Sunday

Biked out in Pickney on the bike loop for the Ann Arbor triathlon, did 2 loops of the course, not hard but fairly moderate to learn the ups and downs of the course. Afterwards I ran on the trails for 7 miles trying to find the right ones for the run course but didn't find the correct way and wound up running back the way I came from, so a couple of miles were added onto the run. Once again, not too hard, just learning the trails.



Anywho, 28 miles in just under 90 minutes HR 135 and 7-7.5 mile run in 1:09:20 on the trails HR 142.



Really nice day outside, probably near 75 degrees, I got some sun and a little farmer's tan. The trail was easier than I expected it to be and the bike was more difficult than I remembered, some of the hills had to be near 8 percent grade.

Boing...Boing...Boing...Bonk!!!

The days of training with little nutrition are over.



Bonked on run cuz I didn't feed myself enough. I did 2 gels on the bike and should have done one before the run. I wound up taking a break for about 5 min after I ate a gel and then when I felt better, I ran back home.



Swim 3000 in about 60 min with FAST



Bike 38.3 miles in 2:03:00 HR 132



Run 3.5 miles in 30:25 HR 142

Friday's short run

Short run of 4 miles 33:54 HR 148, I wore the racing shoes again to get used to them. They sure do feel light and fast.

Friday lunch time swim

2000yds straight 35:42



500 splits 9:02,9:01,9:01,8:38



Pool water made me sick to my stomach - kind of feeling woozy now. Good thing I'm back at work again.

Re-Working my ATP

I had planned on some extra recovery weeks in my Annual Training Plan thinking that I would need some extra rest or maybe even get sick and fall behind so I allowed room for some shifting of my training. Since that hasn't happend and I agreed to swim my state master's meet with my swim club (which happens to be next weekend) I first need to give myself an easy week before the meet and then make the new ATP to fit the scheduling of the Muncie Endurathon, my first A race.



On the advise of a very knowledgeable coach (you know who you are Mike) I decided to make my final plan in 3 week blocks

So the new ATP looks like this:



4/3/05 Base 1

4/10/05 Base 1

4/17/05 Base 1 easy (State swim meet)

4/24/05 Base 2

5/1/05 Base 2

5/8/05 Base 2 easy, maybe a duathlon

5/15/05 Base 3

5/22/05 Base 3

5/29/05 Base 3 easy

6/5/05 Build 1 maybe Seahorse Triathlon

6/12/05 Build 1 Ann Arbor Triathlon

6/19/05 Build 1 easy, Big Fish or Muskoka

6/26/05 Build 2

7/3/05 Build 2

7/10/05 Build 2 easy, start 10 day taper, maybe Waterloo sprint tri

7/17/05 Race week Muncie Endurathon, Half IM distance 7/16/05

Thursday

Swim 4000yds of pull sets. This has worked well since my long run is the day before. It gives my legs a bit of a rest while letting me focus on some of my stroke flaws pointed out by Ken G. During these sets I can concentrate on the corrections. The main flaw I'm working on now is to keep my elbows higher so I am pushing my hands with my arms instead of pulling them.



Anywho, 4000 yds in 1:20:00

500 pre warm up

warm up 300 swim, 100 kick, 4X50 build, 300 pull

2X300 pull :20 RI (1st without paddles, 2nd with paddles)

6X50 fast :15 RI

2X300 pull :20 RI (1st without paddles, 2nd with paddles)

4X50 fast :15 RI

2X300 pull :20 RI (1st without paddles, 2nd with paddles)

2X50 sprints :15 RI

200 cool down



That was pretty close to last thursday's pull set with the addition of the 500 pre warm up and the 2 extra 300 pulls. I also adjusted the cool down from 400yds.



My legs were still kind of blown from yesterday's run and I was tired from my swim set but instead of bagging the bike ride today I just rode really easy on the road bike. 17.8 miles in 1:04:30, HR 125. It didn't rain as much as the weather channel predicted and dried up by 6pm and stayed near 50 degrees F. Despite the wind, it was a pleasant ride.

Wednesday's long run

I ran as fast as my little legs would carry me but I was still kind of tired from the 3 hours of training I did yesterday. Plus, since I trained so long yesterday, I really didn't get much to eat either so I went out about half full.



14 miles in 2:01:57 HR 153. The last 5 miles the PE was high (16) but the HR wasn't, it was getting difficult to hold 8:45's but I managed to do it. However, I missed negative splitting the run by about 10 secons and I wasn't too happy about that. I really wanted to neg split by at least 30 seconds. Looking back at last week's long run I ran nearly an identical pace. Next week's long run I'll probably go out a little bit slower, start at 8:50 and move down to about 8:35.



Nutrition on the run was my fuel belt with Gatorade (28oz) and 2 gels, one at 3 miles and one at 9 miles. Probably a little bit light on liquids for a 75 degree day.



This length of run is moving up to my upper range that I feel comfortable training at, and that is why I've decided to run Half Ironmans this year instead of a full Ironman. Maybe by the end of the season I'll feel comfortable with 20+ mile runs and go for an IM next year. I was kind of thinking of Ironman Wisconsin or maybe Canada.

Easy bike ride

Trying to get a club ride started and got 2 other people today so the 3 of us rode 24.4 miles in about 90 minutes. Easy ride, hopefully word of mouth will spread the news of an easy ride and more people will come.


Rode to the end of Hines in Northville and back.

Tuesday's training

Bike ride on the blue bike, 17.8 miles in 56 min and then 5.1 mile run in 41:17.


Nice and sunny outside, 75 degrees and a little breezy. The nicest day of the year so far. I have an easy group ride tonight, if not for that I would have done my long run today. Tomorrow has a chance of rain, hopefully it goes around Westland.

Monday's swim

4000yds 1:25:00



1000yds warm up (300S,300K,400pull)

3X500 decending :30 RI (9:00,8:45,8:32)

3X200 :15 RI

6X50 on :55

600 cool down



I need to remember to bring some Gatorade to the 4000 swims to help me along. I start to get hungry and want to stop if I don't have anything with me.

Weekly plans

Plans for this week.



Mon Swim 4000 E2

Tue Bike 1:00 group, run 5 miles (not necessarily in that order)

Wed Run Long 14 miles (about 2:05)

Thu Swim 4000 E2, Bike 1:00 (Big gear/Little gear)

Fri Swim 2000, Run 3-4 miles easy

Sat Swim 4000, Bike 2:00, Run 5 miles

Sun Bike 2:00, run 6 miles



Feeling good after last week but found it tough to swim the day after the long run. Sunday was done early so it seemed like I had the day off and relaxed the rest of the day.

Sunday training

Bike on CT cuz of the weather 20 miles 1:05:00 HR 125 and then run on Hines afterwards for 4 miles in 34:41 HR 146. HR was pretty low for both but that seems to happen when I get a lot of sleep and I have gotten a lot in the past few days.

Saturday

Longer training day and it all had to take place inside due to the weather.



Swim with FAST 3000 yds, warm up, short sets and then 3-100yd sprints. (1:20,1:22,1:23) Got video taped and some stroke help from Ken G.



Run at Ballys 5 miles in 37:57 HR 162, 3 miles at the top of zone 2 and 2 miles in zone 4. (7:48,7:48,7:47,7:35,6:59) I wore the DS Trainers to break them in and get used to them.



1:00:00 on CT for about 17 miles, HR 125. A little bit tired from the run, program 54 again.

Short easy workouts for friday

Swam during lunch, 2000yds straight 34:47, a little faster than I expected. I was just planning on swimming four 9 min 500 splits but they came out like this:



8:46, 8:47, 8:43, 8:30



Ran after work about 5:30pm, 4 miles 35:17 HR 147, easy run just for the extra session.

End of month totals

I haven't been publishing monthly totals but I'm pretty proud of this month.



Swim 55100yds in 19:11:39

Bike 208.2 in 11:01:30

Run 122.6 in 17:17:59

Hockey 1:30:00

Total of 49:01:08



Most of the effort has gone to the swim and the run but I had picked up the biking for the last 2 weeks and will continue to do so through May when I go into my build periods.

Thursday

Still kind of tired today but I felt much better after I got in the water.



3000 yds force set

600 warm up

300 pull :20 RI

6X50 fast :15 RI

300 pull :20 RI

4X50 fast :15 RI

2X300 pull:20 RI

2X50 fast :15 RI

400 cool down



1:00 on the blue bike on the CT, about 18 miles total, HR 132 for main set.

15 min warm up

40 min (3min big gear 60 rpm, 3min spin 100rpm repeat...stand for 1 min every 9 min)

5 min cool down

Wednesday's long run

Ran long outside today, 13.1 miles 1:53:12 HR 150, this is actually a PR for me although I wasn't going for one, my plan was to run 8:45's for the first half and then neg split for the second half (56:52,56:20) so that really didn't work too well. I still feel like I'm putting out more effort when I'm outside vs. the indoor track but still the HR's match the track times allmost perfectly. I carried the four bottles of Gatorade on my fuel belt and did one gel at the half-way point. It was 60 degrees and a little bit windy.

Tuesday

Beautiful day outside finally. It got up over 60 degrees for a while.



I started the day with an easy run on Hines drive, 5.3 miles 45:50 HR 152 (8:38 pace). Uneventful, I was just using the run for junk miles and a warm up for my bike ride.



Bike was 17.6 miles 54:00 HR 143. There was a headwind going out and I felt pretty strong going into it so I rode at a pace to keep my HR near 145. On the way back I was up 2 gears and still held the same HR.



I was expecting to be slower on the bike cuz of the time off over the winter but I seem to be pretty close to where I was at the end of last season. Because of the increase in speed, I feel that I wasn't strong enough to turn over the gear that I wanted to going over some on the hills. I seem to have the strength of last season but with more cardiovascular endurance. Got to do some thinking on this issue.

Monday's swim

I didn't feel like getting the workout book out of the bag and did a very simple endurance workout.



4000yds 1:20:00

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

10X300 on 5:45 (came in on 5:15)

400 cool down



Pretty simple wasn't it?

The end of an easy week

Yes, the easy week has come and gone and I feel much better now than I did earlier in the week. Today I did a very easy bike ride with my dad and then a tempo run afterwards with my dad pacing me on his bike. 20 miles on the bike in 1:15:00 (didn't even bother with the HRM) and 4 miles on the run in 31 minutes HR 165, 16 min out - 15 min back.



Next weeks plans are a little different since I will be on the bike more often.


Mon: Swim 4000, Endurance

Tue: Bike 1 Hour, run 4-5 miles

Wed: Long run 13 miles, approx 1:50

Thu: Swim 4000, bike 1 Hour

Fri: Swim 2000, run 3 miles

Sat: Swim with FAST 4000, bike 2 Hours, run 4-5 miles

Sun: Bike 1 Hour, run 5-6 miles

Saturday

Swim with FAST 1:15, 3500 yds



Run on Hines 6 miles, 0:51:20, HR 153

Friday

Ride outside with FAST this morning and it started out a bit colder than I would have liked (35 deg F) but since I commmitted myself to it two weeks ago I went through with it. Now I'm not a fan of cold weather cycling so I overdressed thinking that I could just peel off layers as I went along. It turned out that I was pretty comfy for the entire ride dressed as I was.



This is how much I was wearing: Normal cycling shorts, leg warmers, tights over them, shoe covers, full gloves, sleeveless shirt, regular cycling shirt, arm warmers, thin coat, shell coat over that, 2 helmet liners and tape over the vents of my helmet. I had the shell opened up about half way most of the ride to let a bit of air in.



Ride time 2:00:00, 37 miles, no HR data but probably about 140ish, it wasn't really hard but not easy either.

Thursday

Swim during lunch 1500yds, 26:39, zone 3, felt pretty good, didn't want to overdo it cuz my long run is after work.



Run 10 miles easy, 1:28:00, HR 151. I ran outside again since the weather is finally getting better. It was about 45 deg F. My PE is so much higher right now for running outside vs. running inside. I had to watch the HRM to make sure I was running fast enough while if I run on the track at Bally's I have to watch it to make sure I'm not running too fast. The HR matched my run pace pretty much as I expected it too, I just need more outside running.

Another easy day

Swim 3000 in about 1 HR



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

4X500 decending (9:00,8:55,8:50,8:40) :30 RI

400 cool down (200 kick, 200 pull)



Felt really strong in the water today, it's about time!!! Still kept it short.



Run 3 miles easy, 26:00, HR 150, was going to run 5 but I was really hungry since I hadn't eaten since 9am and I forgot to bring some Gatorade with me today. That's fine, it's an easy week anyway.

Tuesday on the bike

I got 17.8 miles on the road in at 57 minutes, HR 133. It was quite windy on the way out and comfortable on the way back and the temp was 43 deg F. I rode the tri-bike cuz of some issues with the road bike.



I was testing out the cold weather gear and my head was a little bit cold. I wore my normal helmet with my new liner in it and the combo let in just a little bit too much air. Next time I'll use the old helmet with the vents taped up like I've done in the past. Of course my nose ran faster than I could have but I expected it.



Since I rode on tuesday, I'll move my run to wednesday after my swim.

Monday

I swam really easy cuz I was pretty tired. Just about 1000yds in about 25 minutes. Good thing this is an easy week.



I just got back from lunch and it is beautiful outside. I might be getting sick enough to take the rest of the day off :) Looks like a great day for a bike ride.

Food choices

While mentioning my poor food choices for the week I started to think of planning a meal schedule too. Most of the time my food prep is imprompt but a little more planning should help with energy levels. Last week I found myself eating a lot near the end of the week. I seemed to have a craving for milk, (don't know why) and went through 2 gallons last week. (no-fat milk)



Dinner planning for this week:

Mon Chicken and vegetable stir fry w/brown rice

Tue Homemade tacos with real lettuce, tomato and flour tortilla's

Wed Leftover chicken

Thu Leftover taco

Fri Spagatti with meat sauce

Sat Leftover spagatti (easy fix)

Sun Go out


Lunch is almost allways the same, PJB on whole grain bread, 2-3 banana's, lowfat snack cake. Sometimes I forget my lunch or eat it early, and then go to Subway.

Breakfast has been mostly cereal (cheerio's) and was thinking of taking Gordo's suggestion of making a fruit breakfast with a little bit of protein. (http://www.byrn.org/newsletter/2002/apr2k2.htm) See #4 comment

Sunday

Well I think a combination of poor food choices and a lack of rest has caught up with me this week. I got on the bike for 45 min and had a very difficult time getting my HR over 125 and I was averaging over 21mph on the CT. Also I ran afterwards and got about a half mile into it and turned back. It's the end of the hard cycle and time for a rest week.



It's been getting warmer outside and there's hope of riding on the road soon. If the weather cooperates I might get 3 short rides in this week.



This week looks like this:



Mon swim 2500 ~ 50 min

Tue run 5 miles

Wed swim 3500 ~ 1:10, bike 30 min

Thu swim 2000 ~ 40 min, Run 9 miles

Fri bike 45 to 60 min

Sat swim 4000 ~ 1:20, run 5 miles

Sun run 4 miles, maybe an easy bike ride if the weather is nice.



Total of approx 9:00:00

Saturday's swim and run

The FAST swim was a bit short today (2400yds) cuz we did some fun relays after a short workout. I'm not sure if I'm going to finish out my weekly yardage tomorrow or not. I've only got 12000yds in for the week.



I seem to have some problems with the shorter distances, 50's, 100's and I think it's cuz I don't really do that many short intervals. I seem to struggle with those distances while I'm fairly strong swimming 300's and above. Maybe it's time to add in some shorter speed intervals into the mix. Maybe on my short day. I also feel that I need some work on basics too, I seem to feel that I could be more efficient than I am now even though this is the best I've ever swam.



I ran in the evening at the track cuz of the rain and decided to kick it up a bit and see what I could do. I've been good and have kept most of my training near my Aet and needed a change for today. 5 miles, 37:54, HR 162 but it took two miles to get the HR up, mile splits were 8:03 145bpm, 7:38 158bpm, 7:26 165bpm, 7:26 168bpm, 7:21 171bpm. I wasn't breathing all that hard but my legs were wearing down somewhat. I've started to catch up on some sleep but I feel I'm only at 90% right now. This is also my third hard week and am ready for an easy week to recover somewhat.



Tomorrow I get to sleep in a bit, hopefully it's dry outside to I can get out to do the training. Looking to do a brick tomorrow 90min/45min.

Friday

Just an hour on the bike today trying to hold over 130bpm. I wanted to be a little bit fresher for tomorrow's swim so I have an easier day today.



1:00:00, 21.1 miles, program 54, HR 127

Thursday's training

Swim with paddles 4000yds, 1:25



500 pre warm up

300 swim, 300 kick warm up

8X150 pull with paddles decending 1-8 :20 rest

8X100 pull with paddles decending 1-8 :15 rest

8X50 pull with paddles decending 1-8 :10 rest

400 cool down



I've done this swim a couple of weeks ago but this time I brought it up to 4000 total yards. I was a bit tired today cuz of some late nights but I will catch up some tonight with some extra rest.



After I got home I ran 6 miles on Hines Drive, 52:40 HR 153, 35 degrees outside so it wasn't too bad. It's nice to get on the road again.



Friday will be a bit easier with just a bike ride of about 1:30:00 to do. I want to be a bit more rested for saturday's master swim than I have been for the last few weeks.

Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake

I found an old family song that I can remember my Dad, Grandfather and Great Uncles singing around Christmas time. The websites I found it on claimes it's an Irish song but my great grandparents were Swedish and Norweigen (Johnson and Ebbisen) and I though it had come from them. Going through it there are a lot of Irish names so I guess it really did come from Ireland. I remember it slightly different from the way it is here but it's been 30 years since I've heard it so I can't realy make any corrections.



Here it is...



Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake



As I sat in my window last evening

The letterman brought it to me

A little gilt-edged invitation sayin'

"Gilhooley come over to tea"

I knew that the Fogarties sent it.

So I went just for old friendships sake.

The first thing they gave me to tackle

Was a slice of Miss Fogarty's cake.



Chorus: There were plums and prunes and cherries,

There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too

There was nutmeg, cloves and berries

And a crust that was nailed on with glue

There were caraway seeds in abundance

Such that work up a fine stomach ache

That could kill a man twice after eating a slice

Of Miss Fogarty's Christmas cake.



Miss Mulligan wanted to try it,

But really it wasn't no use

For we worked in it over an hour

And we couldn't get none of it loose

Till Murphy came in with a hatchet

And Kelly came in with a saw

That cake was enough be the powers above

For to paralyze any man's jaws



Miss Fogarty proud as a peacock,

Kept smiling and blinking away

Till she flipped over Flanagans brogans

And she spilt the homebrew in her tea

Aye Gilhooley she says you're not eatin,

Try a little bit more for me sake

And no Miss Fogarty says I,

For I've had quite enough of your cake



Maloney was took with the colic,

O'Donald's a pain in his head

Mc'Naughton lay down on the sofa,

And he swore that he wished he was dead

Miss Bailey went into hysterics

And there she did wriggle and shake

And everyone swore they were poisoned

Just from eating Miss Fogarty's cake

Wednesday's training

I was a little rushed to get all this stuff in cuz I had some important things to do in the evening but I did it.



Ran during lunch 3 miles, 25:50, basically an easy run to get a fifth run in for the week, no HRM, just comfortable running without any pressure since it wasn't the focus of the day's training.



Swim after work, 4000yds, 1:25:00, E2

500 pre warm up

6X75 :20 rest warm up

2X200 swim

100 moderate

2X300 swim

100 moderate

2X400 swim

100 moderate

500 pre cool down

6X75 last 25 non-free cool down

Tuesday's long run

Ran long again but it looked like it was going to rain outside so I ran on the track. I picked it up at the end cuz I was trying to drop someone and still finished strong. There was also a time around mile 9 that I stuck with a faster guy for about 1/2 mile.



12 miles, 1:38:14, HR 156, near the top of zone 2.



Went to REI today to use my dividend and 20% off coupon and got me some bike stuff. First I got a pair of cold weather booties that I've needed so bad then I picked out a pair of cold weather gloves. I also got a new skull cap for under my helmet and a thin beenie hat for running. The whole lot cost me $60, that's just a little bit more than the booties are normally priced!!! Looks like I should be able to ride in 40 deg weather now, just in time.

Easy monday

Swam easy for 1500yds, about 30 min. Starting to ramp up the hours and I feel that I need a rest day now.



500 warm up

6X75 swim

2X200 swim moderate

150 cool down

Sunday training

I actually got on the Computrainer and rode for 1:30:00 this morning, hurray!!! I got just over 30 miles in with a HR of 131, program #54 but I didn't get the brick in like I wanted to. Justin had an early hockey game and I ran afterwards. 4 miles 35:55 HR 152, kind of cold outside, felt colder than the 32 that the weather channel said but it was only 4 miles. PE seemed high but the pace matched the HR pretty close to what I would have expected.

Next week's plans

Next week is the last hard week in this cycle which has gone very well in my opinion. So far the run milage has gone up well, my feet and knees don't ache, the swimming yards have come up dramatically and the other strokes are comming along much better. The only thing this month has lacked is the bike time which I will put a lot more effort into next month.



So far, next week's schedule looks like this:



Mon Swim 4000

Tue Run long 1:40 (12 miles) Bike easy afterwards 30:00 E1

Wed Swim 4000 Run 3 miles easy E1

Thu Swim 2000 E2-E3 Run 6 miles E2

Fri Bike 1:00 E2

Sat Swim 4000 (FAST) Run 5 Hills E2-E3

Sun bike :45 E2 Run 5 miles E2-E2 maybe some pick-ups

About 11:44:00



After that I get an easy week on 13500yds of swimming, 1:45 of biking and 23 miles of running. About 9:40:00

Friday Saturday

Friday I just swam 1000yds and did some drills and had some fun in the water, I was pretty tired and didn't want to do anything that hard.



Saturday I swam with FAST and had a pretty good workout. I felt a bit better today cuz I didn't swim hard the day before.



4000yds 1:30:00


600 warm up

2X300 free on 5:30 (lead)

3X200 pull on 3:30 (lead)

4X150 middle 50 non-free (lead 1)

6X100 kick (lead)

4X100 last 25 fly on 1:50 (did 1 arm fly)

200 cool down

400 post cool down (to reach 4000)



After the swim I ran at ballys, 6 miles 52:59 HR 153, 3 miles on a hill program on treadmill at 9:30 pace then 3 miles on track at 8:15 pace. I had planned on 5 miles but forgot and ran one extra. I will probably only run 4 tomorrow since it is supposed to be a brick run but that really depends on the weather outside. I only have 28 miles planned for the week and am very reluctant to go over the planned milage even though I feel strong.

The next training cycle

Hopefully next month it will be a lot warmer outside and allow me to start riding the bike. I've started to plan my next cycle (base 3 of 4) and to include 3-4 bikes a week I need to change my run and swim days around some. Right now runs are Tue,Wed,Thu,Sat,Sun and swims are Mon,Wed,Fri,Sat and I try to get some biking in there too.


The new schedule kind of looks like this. It's a basic week and can be a little flexible. My goal is to have 3-4 swims, 3-4 bikes and 5 runs all done in 14,15 and 16 hrs and then down to about 9 hrs for an easy week. This is still 2 1/2 weeks away so I'm still in the planning stage. I might chop the hours down a couple cuz my "A" race isn't till July and I don't want to get overtrained or burned out. I'll see how I feel after this period ends and I get more miles on the bike.


Mon - easy swim

Tue - easy club bike, easy run

Wed - Long run

Thu - Swim, bike

Fri - Swim, easy run

Sat - Masters swim, Long bike, Specific run

Sun - Club bike, Specific Run



According to books I have, I will need to include some ME work and some shorter speed sessions in each discipline in this next phase. I've got to talk to some people to get some opinions on how much to do.

Thursday, a tough day

Swim 4000yds, pull bouy and paddles

I didn't swim hard, just a steady E2 pace. I'm getting faster with the paddles, most 500's with paddles were in the 8:40's, without were near 9:05.



500yds warm up, easy straight

6X500 1,3,5 paddles, 2,4,6 without :30 rest

500 cool down (2X100 alternating kick style every 25, 2X50 breast, 200 swim)



Run 5 miles, tempo, goal - 8:00 min/mile, 39:27 HR 161 bpm

Wednesday

Ran 2 miles during lunch, untimed just to get in the extra run day.



Swim 4000 yds, 1:25:00, a little bit tired still but OK, shoulder and knee is not bothering me any more unless I bang them on something.



500 pre warm up

200, 2X200 (50S,100K,50S) warm up

400,300,200,100 moderate :20 rest

300,200,100 neg split :25 rest

200 fast :30 rest

100 fast :30 rest

4X150 pull :20 rest

100 cool down

300 post cool down with breast stroke and butterfly drills, a little backstroke too.

Breast stroke has gotten much better. The fly is comming along too.

My Daisey Dog

She loves the snow!!!

Monday Tuesday

Monday: short swim 1000yds, little warmup, dolphin kick drills, 1 arm butterfly drills. 4X25 butterfly, short cool down. This was just to loosen up my shoulder.


Tuesday: short swim 1500yds, 500swim, 4X100 dolphin kick with fins, 4X25 single arm fly drills, 4X25 fly, 400 cool down.



Run 11 miles on track, 1:32:23, HR 157, HR seemed a bit high for PE, felt OK. Shoulder and knee felt much better.

aaahhh!!!

I'm so banged up this morning, I'm thinking of canceling my swim today or maybe just cut it down to 2000yds instead of 3500yds of paddles.

Sunday training

Well it started with nice weather (45 deg F) so I actually got on my bike and rode outside today but on the way back I slipped on some wet pavement and went down. Just banged up a little, not much to speak of but the bike had some shifting problems. Anywho, real easy 12 miles in about 45 minutes HR 130, blue bike, pretty windy and patches of water in a lot of places.



Ran right after the bike, 5.1 miles, 43:20, HR 153, PE was high but the HR matched the pace pretty well. I'm still a little tired from hockey late last night.

Hockey night in Wayne

1:30:00 of hockey in Wayne tonight, Justin skated too. We both did pretty well. I did much better than I expected.

Saturday

What was I saying a couple of days ago about my lungs being stronger than my legs? Well it was apparent today too. Although today's run was not the key workout of the day, it didn't seem that easy.



After the swim I got taped with our underwater video camera, Ken and Jason pointed a few things out and then Jason helped me with my flip-turns.



Swim with FAST this morning, 4300yds total, this one guy leading our lane was killing us.

600yds warm up

100yds additional warm up

3X900yds (100 non-free, 200 pull, 300 swim, 200 pull catch-up, 100 kick)

4X100yds on 1:45

200yds cool down

300yds post cool down for camera



Easy run on Hines, 6 miles 54:18, HR 147, about 35 deg F outside. Still a bit chilly for me but better than running on the track at Ballys.

A lot of shtuff today

Started with a force swim, 3500yds 1:15:00


400 pre warm up

300 swim, 300 kick warm up

8X150 pull with paddles decending 1-8 :20 rest

8X100 pull with paddles decending 1-8 :15 rest

8X50 pull with paddles decending 1-8 :10 rest

100 cool down

I got my 150's down to 3:20, my 100's under 1:30 and my 50's to :40 at the end of each set. I'm normally slower overall with paddles but today I seemed to work really well with them. I still do some funky stuff with my arms on my flip-turns and the paddles really emphasized it. I seemed to have gotten my elbow bend back near what it should be and worked on my hand entries a lot.



Run 3.1 miles on Hines, 26:40, HR 151 to make up for yesterday's short run. Nice way to get in my 5th run.



Bike 19.4 miles, 1:00:00, HR 131, watched American Flyers for motivation. I was kind of shooting for a HR above 135 but that wasn't happening so I kept up the steady pace and was surprised with the result. I used program 54 on the Computrainer which is a continuous random course. It seemed pretty close to road riding. It was 35 deg F today and I allmost took the bike outside, then my senses came back.

oops I did it again

Only this time I forgot my watch, not the transmitter. I only had a short time to run so I paced behind a fast runner at bally's. 3 miles, 23:00

Wednesday's swim

4000yds, 1:25:00, started out kind of blah, blah but when I got about half way done I felt much better and faster. Thinking of changing up a bit by using paddles and doing a force workout for friday's swim. Probably still stick to 3000-3500yds.



500yd pre warm up

6X75 :20 rest, warm up



2X200 E2 :20 rest

100 moderate :20 rest

2X300 E2 :30 rest

100 moderate

2X400 E2 :40 rest

100 moderate



6X75 cool down (50 free, 25 non-free)

500yds post cool down, easy w/pull bouy

Monday Tuesday

I kind of wanted a day off on monday but didn't schedule it so I cut my swim down to 1500yds and got some extra rest. Jumping to 4000yd swims seems to be too big of a jump for me right now so I'm going to swim 2 4000's, a 3000 and a 1500 this week instead of 4 4000's. After a few weeks of building up to it I'll be up to 16000 a week. I don't hurt after the swims (ie shoulders) just generally tired.



Tuesday I forgot my HRM transmitter for my run and probably ran too fast but it was a good motivator for me. My plans were to run 8:30's to 8:45's for 5 miles and then drop about 5-10 sec from that average for the next 5 miles. Well the first 5 miles I averaged 8:15's and the last 5 miles I averaged 8:05's. Guessing at what the HR was I would probably say the first 5 were about 150-152 and the next 4 miles were 155-158. My last mile was a bit faster (7:53) and probably had a HR of 162-165. I tried to hold the PE in the 13-15 range while kicking it up for the end. Mostly a pace that I could hold a conversation with.



It seems to me that my breathing has improved much quicker than my legs have gotter stronger, although both have gotten so much better, I feel that my legs are a little behind and am thinking of adding some strength training for them. I guess it's possible that they are behind because of the lack of bike time which will increase as soon as this crappy weather subsides. :(



Anyhoo, the run was 10 miles, 1:21:48 (a PR for me) 8:11 miles, no HR info.

Friday Saturday Sunday

Friday swim was cut short cuz I was kind of tired. 1000yds, about 20 minutes.



Saturday - swam with FAST in the morning and added 400yds to bring me up to 4000yds, after that I ran at Bally's, 5 miles 41:23. HR was low 151, PE was pretty low too.



Sunday had just an easy run, 4 miles, 35:33, HR 148.



The easy week is done and back to 3 harder weeks of training. Tuesday I will probably do a run test again and I might do a swim test on friday. Provided the weather improves, I want to get the bike on the road again.

Thursday's run

Ran on Hines today, 27 deg F, 8 miles, 1:09:36, HR 150. Heart rate was low today as well as the PE. I enjoy running outside but this is still a little bit cold for me.

Wednesday

It hasn't seemed like an off week yet but the next two days only have one workout each.



Today had a 4000yd swim, 1:25



500yd pre warm up

warm up200S,2X(50S,100K,50S)

400,300,200,100 E2 :20 RI

300,200,100 neg split E2-3 :25 RI

200 Fast :30 RI

100 fast :30 RI

4X150 pull :20 RI

400 cool down



12 mile on CT 40 minutes 5 min warm up, 30 min at 135bpm, 5 min cd

Finish to the workout spins

Ok, after today I get back to the regular week's training schedule, still this is a down week so the running volume will be reduced but not the swimming. In fact, swim volume will increase this week but the intensity will drop a bit so I can get some time for recovery. I've allready started out the week with a bike ride and plan on two more sessions of about 30 minutes this week to get rolling back into the biking.


Today's swim was 4000yds, 1:24:00 A little more difficult for me than I though it would be, during the first 10 100's I didn't think that I would be able to hold the pace for the entire workout and then when I was near the 15th 100 I starting comming in on 1:38, go figure? I finished strong though and got a good feeling of riding the wave in front of me, maybe in a month or so I can drop 5 seconds off of that time.

500 easy swim warm up (about 9:10)

30X100 on 1:55 (comming in at 1:40)
500 easy cool down with pull bouy (about 9:50)



After the swim I went for an easy 4 mile run, 33:54 (8:29), HR 151. I got pretty tired about half way through the run and ate a gel so I wouldn't bonk and within 5 minutes I was feeling strong again.

Monday's workouts

Well I was so busy last night being funny that I didn't write down what I did :-P


So here it is:

Run 5 miles, 43:40, 149 bpm, easy run to make up for missing sunday



Bike 35 minutes, 5 min warm up, 5 min to get up to speed, 20 min at 140bpm, 5 min cool down. Program 55 on my CT. Just over 10 miles, ave HR for 20 min session was 135.

spin workouts around and around

Sunday's plans went awry when I decided to sleep in and put my run off untill later in the day...Big mistake. Well, I didn't get the run in but I did have a very productive day otherwise.



I worked as a timer for our club's swim meet that was held at Brighton High school. That was pretty fun, talking with friends, watching some amazing swimmers as well as many average ones. When I got up I found about 2 inches on snow on the ground, Sunday morning so not many plow trucks, and had a 35 mile drive to Brighton. Not too bad really but I hadn't eaten anything yet since I was out of milk and couldn't have a couple bowls of cereal. So I get to the High School earlier than expected and figured that I had some time to eat if only I could find a resturant. I found this nice little greek resturant and poitely imformed the waitress that I was "Pressed for time" and bang I had scrambled eggs, hash browns and toast in front of me in about 3 minutes. I scarfed down the food, paid for the meal, left a $2 tip for a $4 meal and made it back in time for the timers meeting. So everything went quite well.



After the meet there was a long drive to get Justin from his mom's house and then up in time for his hockey game.



As you can see there was no time for a run since I hadn't eaten since 11am and that was just pizza. So instead of trying to get home and rush through a workout I gave up and we just went out to dinner and ate something sensible.



Now the spin part, since this is an easy week anyway, I was going to take monday off, so I just said sunday was monday and monday was sunday and did my run day today. I was also going to swim today but the pool was closed so today's swim gets moved to tomorrow and tomorrows bike gets moved to today. Confused yet? For logging purposes, I logged today's run miles for last week, tommorow's bike for today and today's swim for tomorrow. Now I'm confused!!!

Friday and Saturday

Duh...?! What did I do on friday, oh yeh, swim 2700yds endurance speed workout



I've done this one before but I'm not sure if I wrote it out on the blog yet. I really like this workout.



800yds warm up, :20 sec rest after all intervals.

400 swim T+:03 (1:43 pace)

4X100 at T (1:40 pace)

300 T+:03

3X100 at T

200 T+:03

2X100 under T

200 cool down.



Saturday swim was with FAST again, I was a bit tired and didn't lead too much.

3600yds

8X50 kick

600yds warm up

3X(4X75 on 1:20, 4X50 on :55, 6X25 on :25)

10X25 any stroke except freestyle.

400 cool down.



After the swim I ran 6 miles at ballys, 48:34, HR 158. A little bit on the high end of a base run but still in the zone.

Thursday's run

Well, I got in the new shoes and I really smoked my fast miles on today's run.



5 miles 38:04 HR 168



1 mile warm up 8:24

3 miles fast 7:07,7:03,7:06

1 mile cool down 8:22

Wednesday's swim

Swam 2500 straight today, 45:00. Still kind of tired from being up late last night and the long run.

Monday and Tuesday

Monday I cut my swim short, mainly cuz I didn't feel like swimming that day. I got about 1000 yds in and called it a day. Not tired or anything, just not in the mood. Thinking of swimming a straight 3500 on wednesday or maybe 7X500 @ 8:50's to shake up the training a little. I really like swimming long sets, all of the 100's and 200's are good for speed and technique but I still have to enjoy the training too.


Tuesday's run was outside again on Hines drive. The weather channel said 48 but it felt more like 38. Hines was flooded at Middlebelt so I had to turn around and run west from there. It started to rain slightly as I got to the 7 mile mark so I turned around and headed home. Total distance of 9 miles in 1:19:41, HR was 155, a little high but he PE was normal so I went with it cuz it was an 8:51 pace which has been normal for me lately.



I got another pair of shoes today to start working with. Asics DS Trainer X's - I plan to use them for racing since they are much lighter than my Kayano X's. I'll start running in them for a little speedwork to break them in and to see how they will work for me. I still plan to do most of my runs in the Kayano's to save my feet and knees but I'm going to try everything that I feel may help my run times this year. I'll have more to say about them in a few days.

Sunday's run

I ran some intervals on the treadmill today and felt pretty good while running them. My HR was lower than expected at the end of each interval with the last one only getting up to 168 and that one was the highest. I guess this means that I didn't run them fast enough but I started out pretty conservative. I'm hoping these intervals will spark another jump in my training. The speed is comming



1 mile warm up 9:00

4X400 @ 7:00 pace, recover to 120bpm

4X400 @ 6:45 pace, recover to 120bpm

2X400 @ 6:30 pace, recover to 120bpm

1.5 mile cool down 8:20 pace (cuz it felt easy)



5 miles total, 49:30 total



I got on the bike for about 20 minutes after I got home but felt kind of drained and not in the mood for biking. Going to have to force myself to get on the bike this month.

Friday and Saturday

1500 straight on friday, going to start doing this swim for a good pace next week instead of junk yards.



Saturday, swim with FAST, 3600yds 1:20:00, not too hard but a little tired from a late hockey game for Justin the night before. Ran 6 easy miles on Hines, 53:18, HR 152.

Thursday's run

I departed a little from normal speed training and did a little bit more race specific training. Today's run was only 4 miles but my objective was to hold certain times on these miles and ran them back to back. After a few times of this I'm going to pick up to 5 and 6 miles with the middle miles being about 7:00.



Mile 1 obj 9:00 warm up actual 8:45

Mile 2 obj 8:00 act 7:50

Mile 3 obj 7:00 act 6:48

Mile 4 obj 8:30 act 8:20



These are obviously sandwiched between 10 to 15 minutes of stretching. It really helps me a lot.

Wednesday's swim

3200 yds



Still a little tired from the run on tuesday, normally I'm not tired from a base run but I was. I have also been reducing calories from my diet so that might be a reason. I'm down to 150lbs now, only 5 more to reach my goal. I also only had 6 hours of sleep last night cuz of Justin's hockey game.



800 warm up

3X300 decend (5:30,5:15,5:00)

200 kick

3X200 decend (3:45,3:30,3:20)

200 kick

3X100 decend (1:50,1:45,1:35)

200 cool down

Sunday Monday Tuesday

I took sunday off of training cuz I was tired and had a higher resting heart rate. It was gloomy outside too so I sat around and rested.



Monday: swim 3200 yds, E2, not too hard, just getting the laps in longer sets.



Tuesday: run 10 miles, 1:26:42, HR 153, Ballys track again cuz it is raining outside. Kept HR under 150 for first 5 miles and ran close to 8:50's, next 4 I let it go up to 154 and was in the low 8:40's then the last mile I ran kind of fast for me, 7:51. No particular reason, it just felt kind of fun.

Saturday's run

Ran 4 miles on Hines drive when I got home from work, 33 minutes. 1 mile warm up, 2 miles farklet, 1 mile cool down.



I took sunday off of training cuz I felt like taking a break, it was allmost warm enough to ride the bike outside and I tried but after a mile I rode back home.



Going to drop the wednesday run for a few weeks untill I get used to running outside again. The road is a lot different from the soft track I was running on and since it is so early in the training, I'm going to cut it back.

Friday and Saturday

Swim Friday during lunch 1500yds, 27 min, high zone 2 - low zone 3



Saturday swim with FAST was 3500yds

700 warm up (200S,200K,100non-Free,200S)



52X50 on 1:00 (swam :45's)


200 cool down



Felt really good througout the 50's. I lead 22 of them.



Going to run later today - I'm at work now.

Thursday's run

I had to move my short swim from Thursday at lunch to Friday cuz of a business lunch that I had but I still kept my run for Thursday afternoon.



6 miles on Hines, 53:06, HR 153. 35 degrees outside but still doable.



I have two 5 mile runs planned for the weekend that I'm thinking of shortening them to 3 or 4 miles cuz I'm thinking that this is too much running for this time of year. I still want to keep the frequency of five runs a week if I can but I feel that running 25-28 miles a week is ideal for right now.

Another good training day

Started with a swim that I thought was going to be too fast for how I was feeling but did it anyway. Once I warmed up I came right up to speed. This is an Endurance speed workout from my workout book.



The pace is set from my T-pace which is 1:40, all of the sets have a 20 second rest interval between them.



2700 yds



warm up 10X50 :15 RI, 300 pull (I forgot my pull bouy today)



400 @ T-pace+3

4X100 @ T-pace

300 @ T-pace+3

3X100 @ T-pace

200 @ T-pace+3

2X100 under T-pace



100 cool down



After the swim I did an easy 3 mile run, about 26 minutes, HR 149. This is an attempt to bring myself up to 5 runs a week. I'm not going to increase this run or change the intensity untill I bring my total milage up to 35 miles a week, which will be in a month or so.

Fun swim

The swim today was kind of fun. I hesitated a little before doing it cuz it looked hard but I like doing 500's so I went for it.



3000 yds, 1:05:00



400 swim - warm up



4X500 Decending 1-4, #4 at T-pace 1:00 rest

Times for 500's were 9:47, 9:15, 8:57, 8:22



16X25 Odds 12.5 fast/12.5 easy, evens fast, :40 swim interval



200 cool down



A little bit after dinner I put some miles on the bike

13 miles, 45:00, program 53 on CT.

Monday's dissapointment

I got to the pool today to find that it was closed for maintenance, Oh well, it was warmer today so since I didn't have my run stuff with me I decided to run outside.



8 miles, 1:10:50, HR 153. My first two and last two miles are just a tad long so it skews the time just a little, they're like 1.03 miles each. It is easy to use the markers on the road so I've allways just delt with the distances.



30 degrees F outside so it wasn't too bad, felt good but I had to rush a little to get home in time to pick Justin up from school. The last two miles I averaged 156-8 on the HR so I ended up a little fast.

The last of the screw around days

Tomorrow starts the new training cycle so today is the last day of screwing around with the swim and run to get more speed. It's time to get serious about structure and add in the bike times.


Today's training was a swim and a run. Swam easy 2600yds to finish out the 10,000 for the week, 1:00:00. My old favorite swim:

3X 600(200pull,200swim,100k,100 fast) plus warm up and cool down

Swam the 100's in 1:30



The run I felt a little tired on mainly cuz I ran pretty hard yesterday

5 miles, 43:00, HR 153.

Saturday's training

Due to unforeseen events I had to shift things around a bit and not train on friday. I also wasn't able to swim with FAST this morning so I had to swim by myself.



Today, I ran 6.2 miles, planned to run easy but I got running behind some guy at the gym and I just kept up the pace. I wound up at 46:57 for 10k which is a pr for me. I still want to drop 5 minutes off of that and I think it will be a long stretch for me to do so but I'm going to keep chipping away at that time. After the run I swam easy for 1500 yds in 28 minutes.



Next week starts my new training cycle with the intention of doing the Muncie Endurathon as my first A race. Goals for the race are :30 for the swim, 2:35 for the bike and 1:45 for the run. Those times plus transitions should get me under 5 hours. My first couple of base periods are going to be 4 weeks long, the last base will be 3 weeks as well as both of my build periods. Right now I have 2 weeks of peak scheduled but that's mainly just in case I get sick and fall back a week. I am seriously considering a running coach if I continue this plateau that I'm on. My next two cycles will dictate weather that happens or not.

Thursday run

Ran during lunch today cuz I'll be busy later



Easy 5 miles 43:51 ave HR 149



I missed yesterday's run cuz I was just too busy to get it in after the swim.

Wednesday

Swim 2900 yds Felt good, stayed in zone 2 for whole swim. Towel got stolen from locker room so I was a little upset afterwards.



6X75 warm up

500 :20 RI

400 :20 RI

300 :20 RI

200 :20 RI

2X300 Neg Split :30 RI

6X75 cool down (50 free 25 back)

Tuesday's run

9 miles 1:17:31 HR 159 8:37 min/mile. Ran at what I felt like was zone 2 but the HR was a little bit high.



Rode :30 min on CT easy

I got a little behind on the log, here is the updates

Friday swim 3300yds 1:10 E2



Saturday swim with FAST was cancelled so I swam at Ballys, 3200yds 1:10 E2, run 4 miles 34:38 at Bally's track



Sunday run test, 1 mile warm up, 4.07 miles 30 minutes, ave HR of the last 20 minutes was 174bpm, walk 5 min cool down. Just about what I expected. 7:22 min/miles



Monday 3000yds easy swim E1-2 1:04, am going to keep this swim as an easy swim so it's kind of like a recovery day



This week I'm adding another run on wednesday so I will be up to 5 runs a week. It will be about 3 miles and used just as extra miles and to get used to running more often.



This weeks Schedule



Monday Swim E2

Tuesday Run 9 miles, easy bike :30

Wednesday Swim E2, run 3 miles

Thursday Run 5 miles - 1 warmup, 3 tempo, 1cd, easy bike :30

Friday Swim (speed) 3000yds E2-3

Saturday Swim with FAST E2-4, run 6 miles

Sunday Run 5 miles treadmill track workout, easy bike 30 to 60 min

Thursday continued

After the run, I had some errands to do then got on the bike for 30 minutes. My son Justin got on my road bike on the CT and rode for 20 minutes. I'm really impressed with him taking the time to do exercise while the playstation is calling him from the bedroom.

Thursday's run

I forgot my watch today so I had to go by the clock on the wall and I don't have my HR data either. I ran what felt like a high zone 2 - low zone 3. Felt really good but kept the run short cuz this is a rollback week.



4 miles, 32:20, PE high E2

Wednesday's swim

I swam near 2000 yds. I quit early cuz the pool people were blasting cold water into the pool and it was screwing me up, so I'll make up the yardage on sunday. But anywho, 2000 yds in about 40 minutes, E2 workout.

Tuesday's run

After having yesterday off and feeling rested up I ran 9 miles today.



9 miles 1:14:11, HR 160, 8:15 min/miles



My goal was to run 8:30 for the whole run but I pushed the pace for the last 2 miles and ran the HR up somewhat. The last 2 miles were at 8:00m/m. I felt strong throughout the run and could have easily run 3 or more miles had the workout called for it. The next couple of runs will be a bit shorter cuz this week I'm pulling back a few miles. I should be at 20-22 for this week.

Day off

My first day off of training in 3 or 4 weeks and I was really bored.



First of all, I had the day off of work so after I got up at 6:30am (that's sleeping in for me during the week) I watched TV for a while and got my resting heart rate. Well I thought since yesterday had a hard run that it might be a little bit higher than normal and this rest day is what I needed, it was 46, that was an average of about 5 minutes with a low of 44, I was kind of expecting a 50 or 52.



After watching the shows about Hitler and Hussein I got off my butt and went to REI and browsed around a while and then off to the swimming store. I was looking for a 34 speedo and wouldn't you know it, my local swimming store that I waited around to open and passed by other stores just to go there doesn't have a 34 speedo. I was kind of pissed, I tried to support my local swimming store and everytime I go in there I either can't find anything or get ripped off with their high prices.



Sorry, I just had to bitch about that.



The rest of the day was uneventfull. I fought off the urges to swim and bike in favor of resting and even made out my training schedule for the next 2 weeks. I'll have more training stuff tomorrow.

Sunday's run

5 miles, 1 mile warm up, 8X400@6:45 to 7:00 min/mile, 2 miles of cool down, treadmill #1 for warmup and intervals, track for cool down.



Thought of going 2 more intervals but I was tight during stretching plus I was a little tired so I stuck with 8.

Saturday training

I think that Vince was trying to kill us today with the swim.



Swam with club today 3650yds, 1:30:00

600 warm up

8X50 kick with fins (I had some today)

4X (200IM,4X50pull,4X25IM order)

6X75 free on 1:20 (I lead 5 of these)

200 cool down



After the swim I ran at Bally's, 6 miles, 51:12, HR 157, pace 8:32.

I pushed the pace to 8:30's and tried to relax as much as I could. Debated on running another but the swim had really tired me out.

Friday's swim

I just swam today and blew off the bike ride. I didn't get much sleep last night and really don't feel like riding indoors. If it was outside it would be a different story.



1500 yds, 26:07, swam what felt like zone 2-3, could have definitely swam faster but that wasn't the goal, even though that's the fastest 1500 in the pool that I've swam.



I worked on making sure that I finished my stroke by clipping my thumb on my thigh. By doing that I have been taking almost 1 stroke per length off of my counts. I know this not by counting but cuz I hit the wall on the opposite arm that I normally would. The workouts I've been doing have really helped a lot. I just got a new swim drill book for all of the strokes and will start working on my breaststroke and butterfly next week.

Thursday's race pace run

5 miles, 40:15, Ave HR 160.



1 mile warmup (8:58)

3 miles hard (7:36,7:26,7:18)

1 mile cool down (8:57)



I really wanted to see what kind of speed I could hold for the three miles and am getting closer to my goal of 7:00 min/miles. My legs felt kind of heavy and that's probably cuz it's my third week in the cycle. Also, I noticed that my HR wasn't as high as the last test I did, the ave HR for the last mile was 173 and I expected it to be higher. Next week has a test again, I expect to see faster times than the last one and a slightly lower HR. Probably consistant 7:20's with an ave HR of 175, we'll see soon.



An easy run is scheduled for saturday and intervals on the treadmill for sunday. Since I have monday off of work I may do an easy run with the tri-club depending on the weather.

A little tougher swim that I thought

3200 Endurance Speed workout



600 warm up (300S,200K,100S)

4X(300 Moderate :20RI, 2X75 Fast :15RI)

:30 bonus rest after each repeat

400 kick (100Easy,200Moderate,100Easy)

100 cool down



Like the heading says, it was tougher that I thought. 1:02:00

9 mile run

Ran another 9 miles today on the track at the gym. Fairly uneventfull, the normal speedy people running their 2 miles at 8 min/mile and then stop cuz they are dying of exhaustion. There was one guy there running easy that has the right idea, he probably did about 4 miles, I hope he sticks with it and loses the weight he's trying to.



9 miles, 1:19:16, ave HR 152, 8:48 min/mile pace.



The new shoes are doing great, my knees and ankles feel good and I enjoy running in them, plus they look cool. I think they are one of the reasons I'm running faster, my steps are much smoother and very quiet like I'm not wasting any energy.

Monday's swim

3100 E2 workout. Felt a little tired but stuck to the workout. Rest day is on Wednesday.



500 warm up

8X150 DEC 2222 :20RI

1:00 bonus rest

8X100 DEC 2222 :15RI

1:00 bonus rest

8X50 DEC 2222 :10RI

200 cool down

Sunday Training

Today was a bike ride 35:00 on computrainer and 5 mile run. Generally felt kind of tired during both of them but I got it done. Tomorrow is an easy day with just an easy swim so I'll have time to recover. I'm going to do one more up week and then take an easy week.



I've gotten to my mid-winter goal of 10,000yds of swimming, 25 miles of running and 2 hrs of biking. I'm going to hold this through January and probably February untill my training plan catches up with it. Hopefully by the end of February it will be warm enough to bike outside at least once a week. So untill then, I'll stick to the 9.5 hour schedule, that seems like enough to keep me fit through the colder months.

A good start to weekend training

Swam with the club this morning, mostly freestyle sets 3500yds, 1:20:00. Lane 4 #3 and #4 in line. Had a good time, felt really strong. The underwater camera wasn't available today because of technical difficulties, maybe next week. A newspaper reporter was at the swim taking pictures to go with a story he was writing about triathlon training.



Had breakfast with the club at Charlies' Grill. I allways have a great time there being able to talk about training and learning new things. Still working on my schedule for the summer and may have found a different race in August. Some club members may go down to Arkansas for a Half IM and it may be fun to go with them. I'll have to research it and see.



Ran today at Bally's track, 5 miles 40:25 HR 163. 1 mile warm up, 3 miles race pace (ave 7:35), 1 mile cool down. Felt pretty good but I was definitely pushing the pace for me. I've been stretching a lot lately and have found that in the last 2-3 weeks I have been very flexible and it seems to be getting better every time. (I just thought that was interesting)

Friday's training

I swam 1500yds straight during lunch today, 26:50, mostly high zone 2, felt pretty good, pool wasn't busy and the temp was cooler than normal, probably about 79 which is getting close to perfect for swimming laps.



After work I rode the Computrainer for about 30 minutes, some spinups and big gear stuff to pass the time. 150 watts for 10 miles, HR 129. I moved the CT to the living room cuz it was getting too crowded in the bedroom and I kept banging my shins on it trying to get around it. Since the road bike was allready in there I set it up with the road bike.

Link to some training information

I found the link and I like some of his articles



http://www.physfarm.com/



Click on articles and then click on



December 2004 Testing 1-2-3: Figuring Out Your Training Levels



jaretj

Thursday run

Planned 6-8 miles at 9 min/mile and wound up running 9 miles cuz I felt pretty good. Got to Bally's early again and had a clear track to run on.



Todays run was 9 miles, 1:21:01, Ave HR 153 middle zone 2.



I did some reading and found an interesting article on pacing for base runs. It said to run at 125 to 135 percent of your LTHR run speed. That would put me at about 9:20 to 9:40 which I feel is too slow but I have been running 8:30's which I felt was too fast for a base run so I compromised with the 9 min/mile pace which felt pretty good and kept the HR about 155. That seemed about right for my level of percieved effort.

I'll post the link to the info when I find it again. This guy has been on Slowtwitch and has many interesting things to say. Seems to be an authority on the subject.

Wednesday's swim

I knew I would be crunched for time but I got 2400 yds in anyway. E2 workout that was cut short. Pool wasn't that crowded cuz I got there early. Water was cool too, probably about 79 degrees, pretty close to perfect for me.

Tuesday's training

Ran outside today cuz it's 36 deg and I didn't want to deal with the "Resolutionaries" at the health club. 6 miles 51:35 HR 157 kind of uneventfull.


A little bit after dinner I rode 20 miles on the computrainer. 176 watts for 1:02:00, felt kind of tired but OK. The course was a flat 20 miles and set the computer to 170.

Monday swim

I swam today because I might not be able to swim on Wednesday. Today was 3000yds Endurance workout #2. I seemed to be keeping my elbows bent during the pull phase more today like I was told to by the person that reviewed my underwater video tape. The force workout that I did last week seems to have helped that somewhat, I kept my elbows bent then to reduce the load on my shoulders, it must have stuck with me.



Pool was full of "New Year's Resolution" people and nobody would share a lane. They just paddled down the center of them. I can't wait untill they all give up, which will probably be sometime in February. Nasty people won't even take a shower before getting into the hot-tub or the pool after they work out. The chlorine is so strong right now that it's killing my swim suit. I know if I buy one now it will be ruined in 2 weeks so I'll hold off for a while.

Lighter training for sunday

Swam 1500yds straight 27:00, ran 4 miles 33:26, HR 158.

I really wanted to go up to 4 runs a week so I ran a short one today to get my body used to it. I'm not planning on killing myself for the 4th run, I just think that it is necessary for me to improve. My run speeds have allready seen big results, I can run 8:40's with no difficulty at all, that speed would have been difficult last summer. Hopefully I can get another minute out of that by springtime, if I could do that it would bring me ahead of my origional planning, then I could spend more time polishing the run instead of building it.

Saturday swim and run

Swam a force workout today. It's the first time I've ever swam a whole workout with my paddles. Right now I'm just following a short plan that's in my swim workout book. The new training plan should be a couple of weeks away.



3100 yds

600 warm up

8X150 Pull (DESC 1-8) :20RI

8X100 Pull (DESC 1-8) :15RI

8X50 Pull (DESC 1-8) :10RI

100 cool down



4.25 miles on treadmill #7, Ave HR 147, 37:21

PE seemed high so I took it easy. I want to try and run 4 miles tomorrow and get 1500yds in the pool to get my 10,000yds for the week.