Today was finally the big day. I woke up at 4am and started getting ready. I ate some bananas and drank some protein shake and gatorade. Shari, Mom, Dad and I all showered and packed the car to head over to Clinton Park.
When we got there, I got everything set up at T2 and then made my way to T1. It was a split transition today, which was new to me. It was very different to have my gear in 2 separate spots but it worked out pretty well.
At about 6:30, the professional men started and and I was just finishing some of my preparation. As we progressed closer to 7:14, I lined up in the chute to get ready to start. They let us in the water around 7:10 and we had to swim a short distance to the start, where we had to tread water before the started. When they blew the horn and I started swimming, I realized it was probably going to be one of the choppiest swims ever. I was able to use this to my advantage though. At the top of the waves, I was able to look straight ahead and see the buoys. I also counted the buoys before I got in the water so I was able to have a pretty good idea of where I was and how much longer I had. This was probably one of my best open water swims yet. I am glad I spent 15-20 minutes practicing my sighting at Longview Lake last weekend. My official swim time was 45:06.
I got out of the water and headed for my bike in transition 1. I put on my race belt and realized that it weighed more than ever due to the amount of gu's that were in it. I had to stop and tighten the belt before I could leave transition, otherwise the belt would have been waited down so much that it would have been around my ankles.
The start of the bike ride was some gradual hills to climb out of the park. It took about 5 miles before I got out and was on public roads. The wind was blowing between 15-25 mph from the SSE. The start of the course went SSW so I had a pretty tought head wind or crosswind. I really like the aid stations on the bike. I was able to slow down to 10-15 mph to grab a water bottle and dump it in my Aquacell water holder. Then I grabbed some Ironman Perform Sports drink. It was so awesome to have this access at all times. The miles from 35-40 were the hardest part of the entire race. There were a lot of rolling hills as well as the head wind. When I made that turn, it felt great and I was able to cruise near 30 mph. The hills were great today. I never really felt slow up a hill and passed a lot of people that werent well trained for hills like that. My total time was 2:58:37.
Transition 2 didnt go as well as hoped. I accidentally missed my row to drop off my bike, so I had to backtrack a little bit. I dropped my bike off, changed my socks, put on my shoes and running hat and took off. On the way out of transition I stopped and had some of the volunteers put suncreen on my neck and shoulders. It was awesome that they had this available for us.
Then I took off for the run. I had pretty good idea that my run was going to be slow and get hotter as the day progressed. I started off mile 1 and 2 pretty strong. I ran then both under 9 minute miles. At the mile 1 aid station though, one of the girls was giving out coca cola a dI didn't hear what she said it was, so I grabbed soem and gulped it down. I didn't make that mistake again the rest of the run. The start of mile 3 was basically he start of the only real hill on the course. I definitely slowed down a little and that ended up being my new pace for a while. Meanwhile, I was hitting every aid station for water, gu, perform and ice in my hat. I walked through some aid stations to get everything I needed and fill my hat up with ice to keep me cool. It worked really well and even though it was hot, I never really felt overheated. At the end of the first 6.5 mile loop, I was still feeling good but slowing getting slower. My last 6.5 miles were all just over 10 minute miles and I continued the same strategy, as I fueled the entire way at every station. My offical time was 2:06:33.
My goals for today were a 45 minute swim, sub 3 hour bike ride, sub 2 hour run and sub 6 hour half iron man. I accomplished all of this except the sub 2 hour run. My total time for the day was 5:56:36. I placed 45/95 in my age division and 316/808 in the men's category. To be in the top 50% of both is pretty awesome. I also beat today's course average by nearly 30 minutes! The average time was 6:23:46.
Some of the best parts of the day were the support I got from everyone that came out to watch. My dad, mom, Shari, Colleen, Karen and Kevin all came out for the start of the swim. I saw pretty much all of them at the end of the swim and as I was leaving the transition area to head out for 3 hours of riding. When I got back, they were all there again and I THINK I heard Reed as well although I never actually saw him. I know he was there though, Kevin vouched for him :). As I started the run, it became very apparent that they were going to be able to see me almost everywhere on the course. My dad ran along side in the grass for at least 8 miles of the race just asking me how things were going and such. It was pretty fun to have someone doing some coaching as you are running. Then I would hear Kevin and Shari yelling at the top of their lungs as I started to approach one of their spectating spots. As I approached I would always see my mom and Karen with them as well, taking pictures and cheering me on. Kevin probably had one of the best comments of the day when he said that I was the only person he saw running instead of walking up the big hill. I told myself a long time ago, I was never going to walk during any of my runs and no matter how much I wanted to today, I refused to walk and finished strong up the hill.
When I was all done, everyone was there to greet me, including Joe from work and his wife. Joe, for some crazy reason, agreed to receive a big sweaty hug, while everyone else tried to stay as far away as possible. I laid down, stretched my legs, ate some food and got a massage before leaving. It was a pretty long day and I was probably more exhausted than I had ever been before. It was definitely one of the absolute hardest things I have ever done and I have no plans to do another or consider going to a full. At this point, I think Olympic Distance triathlons are the best for me.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Race Day on Sunday
Last night I had a great bike/run brick to finish off my training before the half ironman.
I rode for 23 miles at 20.4 mph and then put on my running shoes and ran a 5k. I felt great doing both and I didn't have any knee problems whatsoever.
Tonight, I cleaned my bike and got everything all packed up. I am up a little later than I should be but everything is all done now and I am ready to rock and roll on Sunday.
I rode for 23 miles at 20.4 mph and then put on my running shoes and ran a 5k. I felt great doing both and I didn't have any knee problems whatsoever.
Tonight, I cleaned my bike and got everything all packed up. I am up a little later than I should be but everything is all done now and I am ready to rock and roll on Sunday.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Kansas City Corporate Challenge Bike Race
Today, I raced in my first ever time trial. I got there about 1.5 hours early and slowly started getting ready. I rode on my trainer for 15 minutes. I followed that up with some extra stretching and riding around the parking lot.
The race started with me on the bike and getting a slight push start. The first mile was very fast and then we hit a little headwind and the only hill on the course. It was tiny but when you are pushing at maximum effort, it feels so much bigger. I cruised past that hill and around the course picking my speed back up. I could definitely feeling my quads yelling at me but I just kept pushing through. I started mile 3 in the same spot that the course started and knew all I had ahead of me was a slight downhill and that uphill. I hammered it hard and finished the race in about 7:36. I am not sure as to when I started and stopped my watch, so that time will be a little off the official time but it should be fairly close.
I passed 6 or 7 people along the way and no one caught me at all, so I think my time will be one of the better times out there. We won't get our official results and placing until Wednesday night or Thursday morning though.
This was easily one of the hardest things I have ever done but it was also one of the most fun. I wish I had worn my heart rate monitor so I could have seen where that was at. From a cardiovascular perspective, the only thing I can compare this to would be wrestling for 6 minutes in High School. From a muscle fatigue standpoint, I don't know that I have ever experience anything like this before.
The race started with me on the bike and getting a slight push start. The first mile was very fast and then we hit a little headwind and the only hill on the course. It was tiny but when you are pushing at maximum effort, it feels so much bigger. I cruised past that hill and around the course picking my speed back up. I could definitely feeling my quads yelling at me but I just kept pushing through. I started mile 3 in the same spot that the course started and knew all I had ahead of me was a slight downhill and that uphill. I hammered it hard and finished the race in about 7:36. I am not sure as to when I started and stopped my watch, so that time will be a little off the official time but it should be fairly close.
I passed 6 or 7 people along the way and no one caught me at all, so I think my time will be one of the better times out there. We won't get our official results and placing until Wednesday night or Thursday morning though.
This was easily one of the hardest things I have ever done but it was also one of the most fun. I wish I had worn my heart rate monitor so I could have seen where that was at. From a cardiovascular perspective, the only thing I can compare this to would be wrestling for 6 minutes in High School. From a muscle fatigue standpoint, I don't know that I have ever experience anything like this before.
Longest Ride Ever
This morning, I woke up and ran the Amy Thompson 8k run with Shari. We had a lot of fun and she finished in under 1:15 which was her goal so that was pretty good. We got lots of pictures and videos along the way, so that made it even more fun.
This afternoon, I rode 63 miles. I rode from my house to Martin City. I met Kevin, Erin, Aaron, Derek, Reed and Sev there for a 27 mile group ride. Then I rode back home. It was pretty winding riding west towards Martin City so my speed wasn't all that high during that part of the ride, but everything else was pretty fast. This was my longest distance I have ever ridden and it was wonderful. It started off pretty hot out but cooled down a little by the time I was done.
I missed posting a couple workouts on here, but I am not going to go back and update them.
This afternoon, I rode 63 miles. I rode from my house to Martin City. I met Kevin, Erin, Aaron, Derek, Reed and Sev there for a 27 mile group ride. Then I rode back home. It was pretty winding riding west towards Martin City so my speed wasn't all that high during that part of the ride, but everything else was pretty fast. This was my longest distance I have ever ridden and it was wonderful. It started off pretty hot out but cooled down a little by the time I was done.
I missed posting a couple workouts on here, but I am not going to go back and update them.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Yesterday's Run
I ended up taking Monday off and it was pretty nice to not have anything that day.
Yesterday, I woke up with the intention of swimming and just kept thinking about how much I hated that open water swim on Sunday so I said screw it and went back to sleep. I hope when I wake up tomorrow, I can get past that and go swim.
In any event, I had a sweet quality run. I ran 6 intervals of .5 mile at about a 6:30 pace for each interval. I warmed up and cooled down with a 1.5 mile run as well so I got in over 7 miles. I will be interested to see what I can run a 5k at now. I would think I would be really close to my dream of running running sub 20.
Yesterday, I woke up with the intention of swimming and just kept thinking about how much I hated that open water swim on Sunday so I said screw it and went back to sleep. I hope when I wake up tomorrow, I can get past that and go swim.
In any event, I had a sweet quality run. I ran 6 intervals of .5 mile at about a 6:30 pace for each interval. I warmed up and cooled down with a 1.5 mile run as well so I got in over 7 miles. I will be interested to see what I can run a 5k at now. I would think I would be really close to my dream of running running sub 20.
Monday, May 21, 2012
KC Tri Race Report
Today was the KC Triathlon. It was an international distance triathlon so that means .93 mile swim, 25 mile bike ride and 6.2 mile run.
I started off in the water at 8:07 and very quickly came to the realization that I really don't like swimming in a wetsuit very much. I also came to the conclusion that I don't know how to swim in a straight line. This is readily apparent by looking at my version of the .93 mile swim. I went about 1.1 miles in a nice zig zag pattern the whole way. I also manage to drink a small amount of lake water and that didn't help. When I got out of the water I felt pretty miserable and was just excited to get out of the wetsuit and start riding.
Transition 1 went pretty poorly because when I got to my bike, some idiot was just sitting in front of my bike taking off his wet suit. I told him to get out of the way so I could take off my wetsuit and get riding.
The 25 mile ride went really well. I was comfortable the whole way and rode just under 21 mph. I am pretty familiar with the course so that helps. I feel like I could have ridden a little faster but I am not entirely sure how much faster. I was really happy with the bike time though.
Transition 2 went better but I tried something new today. I decided I was going to change my socks. I wore my bike socks on the ride and I wanted to wear running socks on the run. I don't really think this helped me too much and their wasn't much difference in comfort, so I will probably just stick with running socks on bike and run from here on out.
The 6.2 mile run to finish went extremely well. Almost every mile was faster than the previous and I felt awesome the whole way. I don't know that I have ever had a negative split before and to have done it after swimming and biking and by such a significant amount was awesome.
My official time was 2:39:50. I completed the swim in 31:26, T1 in 3:24, bike in 1:13:32, T2 in 2:16 and the run in 49:14. I placed 23/52 in the male 25-29 division. However, looking back on it, I should have registered as a Clydesdale since I weigh over 200 lbs (203 lbs this morning to be exact). If I had done so, I would have placed 5th in the Clydesdale division and would have qualified for the Hyvee Championships in September.
Great day overall though. This was my longest endurance event to date and probably one of my best. 20 days until Kansas Half Ironman.
I started off in the water at 8:07 and very quickly came to the realization that I really don't like swimming in a wetsuit very much. I also came to the conclusion that I don't know how to swim in a straight line. This is readily apparent by looking at my version of the .93 mile swim. I went about 1.1 miles in a nice zig zag pattern the whole way. I also manage to drink a small amount of lake water and that didn't help. When I got out of the water I felt pretty miserable and was just excited to get out of the wetsuit and start riding.
Transition 1 went pretty poorly because when I got to my bike, some idiot was just sitting in front of my bike taking off his wet suit. I told him to get out of the way so I could take off my wetsuit and get riding.
The 25 mile ride went really well. I was comfortable the whole way and rode just under 21 mph. I am pretty familiar with the course so that helps. I feel like I could have ridden a little faster but I am not entirely sure how much faster. I was really happy with the bike time though.
Transition 2 went better but I tried something new today. I decided I was going to change my socks. I wore my bike socks on the ride and I wanted to wear running socks on the run. I don't really think this helped me too much and their wasn't much difference in comfort, so I will probably just stick with running socks on bike and run from here on out.
The 6.2 mile run to finish went extremely well. Almost every mile was faster than the previous and I felt awesome the whole way. I don't know that I have ever had a negative split before and to have done it after swimming and biking and by such a significant amount was awesome.
My official time was 2:39:50. I completed the swim in 31:26, T1 in 3:24, bike in 1:13:32, T2 in 2:16 and the run in 49:14. I placed 23/52 in the male 25-29 division. However, looking back on it, I should have registered as a Clydesdale since I weigh over 200 lbs (203 lbs this morning to be exact). If I had done so, I would have placed 5th in the Clydesdale division and would have qualified for the Hyvee Championships in September.
Great day overall though. This was my longest endurance event to date and probably one of my best. 20 days until Kansas Half Ironman.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Yesterdays workouts
Yesterday, I got to the pool in the morning for a 1500 yard straight swim. Everything felt good, it just seems to take so long to swim that far when you are used to doing intervals and breaking things up.
Last night, I ran 4 miles but my knee started to hurt slightly at mile 2 so I slowed up and took it easier for the last 2 miles. It wasn't bad but I don't want it to bother me this weekend.
When I woke up this morning it was was a little sore but it feels better now that I have been up and walking around on it. I am debating on riding tonight again just to avoid any extra irritation but we will see what happens after work. Riding doesn't seem to cause any problems.
Last night, I ran 4 miles but my knee started to hurt slightly at mile 2 so I slowed up and took it easier for the last 2 miles. It wasn't bad but I don't want it to bother me this weekend.
When I woke up this morning it was was a little sore but it feels better now that I have been up and walking around on it. I am debating on riding tonight again just to avoid any extra irritation but we will see what happens after work. Riding doesn't seem to cause any problems.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Awesome 27 mile ride
I got on the bike tonight for the first time since Sunday after I had a bad ride. Tonight was awesome though. I rode out to Longview Lake and rode 1 loop of the KC Tri course for this weekend and then came home. I rode 26.79 miles at 20.9 mph.
I am going to be swimming in the morning for the first time since I hurt my knee so hopefully it doesn't cause me any more problems in the morning.
I am going to be swimming in the morning for the first time since I hurt my knee so hopefully it doesn't cause me any more problems in the morning.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Not a good day to ride
The weather was great outside but nothing else was really in my favor today. I got on the bike and could tell that I ran hard yesterday but that wasn't going to stop me. After 2-3 miles, I realized that my cadence sensor wasn't working and my speed/distance were jacked up. I had forgotten that when I swapped my training tire back off, I needed to readjust the cadence sensor so it wasn't always picking up the magnet. I just turned off the sensor and kept riding.
After about 5 miles or so, my back tire started to freak out and I realized that it had gone flat. When I pulled off the tire and looked at the tube, what appeared to be a small metal pin had punctured my tire and tube. I didn't feel like risking the possibility of geting stranded 20 miles out without another tube so I decided to head home. I wouldn't have cared if I was with a group or I was going a shorter distance but 50 miles with no spare tube scares me...
In any event, I only rode 10 miles today, but I got in quite a bit of stretching as I am getting ready for KC Tri this upcoming weekend.
After about 5 miles or so, my back tire started to freak out and I realized that it had gone flat. When I pulled off the tire and looked at the tube, what appeared to be a small metal pin had punctured my tire and tube. I didn't feel like risking the possibility of geting stranded 20 miles out without another tube so I decided to head home. I wouldn't have cared if I was with a group or I was going a shorter distance but 50 miles with no spare tube scares me...
In any event, I only rode 10 miles today, but I got in quite a bit of stretching as I am getting ready for KC Tri this upcoming weekend.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Running with the Cows Half Marathon
I ran the Running with the Cows Half Marathon. My time was 1:41:34 which was a new PR. I was running running ahead of the 1:40 pack until mile 10 when they caught me. I knew they were coming since I made the turn at mile 6.5 so it was really only a matter of how longer until they caught me. My splits today were great, other than mile 13 for some reason. I am not really sure what happened there. The only thing I can think of is that I checked out mentally since I was still 1 minute behind 1:40 but I don't remember feeling like I really slowed down ever and my legs felt good.
I went over to the gym this afternoon and went swimming to finish up the day. I swam 1000 yards at 1:45 min/100 yards. When I was on my last lap, I remember thinking to myself that I would be happy if I finished in under 20 minutes so to finish in 17:35 was awesome. I am hoping I can maintain that pace for my triathlon swims because that is a great speed for me compared to last winter.
I went over to the gym this afternoon and went swimming to finish up the day. I swam 1000 yards at 1:45 min/100 yards. When I was on my last lap, I remember thinking to myself that I would be happy if I finished in under 20 minutes so to finish in 17:35 was awesome. I am hoping I can maintain that pace for my triathlon swims because that is a great speed for me compared to last winter.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Yesterday and Today
Yesterday, I had my quality swim in the morning. It was about 2500 yards total and took just over an hour. The rest breaks between the final interval sets are between 3-4 minutes and they seem like they take forever so I hope this is helping because that was boring.
Over lunch, I went and ran 30 minutes on the treadmill as my last prep run for tomorrow mornings half marathon. It was a very steady pace and I didn't try to do too much.
I took today off instead of riding 20 miles so that my legs could be good to go in the morning. I have the Running with the Cows Half Marathon and the course is fairly flat, so I am hoping that I might be able to run under 1:40 but we will see about that.
Over lunch, I went and ran 30 minutes on the treadmill as my last prep run for tomorrow mornings half marathon. It was a very steady pace and I didn't try to do too much.
I took today off instead of riding 20 miles so that my legs could be good to go in the morning. I have the Running with the Cows Half Marathon and the course is fairly flat, so I am hoping that I might be able to run under 1:40 but we will see about that.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Second Quality Bike Ride
Tonight, I stayed indoors on my trainer. I rode for just over 90 minutes. I thought the trainer would make it easier to get my heart rate up for the interval rides but I am starting to doubt that now. I think I will try to get back outside next week and find a hill that I can do repeats on to get my heart rate where I want it.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
AM Swim / PM Quality Run
This morning was my long swim of the week. I swam 2500 yards with the main set being 10x100yards with 15 seconds between each set. I swam each set between 1:38 and 1:42. I didn't feel as good as yesterday but that could be some fatigue from the 1300 yard warmup. Regardless, I was really happy with the times I was able to put up for the main set.
Tonight was my second quality run workout. I added another interval to my run tonight so I ran 4 intervals of 1/2 mile with 1/4 mile recoveries. I ran 6.16 miles total and each of my half mile intervals were between 6:23 and 6:36 per mile. All of my intervals were faster than last week and I even got in an extra one. Overall, this was a sweet workout as I don't know that I have ever really run that fast for a half mile.
Tonight was my second quality run workout. I added another interval to my run tonight so I ran 4 intervals of 1/2 mile with 1/4 mile recoveries. I ran 6.16 miles total and each of my half mile intervals were between 6:23 and 6:36 per mile. All of my intervals were faster than last week and I even got in an extra one. Overall, this was a sweet workout as I don't know that I have ever really run that fast for a half mile.
Monday, May 7, 2012
1500 yard swim
I was supposed to swim and bike today but due the past two days and my bike being completely dirty from riding in the rain yesterday, I decided to just swim and clean up my bike tonight.
I swam 1500 yards after work. The main set was a straight 800 yards tonight. I felt great the whole set and managed to swim at a 1:45 min/100 yard pace. This was one of my fastest swims ever, especially over this distance. If I could swim at this pace for the whole half IM, I would be thrilled.
Then I got home, ate some dinner and took apart my bike for a full cleaning. Its amazing how much better it looks now. The rain and grime really did a number on it yesterday.
I swam 1500 yards after work. The main set was a straight 800 yards tonight. I felt great the whole set and managed to swim at a 1:45 min/100 yard pace. This was one of my fastest swims ever, especially over this distance. If I could swim at this pace for the whole half IM, I would be thrilled.
Then I got home, ate some dinner and took apart my bike for a full cleaning. Its amazing how much better it looks now. The rain and grime really did a number on it yesterday.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
KCCC Triathlon Tryout
Today, I had a tryout for the Cerner's Triathlon team for the Kansas City Corporate Challenge. We didn't do a swim leg but instead added and extra 4.5 miles on the bike to make up for it.
It was a little cloudy to start and it had been raining on and off throughout the day. But the temperature was good and the weather was almost perfect.
I showed up a little later than I wanted, so I didn't get a change to get all the way warmed up but I was still feeling pretty comfortable considering what I did yesterday. The bike course was 3 laps around Shawnee Mission Park. It spanned 13.59 miles. I averaged 20.2 mph. During lap 1, I was still warming up a little bit. Lap 2 went pretty smoothly though and I felt great the entire time. At the start of lap 3, the rain started coming down. I had to slow a bit down hills just to make sure I didn't lose traction or anything but I still kept a pretty good speed throughout.
The transition from bike to run took just over a minute so that was good.
To finish up, we had a 2.4 mile run to do. It was in my favorite kind of weather as well. The rain was really coming down now and I loved every minute of it. I ran 2.39 miles in 19:26 to complete the tryout. My total time was just a little over an hour.
This was only 1 of the 3 tryouts that they had so I can only compare myself to the people there, but I did really well. There was only 1 other person ahead of me on the bike but she slowed down tremendously in the rain and didn't even do the run course because of the lightning. I am pretty hopeful that I will be able to make the team as I didn't see anyone behind me during the bike course and I only saw another guy about a minute behind me on the run and he wasn't in my age division.
It was a little cloudy to start and it had been raining on and off throughout the day. But the temperature was good and the weather was almost perfect.
I showed up a little later than I wanted, so I didn't get a change to get all the way warmed up but I was still feeling pretty comfortable considering what I did yesterday. The bike course was 3 laps around Shawnee Mission Park. It spanned 13.59 miles. I averaged 20.2 mph. During lap 1, I was still warming up a little bit. Lap 2 went pretty smoothly though and I felt great the entire time. At the start of lap 3, the rain started coming down. I had to slow a bit down hills just to make sure I didn't lose traction or anything but I still kept a pretty good speed throughout.
The transition from bike to run took just over a minute so that was good.
To finish up, we had a 2.4 mile run to do. It was in my favorite kind of weather as well. The rain was really coming down now and I loved every minute of it. I ran 2.39 miles in 19:26 to complete the tryout. My total time was just a little over an hour.
This was only 1 of the 3 tryouts that they had so I can only compare myself to the people there, but I did really well. There was only 1 other person ahead of me on the bike but she slowed down tremendously in the rain and didn't even do the run course because of the lightning. I am pretty hopeful that I will be able to make the team as I didn't see anyone behind me during the bike course and I only saw another guy about a minute behind me on the run and he wasn't in my age division.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Ride/Run Brick
Today, I kind of threw together a Ride/Run brick. I have a triathlon tryout tomorrow for the Kansas City Corporate Challenge and I didn't want to ride or run in the morning so I figured why not do them both today :)
I started of with a pretty good ride. I rode 53 miles. Everything went really well on the ride except when I got toe 291 highway. I looked across the intersection and saw a cop blockade. Apparently, there was a running race this morning and some of the roads were blocked off. This quickly became a fun challenge to find my way around but eventually, I found a route and got back on track. It definitely slowed my started down a little bit but not enough to really matter. I ate 2 clif bars and 3 Gu's on the bike. I also guzzled down all 92 ounces of water that I brought with me (50 ounces in the aquacell and another 42 in my water bottles). I practiced reloading the aquacell with water while riding today too, so hopefully I can do that on the bike course to help with not stopping at the stops.
Today's transition wasn't as much about speed as it was about trying to rub as much of my sweat on Shari as I could. I also used that time to sit in the A/C for a little bit and cool down before heading back out. I took about 8 minutes to transition. If I did that at an event, that would suck big time.
As usual, my run started off too fast. I really want to run a 9 minute/mile for the Half Ironman. I think that is almost the perfect pace for me for that long of an endurance event. I wanted to run 10 miles today but I ended up with 8.25 miles. The heat definitely played a part of that but another big factor was leaving my last Gu at home. I definitely hit mile 4 and reached in my back pocket to realize it wasn't there. When I got home, it was sitting on the stairwell right where I left it :(.
Today's workout was awesome though. It was by far the longest single workout I have done from a time and distance perspective. I also got outside about the same time I will get on my bike for the half iron man so that helped me see how hot it might be and get used to that. I am not really worried at this point about completing the distance, as I know I can do that. It is all a matter of how fast I can do it. I originally thought 5 to 5.5 hours would be possible but realistically with transitions, I would be perfectly happy with 5.5 to 6 hours.
I started of with a pretty good ride. I rode 53 miles. Everything went really well on the ride except when I got toe 291 highway. I looked across the intersection and saw a cop blockade. Apparently, there was a running race this morning and some of the roads were blocked off. This quickly became a fun challenge to find my way around but eventually, I found a route and got back on track. It definitely slowed my started down a little bit but not enough to really matter. I ate 2 clif bars and 3 Gu's on the bike. I also guzzled down all 92 ounces of water that I brought with me (50 ounces in the aquacell and another 42 in my water bottles). I practiced reloading the aquacell with water while riding today too, so hopefully I can do that on the bike course to help with not stopping at the stops.
Today's transition wasn't as much about speed as it was about trying to rub as much of my sweat on Shari as I could. I also used that time to sit in the A/C for a little bit and cool down before heading back out. I took about 8 minutes to transition. If I did that at an event, that would suck big time.
As usual, my run started off too fast. I really want to run a 9 minute/mile for the Half Ironman. I think that is almost the perfect pace for me for that long of an endurance event. I wanted to run 10 miles today but I ended up with 8.25 miles. The heat definitely played a part of that but another big factor was leaving my last Gu at home. I definitely hit mile 4 and reached in my back pocket to realize it wasn't there. When I got home, it was sitting on the stairwell right where I left it :(.
Today's workout was awesome though. It was by far the longest single workout I have done from a time and distance perspective. I also got outside about the same time I will get on my bike for the half iron man so that helped me see how hot it might be and get used to that. I am not really worried at this point about completing the distance, as I know I can do that. It is all a matter of how fast I can do it. I originally thought 5 to 5.5 hours would be possible but realistically with transitions, I would be perfectly happy with 5.5 to 6 hours.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Yesterday's Run/Swim
Due to rain in the forecast, I got up early and ran outside and moved my swim to the evening. I ran 5 miles in just over 40 minutes. It was fairly humid out even that early.
Last night I got in my first quality swim. It covered almost 2500 yards. I cut it short on accident though because I thought I was misremembering the training plan. In any event, I got in a lot of hypoxic breathing during it and put up some of my best swim times I have ever had. I swam a couple 100's at less than 1:33 which I have never done before and I also swam several 50s in 40-44 seconds. I will have the training plan right next week. It sure does take a while because of the long rest between sets but you feel so much better during the max effort intervals.
Last night I got in my first quality swim. It covered almost 2500 yards. I cut it short on accident though because I thought I was misremembering the training plan. In any event, I got in a lot of hypoxic breathing during it and put up some of my best swim times I have ever had. I swam a couple 100's at less than 1:33 which I have never done before and I also swam several 50s in 40-44 seconds. I will have the training plan right next week. It sure does take a while because of the long rest between sets but you feel so much better during the max effort intervals.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Quality Bike Ride
Tonight was my first quality bike ride. I rode around Longview Lake, thinking that would be a good place to do it but now I think that bike intervals might be better at the airport or on the trainer. It's really difficult to get the terrain right for intervals. I had a couple stop lights and some downhills that messed up my "fast" intervals.
In any event, I got in almost 30 miles. The first 10 miles was a nice and easy warmup. I followed that up with 6 intervals. Each interval consisted of 3 minutes attempting to get my hr in the upper 150s or even 160 if I could(didn't happen tonight though) and then 2 minutes of recovery. Then I did a 10 mile cooldown afterwards. This was the first time I have ever done intervals on the bike and I think it could have gone better.
In any event, I got in almost 30 miles. The first 10 miles was a nice and easy warmup. I followed that up with 6 intervals. Each interval consisted of 3 minutes attempting to get my hr in the upper 150s or even 160 if I could(didn't happen tonight though) and then 2 minutes of recovery. Then I did a 10 mile cooldown afterwards. This was the first time I have ever done intervals on the bike and I think it could have gone better.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
AM Swim/PM Run
I pretty well dread Tuesdays because they are always my longest swim days. It wouldn't be so bad either if they were just straight swims, but these swims always have a lot of intervals, drills and other stuff that makes it take longer. Overall, today's swim was 2500 yards. It took almost an hour so I had to get up extra early. At least there is no swim on Wednesdays, so I can sleep in until 7 instead.
Tonight, I started the first of several "quality" workouts. These workouts are designed to work on speed, working past max hr efforts and working past lactic acid thresholds. This workout was a run consisting of 3 half mile intervals. I started with a 1.5 mile warmup. Then I did the following set 3 times: 1/2 mile at fast pace (pushing hr as high as I can), 1/4 at recovery pace and 1 minute of complete rest. When I finished this, I ran another 1.5 miles to cooldown and then walk 1/4 mile. I managed to run my intervals at a pretty quick pace at 6:40, 6:50, 7:04 respectively. I definitely got slower each time, but my HR increased higher each time. It was nearly impossible to get my HR into the 160s on the first interval but much easier for the second 2 intervals.
Tomorrow, I have my first quality bike workout so I am looking forward to that.
Tonight, I started the first of several "quality" workouts. These workouts are designed to work on speed, working past max hr efforts and working past lactic acid thresholds. This workout was a run consisting of 3 half mile intervals. I started with a 1.5 mile warmup. Then I did the following set 3 times: 1/2 mile at fast pace (pushing hr as high as I can), 1/4 at recovery pace and 1 minute of complete rest. When I finished this, I ran another 1.5 miles to cooldown and then walk 1/4 mile. I managed to run my intervals at a pretty quick pace at 6:40, 6:50, 7:04 respectively. I definitely got slower each time, but my HR increased higher each time. It was nearly impossible to get my HR into the 160s on the first interval but much easier for the second 2 intervals.
Tomorrow, I have my first quality bike workout so I am looking forward to that.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Swim/Ride
I ended up missing my long ride yesterday. It was storming all morning and then we met some friends for lunch and it stopped. I thought awesome, I will ride when I get home. By the time I got home, the storms were back and there was no chance of riding outside. I also realized, there isn't a chance in hell I am riding on my trainer when it isn't winter.
Today, I got in a 1500 yard swim this morning. My main set was 16x50 and it was a little slower than Saturday's 10x50. But my speeds were still in the 1:35 range and it went pretty well overall.
When I got home tonight, I took my bike out for a 33 mile ride with an average speed of 20.4 mph (my average moving speed was 21 mph). This was my first ride over an hour at over 20 mph. This also wasn't the easiest ride as I hit almost every big hill in Lees Summit and got in 1800 feet of climbing. The last time I rode this, was last week and I averaged 20 mph with an average moving speed of 20.1 mph.
Today, I got in a 1500 yard swim this morning. My main set was 16x50 and it was a little slower than Saturday's 10x50. But my speeds were still in the 1:35 range and it went pretty well overall.
When I got home tonight, I took my bike out for a 33 mile ride with an average speed of 20.4 mph (my average moving speed was 21 mph). This was my first ride over an hour at over 20 mph. This also wasn't the easiest ride as I hit almost every big hill in Lees Summit and got in 1800 feet of climbing. The last time I rode this, was last week and I averaged 20 mph with an average moving speed of 20.1 mph.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Thursday/Friday/Saturday
On Thurdsay, I swam 1500 yards in the morning. The main set was 8x100. That night, I ran 4.75 miles in 40 minutes. The day went pretty well overall.
On Friday, I was supposed to ride 20 miles but there were some crazy storms in the area on Friday night so that was pretty well out of the question and I didn't want to jump on the trainer. Another rest day during recovery week couldn't hurt so I gladly took it.
Today, I got in a 10.25 mile run over 90 minutes. It took me about 3 miles to really settle in and put everything into cruise control. I was shooting for between 8:45 and 9:00 pace and I actually got that today. A couple hours after lunch, I went over to the pool to get my swim in. I got my choice of 1000 yard workouts. I swam a main set of 10x50 yards. I had some sweet intervals under 1:30 pace but mostly between 1:30-1:35.
Tomorrow, I need to ride around 50 miles but the weather isn't looking too good. If I absolutely have to, I will ride on the trainer, but I am hoping the storms miss us and I can get outside in the morning.
On Friday, I was supposed to ride 20 miles but there were some crazy storms in the area on Friday night so that was pretty well out of the question and I didn't want to jump on the trainer. Another rest day during recovery week couldn't hurt so I gladly took it.
Today, I got in a 10.25 mile run over 90 minutes. It took me about 3 miles to really settle in and put everything into cruise control. I was shooting for between 8:45 and 9:00 pace and I actually got that today. A couple hours after lunch, I went over to the pool to get my swim in. I got my choice of 1000 yard workouts. I swam a main set of 10x50 yards. I had some sweet intervals under 1:30 pace but mostly between 1:30-1:35.
Tomorrow, I need to ride around 50 miles but the weather isn't looking too good. If I absolutely have to, I will ride on the trainer, but I am hoping the storms miss us and I can get outside in the morning.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Birthday Brick
I ended up just taking the day off from schedule workouts yesterday and just ended up playing softball last night. We won both games and it was probably the most fun I have had in a long time.
Today I got in a ride/run brick. For those of you that don't know what a brick is, it is a training session that involves 2 workouts back to back. This is my first one of the season and it went well overall considering how hot it was. I am also still running on low energy levels from last week as I probably still haven't restored my glycogen stores from last week so that probably makes everything a little harder/slower.
I rode 33 miles at 20 mph. I rode almost the entire time in the aero bars and really felt comfortable there. I could tell a significant reduction in wind resistance and I am happy to have them. I totally work less when I use them. I took one of my normal "Gu" packs at about the 20 mile mark. I ran out of water/gatorade around mile 27 but I was sucking that stuff back quick today due to heat. Overall, I felt like I had almost the perfect nutrition levels on the bike.
Then I transitioned to my run. I came in my house and put on my running shoes, drank some water and put on my running belt. I had 32 ounces of water/gatorade in the 4 water bottles on that and I thought that would be enough. I also ate a clif bar and took a different "Gu" pack. I got this one for free this past weekend and it is made from a company called Vega Sport. It is a plant based energy pack and tasted like crap. I also didn't feel like it didn't anything in comparison to my normal Gu packs. The 90 degree heat was bearing down on me from the start and I slowing starting running out of energy and felt like I was overheating. I didn't pick a course that was very well shaded and that showed. After mile 3, I had to start walking a couple times once I got to the shade. My miles times definitely slowed quite a bit but I was determined to finish the 6 miles I started out to do. I ended up running 6 miles at a 9:22 pace, but every mile was slower than the previous and it was significantly noticeable during mile 5 and 6 as I had to stop and walk a little longer for both of those.
In all today was really good though. I don't think I will try different energy packs again as I already know which ones work. I also realized I should have taken 3 of them over the course of the workout. It's amazing how different I can feel if I don't properly fuel while I am out there. I also really need to get a visor for running to keep the sweat out of my eyes as well as provide a little protection from the sun.
Today I got in a ride/run brick. For those of you that don't know what a brick is, it is a training session that involves 2 workouts back to back. This is my first one of the season and it went well overall considering how hot it was. I am also still running on low energy levels from last week as I probably still haven't restored my glycogen stores from last week so that probably makes everything a little harder/slower.
I rode 33 miles at 20 mph. I rode almost the entire time in the aero bars and really felt comfortable there. I could tell a significant reduction in wind resistance and I am happy to have them. I totally work less when I use them. I took one of my normal "Gu" packs at about the 20 mile mark. I ran out of water/gatorade around mile 27 but I was sucking that stuff back quick today due to heat. Overall, I felt like I had almost the perfect nutrition levels on the bike.
Then I transitioned to my run. I came in my house and put on my running shoes, drank some water and put on my running belt. I had 32 ounces of water/gatorade in the 4 water bottles on that and I thought that would be enough. I also ate a clif bar and took a different "Gu" pack. I got this one for free this past weekend and it is made from a company called Vega Sport. It is a plant based energy pack and tasted like crap. I also didn't feel like it didn't anything in comparison to my normal Gu packs. The 90 degree heat was bearing down on me from the start and I slowing starting running out of energy and felt like I was overheating. I didn't pick a course that was very well shaded and that showed. After mile 3, I had to start walking a couple times once I got to the shade. My miles times definitely slowed quite a bit but I was determined to finish the 6 miles I started out to do. I ended up running 6 miles at a 9:22 pace, but every mile was slower than the previous and it was significantly noticeable during mile 5 and 6 as I had to stop and walk a little longer for both of those.
In all today was really good though. I don't think I will try different energy packs again as I already know which ones work. I also realized I should have taken 3 of them over the course of the workout. It's amazing how different I can feel if I don't properly fuel while I am out there. I also really need to get a visor for running to keep the sweat out of my eyes as well as provide a little protection from the sun.
Monday, April 23, 2012
First day of recovery week
I started off this morning with a 1000 yard swim. I wasn't trying to go super fast or anything today, just really working on form and technique. That is how a lot of this week will go.
After work, I was thinking I would ride the Martin City group ride but Shari surprised me by showing up at work for a meeting this afternoon and telling me she was coming over tonight. So, I decided to hit Longview and get my ride in a little earlier. This ended up working to my favor as my left quad started acting up just above my knee. I have had this happen before and it usually just goes away the next day. I ended up cutting the ride in half from 20 miles to 10 miles at a nice easy pace.
So far, so good but tomorrow morning, I have a 2000 yard swim and then softball after work.
After work, I was thinking I would ride the Martin City group ride but Shari surprised me by showing up at work for a meeting this afternoon and telling me she was coming over tonight. So, I decided to hit Longview and get my ride in a little earlier. This ended up working to my favor as my left quad started acting up just above my knee. I have had this happen before and it usually just goes away the next day. I ended up cutting the ride in half from 20 miles to 10 miles at a nice easy pace.
So far, so good but tomorrow morning, I have a 2000 yard swim and then softball after work.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Another Half Marathon, Another PR
Today was a big day. I got up at 5am and started preparing for the Kansas Half Marathon. We got to Lawrence around 6:30 and when we got out of the car, I realized how cold and windy it was. It was about 50 degrees with a 15-20 mph wind. We were starting in the shade as well so I am sure it felt even cooler. I left my long sleeve shirt on until I started and then I threw it to Shari when we started.
I didn't have any idea how I would fair in the race today. I had ridden 60 miles yesterday and ran a pretty tough race last weekend. I decided that I would just run at a comfortable pace whatever that would be (although I had absolutely no intention of walking at any point). During mile 1, I pretty quickly realized that I was going to run faster than last week but not at a 1:40 pace. We hit our first big hill from mile 4 to 5. It was followed by a big downhill which resulted in my fasted mile time from 5 to 6 at 7:13. From here through about 9.5, it was fairly flat and just an out and back route. It was fun to see the winner 2.5 to 3 miles ahead of me as he came back from the route. At mile 9.5, I ran into the biggest test. I turned north and hit a nice 20 mph wind in my face as well as a fairly sharp uphill run. It covered nearly 150 feet over that mile and resulted in my slowest mile time at 8:27. After that hill, it was pretty much downhill and flat the rest of the way. I cruised into the finish and even had enough to sprint at the end.
My total time today was 1:42:57, which is another PR. This is my second half marathon and second PR in 8 days.
This caps off the longest training week in my training plan. I covered 163.18 miles over 12 hours, 20 minutes and 57 seconds. Next week is a recovery week as well as my first brick. I am going to ride/run on Wednesday afternoon.
My next half marathon is on May 12th. By contrast, that race has a total elevation gain of 150 feet vs today's race with an elevation gain of 853 feet. I think that sounds like an excellent course to shoot for 1:40.
I didn't have any idea how I would fair in the race today. I had ridden 60 miles yesterday and ran a pretty tough race last weekend. I decided that I would just run at a comfortable pace whatever that would be (although I had absolutely no intention of walking at any point). During mile 1, I pretty quickly realized that I was going to run faster than last week but not at a 1:40 pace. We hit our first big hill from mile 4 to 5. It was followed by a big downhill which resulted in my fasted mile time from 5 to 6 at 7:13. From here through about 9.5, it was fairly flat and just an out and back route. It was fun to see the winner 2.5 to 3 miles ahead of me as he came back from the route. At mile 9.5, I ran into the biggest test. I turned north and hit a nice 20 mph wind in my face as well as a fairly sharp uphill run. It covered nearly 150 feet over that mile and resulted in my slowest mile time at 8:27. After that hill, it was pretty much downhill and flat the rest of the way. I cruised into the finish and even had enough to sprint at the end.
My total time today was 1:42:57, which is another PR. This is my second half marathon and second PR in 8 days.
This caps off the longest training week in my training plan. I covered 163.18 miles over 12 hours, 20 minutes and 57 seconds. Next week is a recovery week as well as my first brick. I am going to ride/run on Wednesday afternoon.
My next half marathon is on May 12th. By contrast, that race has a total elevation gain of 150 feet vs today's race with an elevation gain of 853 feet. I think that sounds like an excellent course to shoot for 1:40.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
15 and 60 mile rides
Last night, after packet pickup for the Kansas Half Marathon, I went to the downtown airport to ride a quick 15-20 miles before the sun went down. I needed a time trial run for the Kansas City Corporate Challenge as I won't be able to make the official Cerner time trial. My legs were a little tight and I wasn't able to go as fast as I wanted to last night so that was a little unfortunate. The wind was also blowing the opposite direction that it normally blows, that wasn't a factor at all but just a little odd. I ended up going just over 15 miles. I hope my time is fast enough to qualify as I think that would be really fun.
Today, I had to do my longest ride in the training plan. I rode 60.10 miles. I rode all the miles at the airport as well. Today, my main goal was to learn how to ride in my aero bars and use my aero drink holder, so I chose the flattest course I could think of for that. I spent at least half of the ride on the aero bars. I rode the first 20 miles with Joe from work and we averaged 17.8 mph over that time. When he was done, I stopped and talked to him for a couple minutes before jumping back on the bike to cover another 40 miles. At about mile 39, my Gatorade reservoir ran out so I stopped at my car to refill it and my water (even though the water reservoir was no where close to empty). I ended up average the first 20 miles at 18.2 mph, the second 20 miles at 22.3 mph and the last 20 miles at 21.8 mph for a total average of 20.5 mph. I learned how to ride on my aero bars and use my drink reservoirs successfully as well, so I will take that as a win. I have a few adjustments to make but I feel confident on them and will take them out to Longview Lake on Wednesday for my Ride/Run brick.
There will be no swimming today unfortunately. The pool at work is closed today. I am staying up at Shari's tonight and there really isn't another alternative. I think it will be ok though.
Now, I can switch my focus to the Kansas Half Marathon I am running the morning. 2 half marathons in 8 days? Hooray!
Friday, April 20, 2012
Run/Swim
I didn't swim this morning because I was a little tired when I woke up so I opted to swim tonight and sleep in an extra hour. It was totally worth it.
I ended up running on the treadmill at the gym so I could control my pace better. I ran almost as slow as I could while still feeling like I was running just so my legs wouldn't complain too much. I ended up with a 50 minute running covering just over 5 miles.
Then I changed into my swim suit and started swimming. I swam 1250 yards instead of the 1750 yard the training plan wanted today. I didn't do the kick intervals 1. because I don't care for them and 2. I just finished running so no thanks. I swam all 5 of my 100 yard intervals in sub 1:40 times though, so that was good to see again for the first time since being sick.
Then I came home, ate some food and pretty much fell asleep until now. I was pretty tired and still am so I should be going to sleep for real soon :)
Tomorrow is supposed to be a 20 mile ride. I haven't decided if I want to do it/have the time to. I am thinking tomorrow would be a good day off before my 60 mile ride on Saturday and Half Marathon on Sunday. I also need to go pick up my race packet after work so that doesn't leave me with a ton of time to get in an hour long ride.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
40 mile ride after work
Tonight was awesome. I got over to Longview Lake by 5:30 and was able to get my ride started at 5:34. I rode 40 miles at 19.5 mph. This was an extremely long ride for a week night. My legs were still a little sore, left over from this weekend. I couldn't/didn't want to ride super hard because of that. I think if I had felt 100% I could have done better than 20 or 21 mph but everything was a little more brutal tonight. Flatland wasn't as easy and hills were definitely harder. I think this kind of training is really good for me though because it sets me in the mindset that I can keep going even when things are a little sore. It also helps me build my endurance even further.
I am considering taking Friday off but I will wait and see how things go tomorrow and how I feel when I wake up on Friday morning but I don't anticipate that there will be much soreness remaining.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Swim/Run/Softball
I got up and swam 2500 yards this morning. There was a lot of pulls and stroke drills followed by a 10x100 interval set. This was my longest swim on record to date. By the time I got to the interval training, I was already fairly tired and my times were definitely slower. The stroke drills should help with my overall technique as well.
Then, I ran for 60 minutes over lunch. I ran at an "easy" pace while getting in almost 6.5 miles. I am trying to run slow this week so I can have my legs ready for my next half marathon on Sunday.
Tonight, we played softball. We got absolutely killed tonight but we still had fun.
Monday, April 16, 2012
AM Swim/PM Ride
Legs are fairly sore today but thats nothing a nice swim and ride wont fix!
I swam 1500 yards this morning. My main set was 4x200 intervals. I felt better and better each interval but I think I might still have a week or so before I get my rhythm back.
Tonight I rode just over 20 miles at the Martin City Brewing Company ride. I really only wanted to ride like 17-18 mph tonight but then I started off really hard and that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the night. I settled things down after mile 6 or so but then tried to catch back up to the group around mile 10 while pulling for Franz, Capi and Virgil. It was fun overall though.
I swam 1500 yards this morning. My main set was 4x200 intervals. I felt better and better each interval but I think I might still have a week or so before I get my rhythm back.
Tonight I rode just over 20 miles at the Martin City Brewing Company ride. I really only wanted to ride like 17-18 mph tonight but then I started off really hard and that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the night. I settled things down after mile 6 or so but then tried to catch back up to the group around mile 10 while pulling for Franz, Capi and Virgil. It was fun overall though.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Long Ride/Recovery Run
I was supposed to ride 55 miles today. At first I didn't even think I was going to be able to ride outside, but then the rain never hit so I lucked out there. Then we were under a wind advisory with gusts up to 35-40 mph. It was pretty crazy but I cut it short down to just over 36 miles. I rode out to Longview Lake and met Aaron for 2 loops around the lake and then I came home. I wasn't intending on going too crazy today anyways just so I have a little time to recover.
After I got home, I told Shari it was time for her to go for a run. I got to tag along with her for a 1.33 mile run. I was pretty happy that she ran the whole time and her breathing was well under control. Then we walked another mile home.
My legs were definitely sore today and I can tell that the last week that I pretty much "took off" hurt me a little bit. I anticipate that this won't be very much of a set back at all though so I am not worried. My mileage for the week was way down around 70 miles. I am going to stretch a bunch before bed and use my foam roller. Tomorrow starts a new week and I should be back on track.
After I got home, I told Shari it was time for her to go for a run. I got to tag along with her for a 1.33 mile run. I was pretty happy that she ran the whole time and her breathing was well under control. Then we walked another mile home.
My legs were definitely sore today and I can tell that the last week that I pretty much "took off" hurt me a little bit. I anticipate that this won't be very much of a set back at all though so I am not worried. My mileage for the week was way down around 70 miles. I am going to stretch a bunch before bed and use my foam roller. Tomorrow starts a new week and I should be back on track.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Rock the Parkway Half Marathon
Went out hoping for 1:40 even though I knew this last weekend was really rough. 1:45 was a secondary goal. Little did I know how bad today would be. Miles 1-6 went as I was hoping for but then stomach cramps really started to kick in and I could tell I was still mildly dehydrated. The crazy humidity this morning didn't help me keep water in either. At mile 8, I had to stop and use the portapotty or else risk turning my running shorts into a diaper. As I got out of the portapotty, I saw the 1:45 pacers running by and I knew things were not going to end well. I couldn't keep up with them and at that point my sole goal became to finish without walking.
I ended up running the half in 1:47:36 officially. That is still 1 minute and 30 seconds faster than my previous PR. If you don't include my bathroom stop then it was 1:46:35. I am fairly disappointed with today's efforts but I hope to make it up next weekend at the Kansas Half Marathon in Lawrence.
I came home, reenergized and hit the pool. I ended up swimming 1000 yards. That went pretty well all things considered.
I ended up running the half in 1:47:36 officially. That is still 1 minute and 30 seconds faster than my previous PR. If you don't include my bathroom stop then it was 1:46:35. I am fairly disappointed with today's efforts but I hope to make it up next weekend at the Kansas Half Marathon in Lawrence.
I came home, reenergized and hit the pool. I ended up swimming 1000 yards. That went pretty well all things considered.
Illness Ensues
I did my best to fight off a GI Virus that hit with full force two Thursday night's ago. I fought it all last weekend and missed all of my workouts until Tuesday night.
I finally got back to testing things on Tuesday night even though I was still suffering. The stomach cramps had dropped a lot but I was still having problems. I got in 30 minute run. I definitely felt dehydrated and had to use the bathroom almost immediately on finishing the run. Then I headed to softball and played for 2 hours. I only had one bowel attack during the games and it was right at the end.
On Wednesday, I got outside on my bike to give me new wheels a spin. I didn't want to go to crazy because things still weren't feeling that great. I rode just under 10 miles. The wheels are definitely faster than my old wheels. I could hold 26-27 mph on flat land with a lot less effort and cruising at almost 20 mph average after being sick was a plus even if it was such a short distance.
On Thursday, I got in my last big workout before this morning's half marathon. I ran a nice and slow for 50 minutes. Everything felt alright and I didn't think I would have any problems running this morning. I followed that up with some light swim, as this was the first day back in the pool in over a week. I got in 1000 yards. My main set was just a straight 500 yard swim and it felt relatively slow, but that is understandable considering the week I had had before hand.
I finally got back to testing things on Tuesday night even though I was still suffering. The stomach cramps had dropped a lot but I was still having problems. I got in 30 minute run. I definitely felt dehydrated and had to use the bathroom almost immediately on finishing the run. Then I headed to softball and played for 2 hours. I only had one bowel attack during the games and it was right at the end.
On Wednesday, I got outside on my bike to give me new wheels a spin. I didn't want to go to crazy because things still weren't feeling that great. I rode just under 10 miles. The wheels are definitely faster than my old wheels. I could hold 26-27 mph on flat land with a lot less effort and cruising at almost 20 mph average after being sick was a plus even if it was such a short distance.
On Thursday, I got in my last big workout before this morning's half marathon. I ran a nice and slow for 50 minutes. Everything felt alright and I didn't think I would have any problems running this morning. I followed that up with some light swim, as this was the first day back in the pool in over a week. I got in 1000 yards. My main set was just a straight 500 yard swim and it felt relatively slow, but that is understandable considering the week I had had before hand.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
50 minutes of running
There was some light rain in the area yesterday and my hip was really sore for some reason. Rather than ride on my trainer, I decided to take the day off and just stretch a bunch. This seemed to work pretty well as my hip was still sore this morning but not nearly as bad. I did however run into another problem this morning that has been reoccuring as of late. I am continually getting an ear ache in my left ear. I think it is mostly due to swimming because it only hurts the days after swimming. I just ordered some swimmer's ear plugs to help with that and they will be here tomorrow.
Today was not a complete loss though. I got in a really good run. I ran 6.81 miles in about 53 minutes. My first mile was a warmup at about 8:10 and then I progressively picked up my speed as I continued along. This resulted in my first negative split in a while and all miles after the first one were sub 8min/mile.
If my ear ache is gone tomorrow morning, I will get my swim in before work.
Today was not a complete loss though. I got in a really good run. I ran 6.81 miles in about 53 minutes. My first mile was a warmup at about 8:10 and then I progressively picked up my speed as I continued along. This resulted in my first negative split in a while and all miles after the first one were sub 8min/mile.
If my ear ache is gone tomorrow morning, I will get my swim in before work.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Swim/Run/Softball
This morning's swim was one of the craziest so far. I swam 2000 yards total. I had a lot of kick and pull work today. I had a 500 yard swim set in there but that was it as far straight swimming.
I also got in a 60 minute run covering 6.84 miles. This was a treadmill run just to keep an average speed. I started at 6.3 mph and moved to 6.7 at 10 minutes and then 7.1 after another 10 minutes. Then I worked down in the same fashion. It was a relatively good run overall.
Then I had softball tonight. I should wear my garmin sometime I am playing just to see how far I run during that.
I also got in a 60 minute run covering 6.84 miles. This was a treadmill run just to keep an average speed. I started at 6.3 mph and moved to 6.7 at 10 minutes and then 7.1 after another 10 minutes. Then I worked down in the same fashion. It was a relatively good run overall.
Then I had softball tonight. I should wear my garmin sometime I am playing just to see how far I run during that.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Ride and Swim
I got home tonight and did a 24 mile ride. I averaged 20.2 mph and climbed more hills than my 20.6 mph ride last Monday. This is my second 20+ mph ride ever and it felt awesome.
Then I took a little over an hour to rest and eat some fruit and went to the gym to swim. I swam 1250 yards. My main set was 800 yards straight and I averaged 1:47min/100 yards. Comparing this with the last time I did this workout, I did 1:54min/100 yards last time. This was just over a month and a half ago and most of my improvement has shown over the last 2-3 weeks. I am hoping I can continue to make increases like this for the next 2 months and get my swim under 1:40.
Then I took a little over an hour to rest and eat some fruit and went to the gym to swim. I swam 1250 yards. My main set was 800 yards straight and I averaged 1:47min/100 yards. Comparing this with the last time I did this workout, I did 1:54min/100 yards last time. This was just over a month and a half ago and most of my improvement has shown over the last 2-3 weeks. I am hoping I can continue to make increases like this for the next 2 months and get my swim under 1:40.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Run Saturday/Ride Sunday
I ran on Saturday morning. I waited a little longer than I wanted to in order to start it though and the sun just beat down on me. I got in a 70 minutes, 8.25 mile run overall. It was slower pace but felt harder than it should have. I think working back into the heat is gonna be rough. I am not looking forward to starting my swim at 7:15, biking from 8-11 and running from 11-1 at the half iron man.
Today I got in 35 miles on my bike. I rode out to longview lake, did 2 loops and came back. I had a good average over 19.5 until I had to come back home through town and hit every stop light on the way :(
Today I got in 35 miles on my bike. I rode out to longview lake, did 2 loops and came back. I had a good average over 19.5 until I had to come back home through town and hit every stop light on the way :(
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday/Thursday Workouts
Last night I rode around longview again. I got in just over 24 miles. It was an easier pace but I really tried to hit the hills harder.
This morning, I had a 1250 yard swim with a main set consisting of 16x50 intervals. My times for today were right in the 1:35 range. Those were absolutely exhausting from a breathing perspective and some laps I definitely took longer than the 10 seconds of rest I was supposed to take.
Tonight, I went out for a 4 mile run. I was trying to run at a progressively increasing speed. This was a pretty easy run overall but running fast up the big hill on Todd George is a bitch.
Tomorrow is an off day before an 8-10 mile run and 35 mile ride on Saturday/Sunday.
This morning, I had a 1250 yard swim with a main set consisting of 16x50 intervals. My times for today were right in the 1:35 range. Those were absolutely exhausting from a breathing perspective and some laps I definitely took longer than the 10 seconds of rest I was supposed to take.
Tonight, I went out for a 4 mile run. I was trying to run at a progressively increasing speed. This was a pretty easy run overall but running fast up the big hill on Todd George is a bitch.
Tomorrow is an off day before an 8-10 mile run and 35 mile ride on Saturday/Sunday.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Run/Swim/Softball
I got a nice 4.5 mile run in the morning. I cut it back from 50 minutes to just under 40 since I pushed it harder on the bike on Monday night.
I swam 1250 yards over lunch. I did 9x100 main set (I accidentally did an extra interval cause I wasn't paying attention). My 100 yard times all fell right around the 1:35min/100 yard pace, which was pretty good. I don't know how much longer I could hold that pace for past 100 yards but I know intervals are helping.
I also played softball last night. My legs didn't work quite as well last night running all over the place. It was slow to take off and there wasn't the same top end speed I am used to but thats what working out in the morning will do to you I guess.
I swam 1250 yards over lunch. I did 9x100 main set (I accidentally did an extra interval cause I wasn't paying attention). My 100 yard times all fell right around the 1:35min/100 yard pace, which was pretty good. I don't know how much longer I could hold that pace for past 100 yards but I know intervals are helping.
I also played softball last night. My legs didn't work quite as well last night running all over the place. It was slow to take off and there wasn't the same top end speed I am used to but thats what working out in the morning will do to you I guess.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Best Recovery Day Ever
Today was the best start to a recovery week ever.
I started off with a swim unlike any other swim I have ever had before. I swam 1000 yards total. My first 300 yards were a variation of pull's and kick training. I then moved into my 10 x 50 yard interval set. All of my intervals were between 1:25 and 1:35 min/100 yards. As of two months ago, I was swimming 1:50-1:55 and as of the last couple weeks I have been swimming 1:40-1:50 so this was a significant speed improvement. I have to attribute a lot of this to the swim class I went to and the pull paddles and bouy.
After work, I went over to Longview Lake for 2 loops. I had considered riding the Martin City Group ride but I needed to get back home ASAP to get some work done tonight before bed and I know if I went to the group ride, I wouldn't get home until 9 or 9:30. In any event, my ride was better than my swim this morning. I rode 20.21 miles at an average speed of 20.6 mph. I did 2 loops around the lake and felt really good the entire time. This is my highest average speed ever and my first time averaging over 20 mph outside.
I am hoping the rest of my recovery week yields some great results as well as my distances are all shorter but the intensity should remain about the same as any other week if not more.
I started off with a swim unlike any other swim I have ever had before. I swam 1000 yards total. My first 300 yards were a variation of pull's and kick training. I then moved into my 10 x 50 yard interval set. All of my intervals were between 1:25 and 1:35 min/100 yards. As of two months ago, I was swimming 1:50-1:55 and as of the last couple weeks I have been swimming 1:40-1:50 so this was a significant speed improvement. I have to attribute a lot of this to the swim class I went to and the pull paddles and bouy.
After work, I went over to Longview Lake for 2 loops. I had considered riding the Martin City Group ride but I needed to get back home ASAP to get some work done tonight before bed and I know if I went to the group ride, I wouldn't get home until 9 or 9:30. In any event, my ride was better than my swim this morning. I rode 20.21 miles at an average speed of 20.6 mph. I did 2 loops around the lake and felt really good the entire time. This is my highest average speed ever and my first time averaging over 20 mph outside.
I am hoping the rest of my recovery week yields some great results as well as my distances are all shorter but the intensity should remain about the same as any other week if not more.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Rock the Parkway Groupie Run
This morning, I did my first ever group run that wasn't a race. The group in charge of Rock the Parkway Half Marathon but on an aided run. The coursed allowed for going outs 8 miles and coming back with gatorade and water every 2 miles. I ran out 6 and came back though. Along the way I met 2 other guys that biked 52 miles yesterday and are training for Ironman Kansas. They had a lot more in the tank at the end of the run than I did though :(
I was shooting for about an 8:30 min/mile pace but I ended up a little faster at 8:22. Iran just shy of 12 miles. My legs were feeling great when I woke up this morning but they were definitely feeling gassed at mile 6. I pushed through though to the end. I missed the negative split today by 4 seconds but I can live with that :)
I am really happy with how this week went. I am coming off of sickness at the end of last week and missing both my long ride and long run last weekend. I also had to convert my 2 weekday rides into indoor trainer rides on Monday and Wednesday because it was raining outside. Overall, I got in 103.02 miles in 9:10:42. This is my second 100+ mile week this month as well as my second one ever.
Next week is recovery week and I am looking forward to that. I start off with a nice easy swim tomorrow morning and a nice 20 mile ride tomorrow night. I might even hit up the Martin City Group ride.
I was shooting for about an 8:30 min/mile pace but I ended up a little faster at 8:22. Iran just shy of 12 miles. My legs were feeling great when I woke up this morning but they were definitely feeling gassed at mile 6. I pushed through though to the end. I missed the negative split today by 4 seconds but I can live with that :)
I am really happy with how this week went. I am coming off of sickness at the end of last week and missing both my long ride and long run last weekend. I also had to convert my 2 weekday rides into indoor trainer rides on Monday and Wednesday because it was raining outside. Overall, I got in 103.02 miles in 9:10:42. This is my second 100+ mile week this month as well as my second one ever.
Next week is recovery week and I am looking forward to that. I start off with a nice easy swim tomorrow morning and a nice 20 mile ride tomorrow night. I might even hit up the Martin City Group ride.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
50 mile ride
Today was awesome. I needed a 45+ mile ride and I got that in easily. I started out a little slow to get everything warmed up for the first 10-15 miles or so. I rode out to long view lake and did 1 loop. Then I started the second loop and really started to pick up speed and felt really good. When I finished that loop, I had about 30 or so miles down. I knew I could ride towards home and head north to finish up the route with some of my favorite riding territory around here.
In all today was a new record distance for me and I did it solo. I kept an average speed of 19.2 mph and that includes a lot of stopping at lights through town and then going again. I have my watch set to autopause when I stop completely, but that doesn't always provide an exact stopping point.
In all I got in 50.5 miles and I am looking forward to my 11-12 mile run tomorrow morning :)
In all today was a new record distance for me and I did it solo. I kept an average speed of 19.2 mph and that includes a lot of stopping at lights through town and then going again. I have my watch set to autopause when I stop completely, but that doesn't always provide an exact stopping point.
In all I got in 50.5 miles and I am looking forward to my 11-12 mile run tomorrow morning :)
Swim/Run
I missed my workouts yesterday due to some crazy stuff at work but I just moved them to today because this was supposed to be my rest day. Thats an easy way to flip flop workouts :)
I started with a 1500 yard swim. Main set was 4x200 intervals averaging around 1:40-1:42 min/100 yards. Good pace with better technique. I can definitely feel it getting easier, more efficient and faster. I also did warmup work with my pull paddles and that helps as well.
Then I showered off the chlorine, put on my running clothes and drove home. I ate an apple and a banana and planned a 5 mile route that I would attempt to average a 9 min/mile for so I could run for a nice aerobic 45 minutes. I ended up running 5.18 miles in just over 45 minutes. It was hard to slow pace down outside. I am so used to letting the treadmill control my aerobic runs but being outside is so much more fun.
Tomorrow, I will be on my bike for a little over 2 hours while I ride for 45 miles. I am still trying to figure out when I am going to fit it into the schedule whether it will be around 10 am or just after 3PM. Those are the best spots for it to fit in, so I'll need to figure that out before heading to bed.
I started with a 1500 yard swim. Main set was 4x200 intervals averaging around 1:40-1:42 min/100 yards. Good pace with better technique. I can definitely feel it getting easier, more efficient and faster. I also did warmup work with my pull paddles and that helps as well.
Then I showered off the chlorine, put on my running clothes and drove home. I ate an apple and a banana and planned a 5 mile route that I would attempt to average a 9 min/mile for so I could run for a nice aerobic 45 minutes. I ended up running 5.18 miles in just over 45 minutes. It was hard to slow pace down outside. I am so used to letting the treadmill control my aerobic runs but being outside is so much more fun.
Tomorrow, I will be on my bike for a little over 2 hours while I ride for 45 miles. I am still trying to figure out when I am going to fit it into the schedule whether it will be around 10 am or just after 3PM. Those are the best spots for it to fit in, so I'll need to figure that out before heading to bed.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
60 minute trainer ride
I was supposed to ride 30 miles outside tonight but it was raining and I try to avoid rides in the rain if possible. I ended up riding for 60 minutes on the trainer. I concentrated on keeping my heart rate over 135 and my cadence over 100. I still am not happy about having to revert to the trainer after riding outside as much as of late, but I think I can make it work for my training plan and not have to kill myself by riding for a long time on it.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Swim/Run
Feeling a lot better today so I was able to get in my swim and run.
My swim had a 10x50 yard kick interval set but seeing as I don't use my legs all that much when swimming, this seemed almost pointless to me and I changed it to a 5x50 yard freestyle set. Overall I swam 1500 yards. It was an awesome swim and I worked on my updated technique quite a bit. It definitely shows as the swim were moderate but I was able to consistently swim in the 1:41/100 yard or less range.
Tonight, it was raining so softball was out, but I still ran outside. This is my absolute most favorite running weather. Anything in the upper 50s and up is awesome to run in. I cranked out a hilly 7.21 miles with an average pace of 7:59min/mile. This run was moderate difficulty and I had an awesome time.
My swim had a 10x50 yard kick interval set but seeing as I don't use my legs all that much when swimming, this seemed almost pointless to me and I changed it to a 5x50 yard freestyle set. Overall I swam 1500 yards. It was an awesome swim and I worked on my updated technique quite a bit. It definitely shows as the swim were moderate but I was able to consistently swim in the 1:41/100 yard or less range.
Tonight, it was raining so softball was out, but I still ran outside. This is my absolute most favorite running weather. Anything in the upper 50s and up is awesome to run in. I cranked out a hilly 7.21 miles with an average pace of 7:59min/mile. This run was moderate difficulty and I had an awesome time.
Rough Weekend
Friday was a rest day so I was hoping to use that for some illness recovery.
Saturday, I was hoping to run, but at that point a sore throat a snuck into my list of symptoms so that pretty much ruled out cardio.
Sunday, I tried to run. I dumped a bunch of chloraseptic spray down my throat in hopes that that would help. I got about .75 miles in, when I couldn't go any further and I walked home :(
Yesterday, I finally was feeling better and my sore throat is nearly gone. I swam 1250 yards in the morning. It was a good swim and I concentrated a lot on good form. My speed was lower but I felt better swimming overall.
I was supposed to ride 25 miles last night but there was a monsoon outside. I really had no desire to ride my trainer whatsoever after riding outside so much lately. In any event, I rode 10 miles with an average speed of 16.8 and 100 cadence. This ride felt more difficult and my heart rate reflected that. I guess on rainy days, these kinds of workouts will be good replacements on the trainer.
Saturday, I was hoping to run, but at that point a sore throat a snuck into my list of symptoms so that pretty much ruled out cardio.
Sunday, I tried to run. I dumped a bunch of chloraseptic spray down my throat in hopes that that would help. I got about .75 miles in, when I couldn't go any further and I walked home :(
Yesterday, I finally was feeling better and my sore throat is nearly gone. I swam 1250 yards in the morning. It was a good swim and I concentrated a lot on good form. My speed was lower but I felt better swimming overall.
I was supposed to ride 25 miles last night but there was a monsoon outside. I really had no desire to ride my trainer whatsoever after riding outside so much lately. In any event, I rode 10 miles with an average speed of 16.8 and 100 cadence. This ride felt more difficult and my heart rate reflected that. I guess on rainy days, these kinds of workouts will be good replacements on the trainer.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Light Day
I felt sick last night after my bike ride. Running nose and congestion are hell on cardio workouts. I was supposed to run before work this morning, but I woke up and decided that wasn't going to happen. I wasn't really sure I was going to do anything today, but I had free swim lesson from another Cerner associate at the pool at the north campus at 5:30, so I really wanted to go to that.
I tried to do my 5 sets of pullups today, but I could tell I was feeling a little weak today, so I only did 4 sets and I will redo that set this weekend. I ended up doing 36, 40, 30, 24 and opted out of an additional set of 40.
After work, I drove up north to the gym and got there just in time for the lesson. It was very valuable and taught by another Cerner associate that has taught high school and college swim teams. I put some of the things he taught me to work after the fact with a 1300 yard swim. I did a 300 yard warm up concentrating on what I was told in the lesson. Then I did 100 yards of kick and another 100 yards with paddles. I finished with an 800 yard straight swim. The overall pace was a little slower today(about 1:48/100 yards) but felt a lot more comfortable and more efficient. I didn't get to do my 200 yard cooldown because the pool at that gym closes at 7 and they came and kicked me out.
I tried to do my 5 sets of pullups today, but I could tell I was feeling a little weak today, so I only did 4 sets and I will redo that set this weekend. I ended up doing 36, 40, 30, 24 and opted out of an additional set of 40.
After work, I drove up north to the gym and got there just in time for the lesson. It was very valuable and taught by another Cerner associate that has taught high school and college swim teams. I put some of the things he taught me to work after the fact with a 1300 yard swim. I did a 300 yard warm up concentrating on what I was told in the lesson. Then I did 100 yards of kick and another 100 yards with paddles. I finished with an 800 yard straight swim. The overall pace was a little slower today(about 1:48/100 yards) but felt a lot more comfortable and more efficient. I didn't get to do my 200 yard cooldown because the pool at that gym closes at 7 and they came and kicked me out.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Pushups and Bike Ride
Today, I took a step backward in pullups since I missed last times set by so much. I did 4,5, 6, 6, 7. This is significantly less than what was required last time but overall went fairly well. I think I will need to keep doing this before I can move up again.
Tonight I got on the road for nice 25.73 mile ride. I averaged 21.5 mph for the first 15 miles with wind at my back. On the way back, my average dropped to 19.5. The wind was brutal for that 10 miles. One of these days, I will keep my average over 20 for a whole ride.
Tonight I got on the road for nice 25.73 mile ride. I averaged 21.5 mph for the first 15 miles with wind at my back. On the way back, my average dropped to 19.5. The wind was brutal for that 10 miles. One of these days, I will keep my average over 20 for a whole ride.
Tough Day
Its becoming more readily apparent that Tuesdays are going to be rough due to Softball being on Tuesdays as well. In any event, I did pushups, running, softball and swimming today.
Pushups went awesomely this morning. It was a test day to see how many I could do total. I did 56 straight before needing to stick my butt up for a small break. I came back down and kept going doing sets of 5-20 with small plank or butt raise breaks to finish the full 100 today. Ideally, I want to be able to do these straight without any plank or butt breaks. But just being able to do 100 without going to my knees was awesome to me.
Then I got in a 50 minute, 5.68 mile run over lunch. I typically start off my aerobic runs around 6.5-7 mph and slowly increase the speed over the course of the run. This run was easy again and I another run on Thursday and a 9-10 mile run on Saturday. This will be the first week of breaking 20 miles of running in a while and I am looking forward to increasing my run mileage.
After work, we had softball. It was really nice out tonight and got in a lot of sprints running around in center field. I also was happy to win our first game tonight.
Swimming tonight didn't go as well as I would have liked. Considering what else I did today though, I can take a small dip in performance in a late night swim. I swam 1500 yards total. More stroke work with pull paddles and kick work before churning out 16x50 yard intervals tonight. Most of those intervals were about 3-5 seconds slower than normal though.
Pushups went awesomely this morning. It was a test day to see how many I could do total. I did 56 straight before needing to stick my butt up for a small break. I came back down and kept going doing sets of 5-20 with small plank or butt raise breaks to finish the full 100 today. Ideally, I want to be able to do these straight without any plank or butt breaks. But just being able to do 100 without going to my knees was awesome to me.
Then I got in a 50 minute, 5.68 mile run over lunch. I typically start off my aerobic runs around 6.5-7 mph and slowly increase the speed over the course of the run. This run was easy again and I another run on Thursday and a 9-10 mile run on Saturday. This will be the first week of breaking 20 miles of running in a while and I am looking forward to increasing my run mileage.
After work, we had softball. It was really nice out tonight and got in a lot of sprints running around in center field. I also was happy to win our first game tonight.
Swimming tonight didn't go as well as I would have liked. Considering what else I did today though, I can take a small dip in performance in a late night swim. I swam 1500 yards total. More stroke work with pull paddles and kick work before churning out 16x50 yard intervals tonight. Most of those intervals were about 3-5 seconds slower than normal though.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Pullups/Ride/Swim
Today start off somewhat bad. I went to bed way to late last night and couldn't force myself out of bed to get to the gym to swim. Then pullups came around at 10. I knew that our set was going to be crazy today as I had been dreading it for a while. The set was 8, 7, 8, 7, 8. Needless to say, there was a big failure in the amount of pullups I could do. I managed to do 8, 6, 5, 6, 4, 4. This was by far the hardest set we have ever done and because we did so poorly, we go back to our last set, do that when and then try this one again. We could be stuck here a while.....
After work went a lot better though. I rode 25 miles out at Longview Lake. I wish I could have ridden Martin City's group ride, but I think group rides will be few and far between for the time being as I need to get distance in and their routes typically only go 20 miles max. This ride went really well though. I average 19.5 mph through some decent hills and light wind. I had to deal with some light back pain in my lower back though. I think that is just soreness from deadlifts yesterday though. As soon as I stopped at a stop light and stretched, it felt a lot better.
I took about 2 hours break to get groceries and come home before heading back out to go to the pool. I swam 1250 yards total. 200 stroke work, 50 kick, and 50 more stroke work as a warmup. I finally got my pull paddles and I can see a lot clearer what my hands/arms should be doing. Then I swam 16x50 yards with 10 seconds rest between. Each lap was right around 50 seconds or 1:40/100yard pace. Then I did a light 150 yard swim to finish up.
After work went a lot better though. I rode 25 miles out at Longview Lake. I wish I could have ridden Martin City's group ride, but I think group rides will be few and far between for the time being as I need to get distance in and their routes typically only go 20 miles max. This ride went really well though. I average 19.5 mph through some decent hills and light wind. I had to deal with some light back pain in my lower back though. I think that is just soreness from deadlifts yesterday though. As soon as I stopped at a stop light and stretched, it felt a lot better.
I took about 2 hours break to get groceries and come home before heading back out to go to the pool. I swam 1250 yards total. 200 stroke work, 50 kick, and 50 more stroke work as a warmup. I finally got my pull paddles and I can see a lot clearer what my hands/arms should be doing. Then I swam 16x50 yards with 10 seconds rest between. Each lap was right around 50 seconds or 1:40/100yard pace. Then I did a light 150 yard swim to finish up.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Weekend Workouts
Lots of activity this weekend.
First I ran 4 miles at the St Patricks Day 4 mile run in Westport with Shari. We had a lot of fun running it, even though Shari likes to tell me to shut up when we are running. She didn't know this, but I was concentrating on a high cadence for the run to help with me leg turnover and I was able to keep it around 86 or 87 when we were running. Then she kept throwing me off with surprise sprints so I had to figure out what to do next. She finished in just under her goal of 55 minutes so that was pretty good. She also managed to run the whole first mile, which was hilly as crap, without stopping in 11:37.
Then we ate some food and I got my bike ready to ride. I met Joe at the downtown airport for some nice flat land riding. I rode 41 miles total. I rode the first 5 laps on my own at 21 mph. Then I caught Joe and rode with him for his last lap. We stopped when he was done and talked for a few minutes. Then I finished the last 5 laps I had for a total of 11. My average dropped on the lap with him but I was able to get it back up to 20 for the entire ride after he left. The airport is fun, gives you the opportunity to ride on some nice newly paved road with minimal hills. It was great for some aerobic training as you are constantly pedaling and can keep a pretty consistent hr. The downside is that you will always hit a wind going one way, so one direction will be a lot faster than the other.
Today, Shari and I went to 24 hour fitness. I needed to run 7-8 miles but it was raining outside and still a little chilly to run in the rain. I ran 8 miles in just over an hour. This run as most runs as of late was still pretty easy. I know that they are definitely going to pay off once I am ready to start the build phase of training and get faster. I finished up with a quick set of deadlifts. They are easily my favorite lift and are very beneficial.
My total mileage last week was 100.82 miles in 8:48:47. This is the first time I have broken 100 miles in my training so that was pretty cool.
First I ran 4 miles at the St Patricks Day 4 mile run in Westport with Shari. We had a lot of fun running it, even though Shari likes to tell me to shut up when we are running. She didn't know this, but I was concentrating on a high cadence for the run to help with me leg turnover and I was able to keep it around 86 or 87 when we were running. Then she kept throwing me off with surprise sprints so I had to figure out what to do next. She finished in just under her goal of 55 minutes so that was pretty good. She also managed to run the whole first mile, which was hilly as crap, without stopping in 11:37.
Then we ate some food and I got my bike ready to ride. I met Joe at the downtown airport for some nice flat land riding. I rode 41 miles total. I rode the first 5 laps on my own at 21 mph. Then I caught Joe and rode with him for his last lap. We stopped when he was done and talked for a few minutes. Then I finished the last 5 laps I had for a total of 11. My average dropped on the lap with him but I was able to get it back up to 20 for the entire ride after he left. The airport is fun, gives you the opportunity to ride on some nice newly paved road with minimal hills. It was great for some aerobic training as you are constantly pedaling and can keep a pretty consistent hr. The downside is that you will always hit a wind going one way, so one direction will be a lot faster than the other.
Today, Shari and I went to 24 hour fitness. I needed to run 7-8 miles but it was raining outside and still a little chilly to run in the rain. I ran 8 miles in just over an hour. This run as most runs as of late was still pretty easy. I know that they are definitely going to pay off once I am ready to start the build phase of training and get faster. I finished up with a quick set of deadlifts. They are easily my favorite lift and are very beneficial.
My total mileage last week was 100.82 miles in 8:48:47. This is the first time I have broken 100 miles in my training so that was pretty cool.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Pullups and 20 mile ride
I did pullups this morning at work. My 5 sets today were 4, 5, 6, 6, 7. Felt a little hard at the end today and Monday is going to be crazy. The sets on Monday are 8,7,8,7,8.
Today, I was making up for the ride I missed on Wednesday. I was supposed to ride 25 miles but I only rode 20. It was getting a little dark and I didn't want to stay out too much longer and risk getting hit. This ride went really well though. I compared it with another ride I did back on July 31, 2011. I averaged almost 3 mph faster on this ride over almost the exact same course. I definitely feel stronger riding these hills.
Tomorrow is going to be really fun. I am running a 4 mile race with Shari in the morning and then I am going to ride 40 miles on at the downtown airport. The loop is about 3.6 miles and is extremely flat. It will take me about 11 laps to complete the mileage but it should be really fun to just ride a flat course that I can average 20+ mph for 2 hours. I don't plan on doing this very often but it will be a nice outdoor aerobic ride.
Today, I was making up for the ride I missed on Wednesday. I was supposed to ride 25 miles but I only rode 20. It was getting a little dark and I didn't want to stay out too much longer and risk getting hit. This ride went really well though. I compared it with another ride I did back on July 31, 2011. I averaged almost 3 mph faster on this ride over almost the exact same course. I definitely feel stronger riding these hills.
Tomorrow is going to be really fun. I am running a 4 mile race with Shari in the morning and then I am going to ride 40 miles on at the downtown airport. The loop is about 3.6 miles and is extremely flat. It will take me about 11 laps to complete the mileage but it should be really fun to just ride a flat course that I can average 20+ mph for 2 hours. I don't plan on doing this very often but it will be a nice outdoor aerobic ride.
Wednesday Pullups - Swim/Pushups/Run Today
On Wednesday, I was feeling some exhaustion and pain from Tuesday so I decided against the bike ride that the training plan called for and pushed that until Friday. I did do pullups though. The 5 sets called for 8, 6, 5, 4, 7+. No + once again on pullups as they are getting really difficult.
Today, I got in a 1250 yard swim. I started with a 200 yard stroke work warmup, 50 yards of kicking and another 50 yards of stroke work. Then I did an 8x100 interval set with 15 seconds rest between sets. I finished with a 150 yard cooldown. Again my intervals ranged between 1:39 and 1:45 today. I guess that means I am just swimming faster now and I am okay with that. I finally bought some pull paddles though so I am hoping my technique will improve even more.
My 5 sets of pushups today were 29, 33, 29, 29, 40+. My 40+ today ended up being 49 for a total of 169 pullups. I have a test day coming up this weekend, so I will probably do those on Sunday.
I finished my workouts today on the treadmill with a 40 minute aerobic run. I am still trying to get my cadence up to 85+ and today I finally got myself to 83. I covered about 4.3 miles. I am really looking forward to quality days coming up in about a month where I will be able to start getting some faster run days in.
Today, I got in a 1250 yard swim. I started with a 200 yard stroke work warmup, 50 yards of kicking and another 50 yards of stroke work. Then I did an 8x100 interval set with 15 seconds rest between sets. I finished with a 150 yard cooldown. Again my intervals ranged between 1:39 and 1:45 today. I guess that means I am just swimming faster now and I am okay with that. I finally bought some pull paddles though so I am hoping my technique will improve even more.
My 5 sets of pushups today were 29, 33, 29, 29, 40+. My 40+ today ended up being 49 for a total of 169 pullups. I have a test day coming up this weekend, so I will probably do those on Sunday.
I finished my workouts today on the treadmill with a 40 minute aerobic run. I am still trying to get my cadence up to 85+ and today I finally got myself to 83. I covered about 4.3 miles. I am really looking forward to quality days coming up in about a month where I will be able to start getting some faster run days in.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Pushups/Swim/Run/Softball
Today involved a lot of activities.
I skipped the morning swim so I could get in a little more sleep instead. I did pushups at work. My sets today were 21, 25, 21, 21, 32+. Again, no + on the pushups and I barely managed to do the full 32 at the end, but I did it without dropping to my knees and with only a few plank breaks after 15 or 20 pushups.
After work, I went to the gym to get in my swim and run for the day. The swim was a 1500 yard interval swim. I started with 300 yards of stroke work, 100 yards of kicking and another 100 yards of stroke work. Then I did 4x200 yard intervals with 20 seconds of rest between. I took some extra time between a couple sets because I needed them. Then I did a 200 yard cooldown. I felt like I was swimming more efficiently and faster and my watch times agreed. My 100 yard splits on the intervals were right around 1:40 which is about 10 seconds faster than normal. I am interested to see if that had to do with pool length though because I swam in a different pool tonight. I guess I will find out on Thursday, when I head back to my normal pool.
I transitioned to the treadmill in about 15 minutes, taking some time to dry off and change into running clothes. This wasn't supposed to be a brick workout but since I didn't swim in the morning, I had to get it in tonight. I had no problem taking a little time between workouts because of that. My run tonight was a relaxed 45 minute run. I covered 4.83 miles at an average pace of 9:20. I don't think I will ever get to the point where I enjoy running right after being in the pool. The chlorine sucks and makes me sweat about 10x more than normal.
After that I had about 45 minutes to get ready to head to softball. We played 2 games over about 1 and a half hours. As usual, we lost but we had fun and I got a little more activity in for the day.
I skipped the morning swim so I could get in a little more sleep instead. I did pushups at work. My sets today were 21, 25, 21, 21, 32+. Again, no + on the pushups and I barely managed to do the full 32 at the end, but I did it without dropping to my knees and with only a few plank breaks after 15 or 20 pushups.
After work, I went to the gym to get in my swim and run for the day. The swim was a 1500 yard interval swim. I started with 300 yards of stroke work, 100 yards of kicking and another 100 yards of stroke work. Then I did 4x200 yard intervals with 20 seconds of rest between. I took some extra time between a couple sets because I needed them. Then I did a 200 yard cooldown. I felt like I was swimming more efficiently and faster and my watch times agreed. My 100 yard splits on the intervals were right around 1:40 which is about 10 seconds faster than normal. I am interested to see if that had to do with pool length though because I swam in a different pool tonight. I guess I will find out on Thursday, when I head back to my normal pool.
I transitioned to the treadmill in about 15 minutes, taking some time to dry off and change into running clothes. This wasn't supposed to be a brick workout but since I didn't swim in the morning, I had to get it in tonight. I had no problem taking a little time between workouts because of that. My run tonight was a relaxed 45 minute run. I covered 4.83 miles at an average pace of 9:20. I don't think I will ever get to the point where I enjoy running right after being in the pool. The chlorine sucks and makes me sweat about 10x more than normal.
After that I had about 45 minutes to get ready to head to softball. We played 2 games over about 1 and a half hours. As usual, we lost but we had fun and I got a little more activity in for the day.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Swim/Pullups/Ride
I swam 1000 yards this morning. This included intervals.
At work I did pullups. The five sets for today were 7, 6, 5, 6, 7+. My last set was only 7 though. Getting the + is getting harder and harder.
Tonight, I rode 16.5 miles at the Martin City Brewery group ride. It was a fun ride and fun route. I can't wait for the daylight to come back though.
At work I did pullups. The five sets for today were 7, 6, 5, 6, 7+. My last set was only 7 though. Getting the + is getting harder and harder.
Tonight, I rode 16.5 miles at the Martin City Brewery group ride. It was a fun ride and fun route. I can't wait for the daylight to come back though.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Weekend Workouts
On Saturday morning, I woke up and decided to run on the treadmill instead of outside. It was in the 30s but more importantly, I wanted to make sure my 50 minutes of running was at a slower pace unlike Thursday's run. I ended up running 5.29 miles in that 50 minutes. Everything went smoothly and I am looking forward to getting in some longer runs next week as I come off these recovery week runs.
I also did pushups on Saturday night. My dad and I both did our sets at my cousin's Lacrosse match in Columbia. My sets for yesterday were 21, 25, 21, 21, 32+. The last set was the first time I failed to complete a full set yet. I only managed to do 28 before my arms gave out. I got back up after a few seconds and did the last 4. After a few minutes, I found a place to do 20 decline pushups and then I was done.
After driving back from Mizzou this morning, I swapped my trainer tire off my bike for my road tire and got ready to ride outside. I planned a route that was about 31 miles. I failed to realize how windy it was until I got out there though. It seemed like whenever I faced North, South or West the wind would just blow right back in my face unrelenting. I averaged about 16.5 mph for the first half of the ride as I rode West and almost 20+ mph riding back east. The 31.13 mile ride consisted of almost 2300 feet of climbing as I tried to hit most of the big hills I know about in Lee's Summit. I still finished the ride in 1:43 for an average just over 18 mph. I hope Lawrence doesn't have much wind in June, cause I want to go fast then.
I also did pushups on Saturday night. My dad and I both did our sets at my cousin's Lacrosse match in Columbia. My sets for yesterday were 21, 25, 21, 21, 32+. The last set was the first time I failed to complete a full set yet. I only managed to do 28 before my arms gave out. I got back up after a few seconds and did the last 4. After a few minutes, I found a place to do 20 decline pushups and then I was done.
After driving back from Mizzou this morning, I swapped my trainer tire off my bike for my road tire and got ready to ride outside. I planned a route that was about 31 miles. I failed to realize how windy it was until I got out there though. It seemed like whenever I faced North, South or West the wind would just blow right back in my face unrelenting. I averaged about 16.5 mph for the first half of the ride as I rode West and almost 20+ mph riding back east. The 31.13 mile ride consisted of almost 2300 feet of climbing as I tried to hit most of the big hills I know about in Lee's Summit. I still finished the ride in 1:43 for an average just over 18 mph. I hope Lawrence doesn't have much wind in June, cause I want to go fast then.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Lift/Swim/Pullups
I started off the morning with some lifting. I did squats (2x15 @ 135 lbs), overhead press (2x15 @ 75 lbs), deadlifts (2x15 @ 135 lbs), barbell curls (2x15 @ 40 lbs) and lunges (2x15 each leg with no weight).
Then I jumped in the pool for a 1000 yard swim. The swim consisted of a 300 yard warmup, 500 yards of straight swimming @ 1:51/100 yard pace, and 200 yard cooldown. I really concentrated on my glide and stroke today. I managed to get my average strokes per length to 10.6 which is down from my typical 11+ average. This is showing some improvements in my efficiency and is good to see. Now I just need to work on power. I would honestly be happy averaging 1:45/100 yard pace for any triathlons I do.
At work, I did pullups. I went in thinking this things were gonna be hard and that definitely showed today even though my form was significantly better. I was able to touch my chest on almost every set. My 5 sets for the day were 5, 4, 5, 6, 7+. Today there was no + for me though. I barely finished the 7. Swimming and lifting in the morning before hand definitely showed.
Tonight called for 20 mile ride, but I was feeling pretty tired and the lifting definitely took a toll on te this morning. I took a nap when I got home and was hoping I would feel a little better for a ride afterwards but that didn't give me enough energy so I decided to take the night off. Its not called a recovery week so you can work to exhaustion :)
Then I jumped in the pool for a 1000 yard swim. The swim consisted of a 300 yard warmup, 500 yards of straight swimming @ 1:51/100 yard pace, and 200 yard cooldown. I really concentrated on my glide and stroke today. I managed to get my average strokes per length to 10.6 which is down from my typical 11+ average. This is showing some improvements in my efficiency and is good to see. Now I just need to work on power. I would honestly be happy averaging 1:45/100 yard pace for any triathlons I do.
At work, I did pullups. I went in thinking this things were gonna be hard and that definitely showed today even though my form was significantly better. I was able to touch my chest on almost every set. My 5 sets for the day were 5, 4, 5, 6, 7+. Today there was no + for me though. I barely finished the 7. Swimming and lifting in the morning before hand definitely showed.
Tonight called for 20 mile ride, but I was feeling pretty tired and the lifting definitely took a toll on te this morning. I took a nap when I got home and was hoping I would feel a little better for a ride afterwards but that didn't give me enough energy so I decided to take the night off. Its not called a recovery week so you can work to exhaustion :)
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Swim/Pushups/Run
I woke up again for a swim this morning. It was another 1000 yard swim. It was a similar workout to yesterday. 200 yard stroke work, 50 yard kick and another 50 yard stroke work for warmup. I followed that up with 10x50 sets with 10 seconds rest between and then a 200 yard cooldown.
At work, I did pushups for the 100 pushup challenge today. Todays 5 sets were 22, 30, 20, 20, 28+. I managed do 33 on the last set for a total of 125 pushups today. I followed that up with 20 decline pushups just for a little extra kick.
The weather outside was 70 when I left work and in the 60s by the time I got out and started running. I ran 5 miles in 40:22. Today's goal was to run at an 8:30 pace for about 40 min. Shortly after I started running, I realized it is tremendously hard to run at an 8:30 pace now. I feel like I am almost walking at that pace and couldn't maintain a pace that slow. I remember a year ago when running at an 8:30 pace was hard for me. I was working on keeping shorter strides with a higher turnover and that went well.
My right foot felt awesome when I woke up and very little pain while running today. I am glad to use this recovery week as an easy week to help it recover more. I will managed to get all my swimming and biking in this week, but I am going to skip 1 run because it doesn't fit in to the schedule well, due to vacation, and I want to give my foot a little more recovery time.
At work, I did pushups for the 100 pushup challenge today. Todays 5 sets were 22, 30, 20, 20, 28+. I managed do 33 on the last set for a total of 125 pushups today. I followed that up with 20 decline pushups just for a little extra kick.
The weather outside was 70 when I left work and in the 60s by the time I got out and started running. I ran 5 miles in 40:22. Today's goal was to run at an 8:30 pace for about 40 min. Shortly after I started running, I realized it is tremendously hard to run at an 8:30 pace now. I feel like I am almost walking at that pace and couldn't maintain a pace that slow. I remember a year ago when running at an 8:30 pace was hard for me. I was working on keeping shorter strides with a higher turnover and that went well.
My right foot felt awesome when I woke up and very little pain while running today. I am glad to use this recovery week as an easy week to help it recover more. I will managed to get all my swimming and biking in this week, but I am going to skip 1 run because it doesn't fit in to the schedule well, due to vacation, and I want to give my foot a little more recovery time.
Swim/Pullups/Ride
After 3 days of no official cardio or strength work, I jumped back in today with a swim, some pullups and a trainer ride. I was thinking I would run today, but my foot felt the best it has in a while and I thought 1 extra day off might be good for it. This is a recovery week as well, so if I have to put less stress on it this week, that is okay.
In any event, I swam 1000 yards this morning. I did 300 yards warm up with 250 yard stroke work and 50 yards of kicking. Then I followed that up with 5x100 yard intervals with 15 seconds of rest between sets. I finished with a nice and easy 200.
My pullups for the day were supposed to be a max set. I think swimming in the morning will always result in me being able to do less pushups/pullups than I could have with no swimming. I was hoping to do 12 but only managed to do 9. I did 4 or 5 more sets to get to 30 total for the day.
The weather was nice out tonight but I didn't have my bike with me so no group ride. It still is a little dark around 6:30 and I don't feel comfortable riding solo then so I stuck with the trainer. I rode 20 miles tonight at 16 mph and a cadence of 95. I am really looking forward to daylight savings time in a couple weeks so I can get outside and ride more on my own when I can't do group rides.
In any event, I swam 1000 yards this morning. I did 300 yards warm up with 250 yard stroke work and 50 yards of kicking. Then I followed that up with 5x100 yard intervals with 15 seconds of rest between sets. I finished with a nice and easy 200.
My pullups for the day were supposed to be a max set. I think swimming in the morning will always result in me being able to do less pushups/pullups than I could have with no swimming. I was hoping to do 12 but only managed to do 9. I did 4 or 5 more sets to get to 30 total for the day.
The weather was nice out tonight but I didn't have my bike with me so no group ride. It still is a little dark around 6:30 and I don't feel comfortable riding solo then so I stuck with the trainer. I rode 20 miles tonight at 16 mph and a cadence of 95. I am really looking forward to daylight savings time in a couple weeks so I can get outside and ride more on my own when I can't do group rides.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
7 mile run and pushups
I am in Florida today with Shari until Tuesday. This morning before leaving I managed to get a 7 mile run on the treadmill. I ran mile long intervals at 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 7.5, 7, and 7mph. It was a good run overall and I was happy to get it in this morning before leaving.
Tonight after we travel through Atlanta and on to Orlando, I did my 100 pushup challenge pushups for the day. My sets were 20, 25, 15, 15, 25+. I got in 30 as my final set though for a total of 105 pushups today.
Tonight after we travel through Atlanta and on to Orlando, I did my 100 pushup challenge pushups for the day. My sets were 20, 25, 15, 15, 25+. I got in 30 as my final set though for a total of 105 pushups today.
Pullups and Trainer Ride
No swim this morning but I still did pullups at work. My 5 sets today were 7,6,5,4,5+. I ended up with 7 for my last set so that was pretty good and brought my total to 30 for the day. I did a couple extra wide arm ones for fun.
Tonight I hopped on the trainer. My training plan called for 35 miles but I didn't really have enough time to get that in completely cause of some work stuff that happened, causing me to stay until 8. I still managed to ride 28 miles and get my weekly bike mileage to 75 miles this week.
Time to sleep for 6 hours so I can get up and run 7 miles before flying to Florida until Tuesday. I plan on getting in some running but my updates might not come until Tuesday.
Tonight I hopped on the trainer. My training plan called for 35 miles but I didn't really have enough time to get that in completely cause of some work stuff that happened, causing me to stay until 8. I still managed to ride 28 miles and get my weekly bike mileage to 75 miles this week.
Time to sleep for 6 hours so I can get up and run 7 miles before flying to Florida until Tuesday. I plan on getting in some running but my updates might not come until Tuesday.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Swim/Pushups/Run
It was a long day today. I had a conference call at work early so I had to be in by 630 meaning my swim and shower had to be done by 6. I swam 1250 yards. I had 200 yards stroke work, 50 yards kick and another 50 yards stroke work. Then I moved on to do an 800 yard set and a 150 yard cooldown. Efficiency is getting better and my team is staying close to the same now right around 1:50/100.
Then I did pushups at work. I got reset to Week 3, Day 1, Level 3 today. I had 5 sets of 14, 18, 14, 14, 20+. My last set I managed to do 32. I waited a little bit longer and then did an additional 20 decline pushups.
Tonight I got in an aerobic 5 mile run. My hr started to climb a little bit towards to 4th mile, so I lowered the pace to a little and then picked it back up once I got below 150. Easy run tonight but I felt pretty bored being on the treadmill :(
Then I did pushups at work. I got reset to Week 3, Day 1, Level 3 today. I had 5 sets of 14, 18, 14, 14, 20+. My last set I managed to do 32. I waited a little bit longer and then did an additional 20 decline pushups.
Tonight I got in an aerobic 5 mile run. My hr started to climb a little bit towards to 4th mile, so I lowered the pace to a little and then picked it back up once I got below 150. Easy run tonight but I felt pretty bored being on the treadmill :(
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Pullups and Ride
No morning cardio workout today, but I did do pullups. I did my 5 sets of 6,5,6,5,6+ with me being able to do 7.5 on the last set.
Then I got in two rides. The first was a 9 miler by myself at around 20.4 mph and the second was a 18 mile group ride at Johnny Bruscos at 19.6 mph. Both rides were great and my legs felt a lot stronger than I thought they would. I love getting outside for rides.
Then I got in two rides. The first was a 9 miler by myself at around 20.4 mph and the second was a 18 mile group ride at Johnny Bruscos at 19.6 mph. Both rides were great and my legs felt a lot stronger than I thought they would. I love getting outside for rides.
Swim/Pushups/Run
Started off the morning with a 1250 yard swim. This swim consisted of a 300 yard warmup, 8 x 100 intervals and 150 yard cooldown.
Later, I did the 100 pushup challenge for today. Todays goal was to do as many as possible in 1 set. I manage to do 80. I think I could have done more if I hadn't swam this morning.
Tonight, I ran 5 miles on the track. Shari came too and calibrated her foot pod for her garmin. I started off way to fast, but I think that was because it was so flat. Ideally this run, should have been much slower overall but once I started going, I slowed a little but was not going to slow down enough.
Later, I did the 100 pushup challenge for today. Todays goal was to do as many as possible in 1 set. I manage to do 80. I think I could have done more if I hadn't swam this morning.
Tonight, I ran 5 miles on the track. Shari came too and calibrated her foot pod for her garmin. I started off way to fast, but I think that was because it was so flat. Ideally this run, should have been much slower overall but once I started going, I slowed a little but was not going to slow down enough.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Swim/Pullups/Ride
Started off the day with 1000 yards in the pool. It consisted of a 300 yard warmup, 5 x 100 intervals with 15 seconds rest between and a 200 yard cooldown. Then I stretched in the hot tub afterwards.
At work I did my 20 pullup challenge sets for the day. Todays set of 5 was 6, 5, 4, 5, 6+. I only managed to get 6 as my final set. I think this might have been the most in a set I have done as part of this challenge and things are looking pretty positive to do 10+ as part of the testing set next week.
After dinner and some lounging I got on the trainer for an easy 20 mile ride. I started off a little harder than I should have/wanted to but I think that is because I was used to that. Today's ride was supposed to be easy below normal and I managed to get everything under control by mile 5.
Gotta swim, do some pushups and run tomorrow. Should be really nice out tomorrow night so that means I should be able to get outside for that.
At work I did my 20 pullup challenge sets for the day. Todays set of 5 was 6, 5, 4, 5, 6+. I only managed to get 6 as my final set. I think this might have been the most in a set I have done as part of this challenge and things are looking pretty positive to do 10+ as part of the testing set next week.
After dinner and some lounging I got on the trainer for an easy 20 mile ride. I started off a little harder than I should have/wanted to but I think that is because I was used to that. Today's ride was supposed to be easy below normal and I managed to get everything under control by mile 5.
Gotta swim, do some pushups and run tomorrow. Should be really nice out tomorrow night so that means I should be able to get outside for that.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
No cardio/new lift regimen
Today, I took a day off cardio and started my new lifting regimen. It consists of 2 sets of 15 of each of these lifts: squats, overhead press, deadlifts, barbell rows, barbell curls and lunges. I will do this 2 times a week and slowly increase the weight.
Today my weights were 135lbs for squats and deadlifts, 75 lbs for overhead press and barbell rows, 40 lb barbell curls and no weight for the lunges.
Today my weights were 135lbs for squats and deadlifts, 75 lbs for overhead press and barbell rows, 40 lb barbell curls and no weight for the lunges.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Ride/Run Brick
Today's goal was 16.6 mile bike ride and 5 mile run.
I wanted to do both outside but due to the fact that I needed to get started by 10:30 or so and I didn't feel like popping off the training tire and getting ready for the road, I stayed indoors. I got in the 16.6 miles in just over an hour. As usual, making this event my first of the day, takes my legs a little bit to get warmed up (about 10 miles). Overall, the ride was good though.
Then I changed into some warm weather gear and got outside for the run. I ran 5.5 miles from my house to the gym where I met up with Shari. The run itself was at a comfortable pace right around 8:30 min/mile. My goal for the run was to just get in the 5 miles at whatever pace I felt was comfortable.
Adding stronglifts back in is definitely noticeable as my legs are a little bit up today.
I wanted to do both outside but due to the fact that I needed to get started by 10:30 or so and I didn't feel like popping off the training tire and getting ready for the road, I stayed indoors. I got in the 16.6 miles in just over an hour. As usual, making this event my first of the day, takes my legs a little bit to get warmed up (about 10 miles). Overall, the ride was good though.
Then I changed into some warm weather gear and got outside for the run. I ran 5.5 miles from my house to the gym where I met up with Shari. The run itself was at a comfortable pace right around 8:30 min/mile. My goal for the run was to just get in the 5 miles at whatever pace I felt was comfortable.
Adding stronglifts back in is definitely noticeable as my legs are a little bit up today.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Pullups/Pushups/Stronglifts/Swim
Todays 20 pullup challenge required 5 sets of 4,4,4,4,6+. I managed to do 4,4,4,4,9 almost 10. I have 1 more week until my next max session. I feel like I might be able to do 13 or so during the max out session based on how things went today.
Later I did the 100 pushups challenge for the day. I had 9 sets of 13, 13, 17, 17, 16, 16, 14, 14, 50+. I managed to do 52 as my final set for a total of 172 pushups today. On Monday, I will be doing a max set and I am hoping to do 60+.
At the gym after work, I did strong lifts and swimming. My stronglifts for today were squats @ 200 lbs, bench press @ 125 lbs and barbell rows @ 145 lbs. Squats are getting really really hard but everything else is still cruising right along. My swim was 1300 yards total. I started with a 300 yard warmup and then moved to 7 100 yard intervals. Each interval was broken up by 30 seconds. Then I did 100 yards of kick and 200 yards of pull drills to finish up.
Later I did the 100 pushups challenge for the day. I had 9 sets of 13, 13, 17, 17, 16, 16, 14, 14, 50+. I managed to do 52 as my final set for a total of 172 pushups today. On Monday, I will be doing a max set and I am hoping to do 60+.
At the gym after work, I did strong lifts and swimming. My stronglifts for today were squats @ 200 lbs, bench press @ 125 lbs and barbell rows @ 145 lbs. Squats are getting really really hard but everything else is still cruising right along. My swim was 1300 yards total. I started with a 300 yard warmup and then moved to 7 100 yard intervals. Each interval was broken up by 30 seconds. Then I did 100 yards of kick and 200 yards of pull drills to finish up.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Run/Ride brick
Started off the night with a quick 3 mile run @ 7:27 pace. The run was nice and quick and the weather outside was really nice.
When I got home, I changed into bike shorts, ate a banana and some powergel and hopped on the trainer downstairs. I rode for 90 minutes trying to maintain an average cadence around 90 and speed over 16 mph. Both of which were good at 91 and 16.5 mph. The ride felt really really easy tonight. I think the combination of warming up my legs on the run and a lower cadence made this feel easy.
I also learned tonight that I will need to stop at the 20 and 40 mile markers to refill water during the half.
When I got home, I changed into bike shorts, ate a banana and some powergel and hopped on the trainer downstairs. I rode for 90 minutes trying to maintain an average cadence around 90 and speed over 16 mph. Both of which were good at 91 and 16.5 mph. The ride felt really really easy tonight. I think the combination of warming up my legs on the run and a lower cadence made this feel easy.
I also learned tonight that I will need to stop at the 20 and 40 mile markers to refill water during the half.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Tuesday Ride and Wednesday Swim/Lift/Run
On Tuesday morning, I got up early and got in a 30 minute ride on the trainer. I wanted this to be a short intense workout. I averaged 17.1 mph with an average cadence of 96. This was my highest average speed for any workout on my trainer yet.
This morning I started off in the pool. I swam 1000 yards and then did another 250 yards of kicking balance drills. I am really concentrating on my balance and that comes a lot from my legs.
I also did pullups, pushups and I am back on Stronglifts starting today. My 5 sets of pullups were 4, 4, 4, 3, 7. I had 9 sets of pushups, 14, 14, 15, 15, 14, 14, 10, 10, 44. 44 today was a lot easier than the 40 on monday. My stronglifts were squats @ 195 lbs, overhead press @ 115 lbs and deadlifts @ 230 lbs.
Then I jumped on the treadmill and ran 4 miles. I was hoping to run intervals today, but general fatigue from lifting and chlorine on the my skin from swimming this morning prevented that and I turned today into an aerobic day.
This morning I started off in the pool. I swam 1000 yards and then did another 250 yards of kicking balance drills. I am really concentrating on my balance and that comes a lot from my legs.
I also did pullups, pushups and I am back on Stronglifts starting today. My 5 sets of pullups were 4, 4, 4, 3, 7. I had 9 sets of pushups, 14, 14, 15, 15, 14, 14, 10, 10, 44. 44 today was a lot easier than the 40 on monday. My stronglifts were squats @ 195 lbs, overhead press @ 115 lbs and deadlifts @ 230 lbs.
Then I jumped on the treadmill and ran 4 miles. I was hoping to run intervals today, but general fatigue from lifting and chlorine on the my skin from swimming this morning prevented that and I turned today into an aerobic day.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Pullups/Pushups/Trainer Ride
This morning, I wanted to swim but opted for some extra drive time into work instead. Stupid snow forcing me to be a little extra cautious.
I did pullups for the day around lunch time and manage to do 5 sets of 5, 4, 3, 4, 6. The last set called for 5+ but all I could get done were the 6 today. This afternoon, I did the hundred pushups challenge. Today's 5 sets were 25, 30, 20, 15 and 40. All was relatively easy except the last set. The last set took quite a while and was so much harder than I expected.
Tonight, I hopped on the trainer for 60 minutes. I
rode 16 miles. It was a little tough but I think that was due to the food I ate tonight and my stomach feeling a little off. Shari and I had taco salads and I don't think I will do that again before riding.
We will see what tomorrow morning brings. I am supposed to have the day off for the most part tomorrow but I am thinking I might hop on the trainer for 30-45 minutes in the morning.
I did pullups for the day around lunch time and manage to do 5 sets of 5, 4, 3, 4, 6. The last set called for 5+ but all I could get done were the 6 today. This afternoon, I did the hundred pushups challenge. Today's 5 sets were 25, 30, 20, 15 and 40. All was relatively easy except the last set. The last set took quite a while and was so much harder than I expected.
Tonight, I hopped on the trainer for 60 minutes. I
rode 16 miles. It was a little tough but I think that was due to the food I ate tonight and my stomach feeling a little off. Shari and I had taco salads and I don't think I will do that again before riding.
We will see what tomorrow morning brings. I am supposed to have the day off for the most part tomorrow but I am thinking I might hop on the trainer for 30-45 minutes in the morning.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Easy Run / Hard Swim
This morning, I got in an a 4 mile run with Shari. She managed to get a new PR by about 1:05 in 4 miles. The course was pretty flat but it was really cold. We had a good time and this was a good way to start off the week for both of us. I was especially proud of her for finishing strong. Her first and fourth mile splits were almost the same.
Later, I got in a hard swim. After reviewing the information from the Panama 70.3 today and seeing how Lance Armstrong did, I started comparing those numbers to mine and realized just how crappy a swimmer I am. I skipped a couple sections in the triathlon training bible I have been reading to find info about being a better swimmer. I found a a drill for balance (one of my biggest flaws) and dedicated today's swim to that. I ended up doing 1800 yards of freestyle. Plus a few more laps of just kicking. My new goal is to work a lot on balance until I have that resolve and then I can move on to other drills and get faster from there.
Later, I got in a hard swim. After reviewing the information from the Panama 70.3 today and seeing how Lance Armstrong did, I started comparing those numbers to mine and realized just how crappy a swimmer I am. I skipped a couple sections in the triathlon training bible I have been reading to find info about being a better swimmer. I found a a drill for balance (one of my biggest flaws) and dedicated today's swim to that. I ended up doing 1800 yards of freestyle. Plus a few more laps of just kicking. My new goal is to work a lot on balance until I have that resolve and then I can move on to other drills and get faster from there.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
No Saturday Morning Cartoons For Me...
However, there was a cool episode of Mythbusters on while I rode on the trainer. I started off today's ride/run brick with a 60 minute trainer ride. I averaged 16.3 mph with an average cadence of 100. Legs still felt fresh even after last night's 27 mile excursion.
After I finished that up, I went upstairs and changed into running clothes (I chose not to run in the 20 degree whether today) and drove to the gym. On the way, I ate a banana and a packet of peanut butter. I got to the gym and started running about 30 minutes after I finished riding. I ended up running 3.5 miles at an average pace around 8 min/mile. I was a little wary at first so my speed was lower, but I kept bumping it up so I could test my leg endurance even after the ride. Everything felt great and I could have run harder and longer without a problem. I didn't want to go past my weekly mileage goal though, so I stopped at 3.5 miles.
Last night and today were great mental days, as I felt like my biking might have been a little behind and I wasn't sure how my legs would fair on the treadmill after the ride. Needless to say, I don't feel like I am behind on anything now (well maybe swimming but thats because I am slow as dirt).
After I finished that up, I went upstairs and changed into running clothes (I chose not to run in the 20 degree whether today) and drove to the gym. On the way, I ate a banana and a packet of peanut butter. I got to the gym and started running about 30 minutes after I finished riding. I ended up running 3.5 miles at an average pace around 8 min/mile. I was a little wary at first so my speed was lower, but I kept bumping it up so I could test my leg endurance even after the ride. Everything felt great and I could have run harder and longer without a problem. I didn't want to go past my weekly mileage goal though, so I stopped at 3.5 miles.
Last night and today were great mental days, as I felt like my biking might have been a little behind and I wasn't sure how my legs would fair on the treadmill after the ride. Needless to say, I don't feel like I am behind on anything now (well maybe swimming but thats because I am slow as dirt).
AM Swim/PM Bike
I started off the morning with a really easy 950 yard swim. I started off with a 150 yard warmup. Then I got out my pull buoy and pulled the rest of the way.
Before lunch I did pullups. My 5 sets of pullups today were 4, 4, 4, 3, 5+. I managed to end with 8 on the last set. That is definitely the most pullups I have ever done and I think the first milestone of being able to do 10 is coming up soon. Later in the afternoon, I did the pushup challenge status test. I was able to do 44 consecutive pushups. That is 10 more than last time, but not quite where I want to be to move on to Level 2, Week 6, so the system bumped me down to Level 1, Week 6, which is still 25, 30, 20, 15, 40 next time.
Tonight I lounged around until just after 10 when I decided it was time to hop on the trainer. I rode 27 miles in 100 minutes. It felt good and I only took 2 small breaks around the 30 and 60 minute marks. My average cadence was 90 on the dot, which was what I was shooting for for this ride.
Tomorrow I need to get in 16 miles on the bike and just over 3 miles of running to get my weekly totals biking and running.
Before lunch I did pullups. My 5 sets of pullups today were 4, 4, 4, 3, 5+. I managed to end with 8 on the last set. That is definitely the most pullups I have ever done and I think the first milestone of being able to do 10 is coming up soon. Later in the afternoon, I did the pushup challenge status test. I was able to do 44 consecutive pushups. That is 10 more than last time, but not quite where I want to be to move on to Level 2, Week 6, so the system bumped me down to Level 1, Week 6, which is still 25, 30, 20, 15, 40 next time.
Tonight I lounged around until just after 10 when I decided it was time to hop on the trainer. I rode 27 miles in 100 minutes. It felt good and I only took 2 small breaks around the 30 and 60 minute marks. My average cadence was 90 on the dot, which was what I was shooting for for this ride.
Tomorrow I need to get in 16 miles on the bike and just over 3 miles of running to get my weekly totals biking and running.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Swim/Run
Went to the gym after work for a swim/run brick.
I swam 1800 yards total. I started off with a 1600 yard swim at 1:52min/100 yard pace and then took a 1 minute break before finishing with a light 200 yard swim.
Then I showered off the chlorine and jumped on the treadmill. I ran 4 miles starting at 6 mph for the first half mile. Then I realized that my heart rate wasn't high enough for aerobic fitness, so I kicked it up to 6.5 mph and got my heart rate to a consistent 149 for the rest of the run. It looks like 6.5 mph is my new aerobic base speed :)
On a side note, I am taking the remainder of the week off from stronglifts and starting a new lifting regimen next week. I don't have it set in stone yet, but it will be 2 sets of 15 and include squats, deadlifts, and some other lifts I haven't decided on yet.
I swam 1800 yards total. I started off with a 1600 yard swim at 1:52min/100 yard pace and then took a 1 minute break before finishing with a light 200 yard swim.
Then I showered off the chlorine and jumped on the treadmill. I ran 4 miles starting at 6 mph for the first half mile. Then I realized that my heart rate wasn't high enough for aerobic fitness, so I kicked it up to 6.5 mph and got my heart rate to a consistent 149 for the rest of the run. It looks like 6.5 mph is my new aerobic base speed :)
On a side note, I am taking the remainder of the week off from stronglifts and starting a new lifting regimen next week. I don't have it set in stone yet, but it will be 2 sets of 15 and include squats, deadlifts, and some other lifts I haven't decided on yet.
Swim/Run/Strength
I started off the day with a 1400 yard swim. I broke it into 400 yard intervals and a 200 yard cooldown.
Then I did pushups and pullups during the day. I started with pullups. My sets sets called for 4, 3, 3, 4, 5+. I completed all the sets and got 6, almost 7 at the end. I finished Week 5, Day 3, Level 1 of the pushups challenge with 13, 13, 15, 15, 12, 12, 10, 30. 30 was nearly impossible at the end but I still managed to complete it. That got me to 120 total pushups today.
After work, I went to 24 fitness before coming home. I did stronglifts with squats @ 190 lbs, bench press @ 120 lbs and barbell rows @ 140 lbs. Then I finished the day on the treadmill. I ran 3.25 miles but I wanted to do 5. My legs felt like they were just falling apart. I think it was because of the squats. I am starting to think that I might move away from stronglifts soon and concentrate on a more triathlon specific weight regimen.
Then I did pushups and pullups during the day. I started with pullups. My sets sets called for 4, 3, 3, 4, 5+. I completed all the sets and got 6, almost 7 at the end. I finished Week 5, Day 3, Level 1 of the pushups challenge with 13, 13, 15, 15, 12, 12, 10, 30. 30 was nearly impossible at the end but I still managed to complete it. That got me to 120 total pushups today.
After work, I went to 24 fitness before coming home. I did stronglifts with squats @ 190 lbs, bench press @ 120 lbs and barbell rows @ 140 lbs. Then I finished the day on the treadmill. I ran 3.25 miles but I wanted to do 5. My legs felt like they were just falling apart. I think it was because of the squats. I am starting to think that I might move away from stronglifts soon and concentrate on a more triathlon specific weight regimen.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Working out all day long
I start off the day with Stronglifts this morning. I did squats @ 185 lbs, overhead press @ 110 lbs and dead lifts @ 220 lbs. I am thinking I might be ready to switch the lifts over to 2 sets of 15 or 3 sets of 12 soon though at lower weights.
Then I did pull ups around lunch time. Today I switched to the actuall 20 pullups challenge. I had 5 sets of pullups @ 4, 3, 2, 4 and 5 reps.
I rode 16.5 miles at Martin City tonight. Pretty easy distance and speed.
I finished the night off with pushups. It was an interesting set: 10, 10, 13, 13, 10, 10, 9, 25.
Then I did pull ups around lunch time. Today I switched to the actuall 20 pullups challenge. I had 5 sets of pullups @ 4, 3, 2, 4 and 5 reps.
I rode 16.5 miles at Martin City tonight. Pretty easy distance and speed.
I finished the night off with pushups. It was an interesting set: 10, 10, 13, 13, 10, 10, 9, 25.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
4.25 mile interval run
Went to the gym with Shari today. She did elliptical while I ran on the treadmill. I got in a 4.25 mile interval run. My intervals were .5 miles of running at 9 mph and .25 mile recovery. It was a good run but I should have gotten outside. I didn't even realize how nice it was going to be outside today until it was too late....
Saturday, February 4, 2012
AM/PM Workouts
Got up at 7 am and got to the gym with Shari.
I started off with stronglifts. Squats @ 180 lbs, Bench Press @ 115 lbs and Barbell Rows @ 135 lbs. Then I ran 2.75 miles to complete my weekly mileage this week of 14 miles.
This afternoon, I started off with the 100 pushup challenge. I had sets of 17, 19, 15, 15 and 20. The last set of 20 was brutal. I didn't think there were any more in me at 10 but when you have a goal of 20, its easier to push to the end. Then I jumped in the pool for a 1200 yard swim. I varied up my intervals and speed a little trying to swim a couple intervals at 200 and 100. That once again, made me realize how slow a swimmer I am haha.
I started off with stronglifts. Squats @ 180 lbs, Bench Press @ 115 lbs and Barbell Rows @ 135 lbs. Then I ran 2.75 miles to complete my weekly mileage this week of 14 miles.
This afternoon, I started off with the 100 pushup challenge. I had sets of 17, 19, 15, 15 and 20. The last set of 20 was brutal. I didn't think there were any more in me at 10 but when you have a goal of 20, its easier to push to the end. Then I jumped in the pool for a 1200 yard swim. I varied up my intervals and speed a little trying to swim a couple intervals at 200 and 100. That once again, made me realize how slow a swimmer I am haha.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Thursday/Friday Workouts
I missed posting my workout from Thursday so its getting lumped into today's post.
Thursday
In any event, I started off at the gym before work with StrongLifts. I did squats @ 175 lbs, overhead press @ 105 lbs and deadlifts @ 210 lbs. Then I swamped it my swimsuit to get in a slower than average 1000 yard swim. I was basically just trying to get a decent swim in before work.
Later in the day, I went to the gym at work to do some pullups. This was supposed to be the first day to do 3 sets of 6. Needless to say, I cranked those out easy and went in for a fourth set. I got to 5 and I was done. So I worked the rest of the way down the ladder doing 4 more sets at 4, 3, 2, 1 for a total of 33 pullups.
That night at Shari's apartment, we both did our 100 pushup challenge reps. My goal for the day was to do as many pushups as I could to see what I had progressed to. I managed to do 34. That is up from the 24 that I did in the initial test 2 weeks ago.
Friday
This morning, I went to the gym with Shari up north near her apartment. I got in a quick 2 mile run. I wanted to do 3-4 but the treadmill was acting up and kept shutting down randomly, so I decided I would finish up my weekly mileage tomorrow morning.
Tonight, I got home and hopped on the trainer. I rode hard while watching Cowboys and Aliens. I got in 90 minutes with an average speed of 16.1 and an average cadence of 100. Heart rate still never broke 160, sorry Kevin :(
Thursday
In any event, I started off at the gym before work with StrongLifts. I did squats @ 175 lbs, overhead press @ 105 lbs and deadlifts @ 210 lbs. Then I swamped it my swimsuit to get in a slower than average 1000 yard swim. I was basically just trying to get a decent swim in before work.
Later in the day, I went to the gym at work to do some pullups. This was supposed to be the first day to do 3 sets of 6. Needless to say, I cranked those out easy and went in for a fourth set. I got to 5 and I was done. So I worked the rest of the way down the ladder doing 4 more sets at 4, 3, 2, 1 for a total of 33 pullups.
That night at Shari's apartment, we both did our 100 pushup challenge reps. My goal for the day was to do as many pushups as I could to see what I had progressed to. I managed to do 34. That is up from the 24 that I did in the initial test 2 weeks ago.
Friday
This morning, I went to the gym with Shari up north near her apartment. I got in a quick 2 mile run. I wanted to do 3-4 but the treadmill was acting up and kept shutting down randomly, so I decided I would finish up my weekly mileage tomorrow morning.
Tonight, I got home and hopped on the trainer. I rode hard while watching Cowboys and Aliens. I got in 90 minutes with an average speed of 16.1 and an average cadence of 100. Heart rate still never broke 160, sorry Kevin :(
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
11 mile trainer ride
Woke up and rode the trainer for 11 miles this morning. Fairly easy and straight forward. Legs still recovering from Sunday. Tomorrow, I am planning a swim, lift, and possible light jog.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
1300 yard swim and lifting
After yesterday's rest day, I ended today with arms that don't work quite as well as they did this morning and here is why.
I started off with pullups before lunch. I managed to do 4 sets with 5, 5, 5 and 4 reps. Later in the afternoon, I did another 6 sets, with 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 reps.
I went to gym after work for some Stronglifts, Pushups and Swimming. I started with squats @ 170 lbs, barbell rows @ 130 lbs and bench press @ 110 lbs. Then I moved on to pushups. I did 5 sets with 16, 18, 13, 13 and 20 reps for a total of 80.
Then I started swimming. I ended up with a 1300 yard swim. I did 3 sets of 400 yards with 60 second breaks between and then finished with a 100 yard cooldown. I can see that my 2nd and 3rd sets got slower and I definitely felt slower. Hitting arms hard and then swimming was definitely noticeable.
I started off with pullups before lunch. I managed to do 4 sets with 5, 5, 5 and 4 reps. Later in the afternoon, I did another 6 sets, with 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 reps.
I went to gym after work for some Stronglifts, Pushups and Swimming. I started with squats @ 170 lbs, barbell rows @ 130 lbs and bench press @ 110 lbs. Then I moved on to pushups. I did 5 sets with 16, 18, 13, 13 and 20 reps for a total of 80.
Then I started swimming. I ended up with a 1300 yard swim. I did 3 sets of 400 yards with 60 second breaks between and then finished with a 100 yard cooldown. I can see that my 2nd and 3rd sets got slower and I definitely felt slower. Hitting arms hard and then swimming was definitely noticeable.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Big Run and Lift
Today was the first race day of the year for both Shari and I.
We woke up at 7 am and ate some bananas, clif bars and oatmeal. The 5k race started at 9am. Shari's main goal was to finish in under 45 minutes and secondary goal was to finish in under 40 minutes. As we started running, she was on track to finish in about 38 to 39 minutes. But due to some back pain earlier this year, she hasn't had the time to put in to build her endurance. It become readily apparent just after the first mile and she had to slow down to a brisk walk. She kept pushing through varying her running and walking for the rest of the race but we slowly realized that 40 minutes was out of reach. She did a great job though of finishing strong and finished the 5k in 42:02. We rushed over and she downed some chocolate milk and water. I on the other hand had some water and a powergel to so I could get ready for my 10k.
I went over to my bag and switched out my shirt for my shirt with the 10k bib and my Asic GT2160s were replaced with my Vibram Bikilas. This was first first race with them and I was I a little wary of them, due to some foot pain I have had over the past week. I haven't warn the Vibram's since Wednesday or Thursday in hopes of alleviating the pain and as of yesterday and this morning, my feet were feeling great. I started off the race near the 7 min/milers and felt really good through the first 5k. My first split was around 22:15. At mile 4, I heard a familiar voice from behind shout to me , "Andy, is that you?". To my surprise, I was ahead of Whit at that point. He chatted with me for a minute or so. At one point he mentioned that I was by by far the biggest guy this far up in the pack. I guess that means in a battle for speed among fat men, I could win. Whit appeared to have a little more energy than me and he continued to speed up. I was trying to maintain my pace and knew I couldn't keep up with him unfortunately. He took off a little bit but I was never more than 15 seconds behind. At mile 5.5 I grabbed some more water and saw DaShaun go flying by on the other side of the course. I know he was aiming for a sub 50 finish. I checked my watch and knew he was well ahead of that. I started to pick up my speed so I could finish strong and ended up finishing the 10k in 44:21. My goal was 45 minutes, so I was ahead of that. This was also a new PR for me on the 10k by about 10 minutes and 30 seconds. I don't run many 10ks though seeing as this is my second. I finished and felt like I had no more energy left to exert. I knew I had done well and was pretty happy. I ran over to chug 2 chocolate milks for myself, along with some other food. Whit had finished almost 15-20 seconds ahead of me, so he ate and drank with me. Then I found DaShaun and told him congratulations as well. Then we waited for Joe to finish. He came strolling in around 1:04. He was shooting for a 10min/mile pace, so he was right on track.
Shari and I came home, showered and then napped for about 2-3 hours. At this point, Shari woke up exclaiming that she hurt a lot. I told her I was going to the gym as I still needed to lift for the day :). I hit the gym to do my StrongLifts for the day. I did squats @ 165 lbs, overhead press @ 100 lbs and deadlifts @ 200 lbs. Then I came home to do the pushup challenge reps for the day with Shari. I did 14, 16, 12, 12 and 18+2 extra reps at the end.
Overall, this was a great day for working out. Tomorrow I am going to play it by ear. My current thoughts are to take the day off completely, but if I do anything it will be a light trainer ride at night to work the lactic acid out.
We woke up at 7 am and ate some bananas, clif bars and oatmeal. The 5k race started at 9am. Shari's main goal was to finish in under 45 minutes and secondary goal was to finish in under 40 minutes. As we started running, she was on track to finish in about 38 to 39 minutes. But due to some back pain earlier this year, she hasn't had the time to put in to build her endurance. It become readily apparent just after the first mile and she had to slow down to a brisk walk. She kept pushing through varying her running and walking for the rest of the race but we slowly realized that 40 minutes was out of reach. She did a great job though of finishing strong and finished the 5k in 42:02. We rushed over and she downed some chocolate milk and water. I on the other hand had some water and a powergel to so I could get ready for my 10k.
I went over to my bag and switched out my shirt for my shirt with the 10k bib and my Asic GT2160s were replaced with my Vibram Bikilas. This was first first race with them and I was I a little wary of them, due to some foot pain I have had over the past week. I haven't warn the Vibram's since Wednesday or Thursday in hopes of alleviating the pain and as of yesterday and this morning, my feet were feeling great. I started off the race near the 7 min/milers and felt really good through the first 5k. My first split was around 22:15. At mile 4, I heard a familiar voice from behind shout to me , "Andy, is that you?". To my surprise, I was ahead of Whit at that point. He chatted with me for a minute or so. At one point he mentioned that I was by by far the biggest guy this far up in the pack. I guess that means in a battle for speed among fat men, I could win. Whit appeared to have a little more energy than me and he continued to speed up. I was trying to maintain my pace and knew I couldn't keep up with him unfortunately. He took off a little bit but I was never more than 15 seconds behind. At mile 5.5 I grabbed some more water and saw DaShaun go flying by on the other side of the course. I know he was aiming for a sub 50 finish. I checked my watch and knew he was well ahead of that. I started to pick up my speed so I could finish strong and ended up finishing the 10k in 44:21. My goal was 45 minutes, so I was ahead of that. This was also a new PR for me on the 10k by about 10 minutes and 30 seconds. I don't run many 10ks though seeing as this is my second. I finished and felt like I had no more energy left to exert. I knew I had done well and was pretty happy. I ran over to chug 2 chocolate milks for myself, along with some other food. Whit had finished almost 15-20 seconds ahead of me, so he ate and drank with me. Then I found DaShaun and told him congratulations as well. Then we waited for Joe to finish. He came strolling in around 1:04. He was shooting for a 10min/mile pace, so he was right on track.
Shari and I came home, showered and then napped for about 2-3 hours. At this point, Shari woke up exclaiming that she hurt a lot. I told her I was going to the gym as I still needed to lift for the day :). I hit the gym to do my StrongLifts for the day. I did squats @ 165 lbs, overhead press @ 100 lbs and deadlifts @ 200 lbs. Then I came home to do the pushup challenge reps for the day with Shari. I did 14, 16, 12, 12 and 18+2 extra reps at the end.
Overall, this was a great day for working out. Tomorrow I am going to play it by ear. My current thoughts are to take the day off completely, but if I do anything it will be a light trainer ride at night to work the lactic acid out.
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