really aiming to get my HR just over 150 and increased the speed untill that happened.
Started at 7.5 mph (8:00) and moved up to 8 mph (7:30). For some reason I was feeling really good so I went with it. The foot speed stuff helps too.

Training Thoughts

Middle of February and I feel it's time to get as serious on the bike as I am about the run. 15 weeks untill TTT and I want to be ready.

Looking to get 5 hours of cycling in this week with 3 quality hours in spin classes and at least 1.5 quality endurance time. Yes, I know that's 4.5 hours but I will pick up some more time somewhere.

Running will be between 40 and 45 miles. I'm hoping that the weather will break sometime soon. Looking at the weather channel.com it says we're looking at higher 30's by next week so I may be able to run a couple times outside and get off that dang treadmill. I would like to get back to my hilly lunch run.

Going to keep swimming at 12,000 per week as planned. I may move thursday's swim to monday so I am not blasted for saturday (obviously not this week). I like swimming on friday since I have a very good friend that swims then and helps me out more than she knows :) Very easy to talk to, allways smiling and makes me feel good about myself.

Monday

Run 8 miles 1:07:00 HR 144

Kind of strange running between the guy that wants to impress everyone by running fast but only for a few miles and the guy that is serious about running and staying fit. I was really impressed by the second guy and I let him know. I hope he stays with it and gets what he wants out of his runs.

Been seriously working on cadence lately and doing my best to keep it up to 180. It's getting more and more natural now. It's something new to work on this year and I expect it to help me run faster. I noticed while running intervals a few months ago that I was still running at 175 spm while at quicker speeds. I feel/hope when I naturally get over 180 that running faster will be easier for me.

Swim times

Some swim times from the swim meet. I'll get some training stuff up in a while. This is the first time I've raced SCM.

Brighton High School, Brighton Michigan 50 meter pool.
1500 meters 25:12
100 meters 1:19
400 meters 6:30
I also swam in 2 relays but don't have the times yet
I started the 200 medley relay and my backstroke felt pretty good as I was the 3rd one in. I've been doing well with the backstroke lately.
In the 200 free realy I swam 3rd and was probably around 35 seconds for the 50 meters.

Went out to eat with friends and had a good time. When I got home I decided to bag my run and went to bed about 7pm as I was dead tired.

Sat Swim

I only did part of the workout today so I could be a bit more rested for tomorrow

2500 yds
700 warm up
4X400 on 7:30
--400 straight
--400 :20 break after 200
--400 :10 break after each 100
--400 straight
4X200 (I only got 1 of these done)
--100 broken IM 25's on :30
--100 IM

Run in the evening after work
60 minutes 7.2 miles HR 139

Friday nite

Swim with LALA at Franklin HS
3200 yards
warm up
4X100 kick
400 drill/swim
4X100 pull

200 IM - fly one arm drill
200 IM - reverse order
200 IM - (first time I've ever done this, it wasn't fast)

200 back - drill down swim back
200 back - kick down swim back
200 back

200 breast - 2 pull 1 kick down swim back
200 breast - 2 kick 1 pull down swim back
200 breast

200 cool down

Go out to dinner afterwards with friends. This is so nice, I call it healing time. If you knew me you would understand.

The week

I had a bit of a muscle spasm in my left quad so I took it easy this week.

Monday
Run 6 miles 52 minutes HR 143

Tuesday
Swim 2000 meters 42 minutes

Wednesday
Run 5 miles 42 minutes HR 148

Thursday
Run 5.2 miles 45 minutes HR 139
Swim 2500 Meters 55 minutes

Friday
Run 5.6 miles 45 minutes HR 145
I got some new shoes. The new Asics DS Trainer 12, the jury is still out with them as I only have 5.6 miles on them but they feel light. I will rotate with the 2120's that I have. They actually feel "cushier" than the 2120's.

Swim tonight at Franklin HS with LALA
Swim easy tomorrow with FAST, Run 1 hour easy ~ 7 miles
Swim meet on Sunday morning, swimming 3 events plus maybe 2 relays (1500m, 400m, 100m, 200 medly relay, 200 free relay)
Probably run 1 hour easy in the evening ~ 7 miles


It was nice to hear another compliment today from one of the instructors at LTF that I have a lot of respect for. Denise said I looked cut when I was running. She is the best spin instructor that I know of plus she is the nutrionalist that was recommended to me by a good friend. I need to make an appointment with her to work on the quality of my nutrition. I've gotten down to my goal weight but still want to eat for performance and I need some help with that.

Changes in my diet recently have included:
Eating oatmeal with some walnuts for breakfast (plus some brown sugar for taste)
More protein with dinner including about 4 oz or chicken or beef.
Drinking milk instead of water at breakfast and in the evening.
Dropping the amount of rice I eat with dinner.
Dropping the Cheerios from breakfast. Sometimes I eat them as a snack though.

Training Thoughts

A very good week for me as I have accomplished a couple things.

First, a very good run week with 50.7 miles in 7:09:50. Somewhat mixed up intensities early in the week and easy at the end. It's way too cold for me to run outside so all of the miles have been on the treadmill. Saturday's run had a very low HR which I feel is the result of the higher intensity during the week. Friday was a nice day off from running while tuesday and sunday saw double runs.

Swimming was a bit on the higher side with Approximately 14K in the pool. That will come down a bit this week since I will be swimming a meet on sunday so saturday's swim will be a bit shorter. As of now I'm only swimming the 1500m, 400m and maybe 2 relays but they are really short. I've been doing the Endurance speed workouts from my book and I feel that has helped me a bit. I'm going to add some pull sets early this week since I respond very well to them, and I think they're fun. My flip turns are getting better since I've been practicing them the right way but I don't know if they'll be ready for the meet just yet. I have a problem with under-rotating and I may go back to my old way of sculling a little with my arms during the flip.

Diet has changed a little bit too. I'm down to my goal weight (142 lbs) so I can eat a little bit more now and not feel to tired to train. I'm including more protein in my diet and have been looking for good sources. I have added some (more) chicken to dinner, wallnuts to my breakfast and some milk during the day and at the end. Been eating some peanuts for snacks but not too much, hopefully that can help me with some better quality fats. I'm going to let my weight float now and eat as I see fit but still responsibly. If my weight goes up or down I'll re-evaluate the situation when it comes.

I got a compliment today as someone said that I looked like a runner and had a runner's type body. I started to chuckle at first but looking in the mirror I can see my arms, legs and face are thinner. I've still got some around my stomach but it's less than before and I feel that I could finally run without a shirt and not be embarrassed if the opportunity presented itself.

I feel healthy and strong and that's important to me. Training 14-15 hours during the offseason better pay off or I'm going to be pissed. I don't think I could put anything more into training right now and I'm not sure if I am capable of much more of a load when it's gets warmer outstide and I pick up the biking. I'm going to have to find a way of training smarter to meet my goals or I may burn out by April.

Totals
Swim 13,950 yards 4:40
Bike 54 miles 3:00
Run 50.7 miles 7:09:50
14:49:50

Sunday Run - Bike - Run

Run
45 minutes 5.2 miles HR 145
I talked a lot during this run so the HR was a little high.

Bike
Cycle 60 spin Aerobic Endurance HR 131

Run
60 minutes 7 miles HR 141

I got over 50 miles this week in 8 runs and it's the biggest running week that I've had to date. I didn't plan this but I noticed last night that if I ran a double that I could make it.

Last night I started to seriously work on my running cadence. It seems that I was running at 172-174 spm pretty consistantly and am trying to push that up to 180. The steps seem so small that I feel like I could allmost step on my other foot with each stride. My legs hurt a little bit differently where my inner quads are a bit sore. My hamstrings and butt hurt the same. Hopefully this should pass soon, maybe in a few weeks.

I don't plan to keep running 50 miles as 7 hours of running is a large chunk of my total training time. When it gets warm enough my biking will take some of the running time away.

Sat nite

Run
8 miles 1:08:40 HR 136

Yea, yea I know I said I was going to run to a higher HR but I'm kind of torn between the 2 ideas of base building right now. Zone 1 running or zone 2 running. My swim was the important workout of the day so I suppose the run can be a bit easier.

Friday Saturday (so far)

Friday
Swim with LALA
3000 yds at Franklin high school
400 swim, kick, stroke warm up
2X300 pull
10X150 on 2:50
--100 free, 50 stroke
200, 150, 100, 50 cool down

Saturday
Swim with FAST
4100 yds at Schoolcraft
700 warm up
300 free on 5:30
2X150 stroke
300 kick
3X100 free on 1:50
300 free
4X75 on 1:20
300 free
6X50 stroke
300 free
12X25 on :25
Easy cool down
100 kick
100 back
100 breast
100 free

Thursday

Run during lunch, a bit easier since I've hit it fairly hard for 3 days. It's also not the focus of the day.

5.2 miles 45:00 HR 143

Swim 3100 meters
600 warm up
4X150 :20 RI
4X50 kick :15 RI
4X100 :15 RI
4X75 kick :15 RI
4X200 (dec 2-2) :30 RI
200 cool down

Bike Cycle 60 class HR 130

Jaret, remember to read this blog

http://kette-rechts.blogspot.com/

Wednesday

Run on treadmill
9 miles 1:16:10 HR 145

Very borning run but I picked up the pace according to what I wrote earlier today.

Getting back on track

Feeling 100% again after last week's bug and am back on schedule.

Changing the run around a little and am going to run to HR again for a while. My HR has been so low lately that I don't think I have been challenging myself at all. In fact it's been down right boring. Now for runs other than a long run I'm going to run near the top of zone 1 and the bottom of zone 2 from last years numbers.

Using what I considered my LT from last summer (174 bpm) and looking them up in the Training Bible my running HR zones are as follows:

Zone 1 115 - 148
Zone 2 149 - 158
Zone 3 159 - 166
Zone 4 167 - 173
Zone 5 174 +

Runs under 1 hour my target will be 148 to 155.
Runs more than 1 hour will be under 148 to 150, formerly under 142.
This should bring my long pace near 8:10 and shorter stuff just under 8:00.

Sun
Bike Spin class 60 minutes

Monday
Run 60 minutes 7.1 miles HR 148

Tuesday
Run 45 minutes 5.6 miles HR 147 (lunch time)
Swim 3200 meters - endurance speed see below
Bike spin class 60 minutes HR 136
Run 30 minutes 3.6 miles HR 144

Swim 3200
warm up 300 free, 6X75, 200 free
4X250
--150 build :10 rest
--50 fast :05 rest
--50 easy :30 rest
300 kick
6X125
--75 build :10 rest
--25 fast :05 rest
--25 easy :20 rest
200 cool down