Bonus!!! My work trip was canceled!!! Normal training for another week, which definitely makes me happy.
I've officially started my track workouts! Last night was a group workout with coach - I did about 5 miles warmup, partially with my wife, and then did some stretching, a few drills, and then 7x800 on 2:50. It was not entirely killer, but that pace is definitely uncomfortable for me, which, of course, is the point. It wasn't bad; I was hitting 2:48 or 2:49 for most, then hit 2:51 for #6 and back to 2:48 for #7. I was pretty consistent.
Then, today was a 1 hour easy spin on the trainer in the morning, but then intervals on the bike at noon. 3x7 minutes very hard intensity (roughly 40K pace) during a 1:15 ride. It actually was OK after the track the night before. My training is switching over to less lower body weights / power and gradually trying to turn that into sustained speed. So far so good, but I am anxious to see where I am at in an actual race. Auburn is only 7 weeks away.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Two Long Days
I was originally supposed to be traveling on business this coming week and leaving Sunday, so I re-arranged my training schedule. I put my 2 long days on Thursday and Friday. So on Thursday, I did an hour on the trainer followed by a 12 mile run in 90 minutes with big hills. I was tired, but it was a pretty strong run. I did all of that before work. Then, at lunch, I did my 3000 yd swim and decided to experiment with bilateral breathing. I have always been a one-side breather on every-other stroke (what can I say, I am not a "real" swimmer... I don't do flip-turns either). I decided to spend 400 of my drills doing bilateral breathing every 3rd stroke. Every single 100 of that set was 1:26. I have never seen 1:26 before; usually my 100s are around 1:30-1:34 or somewhere in that range depending on what else I'm doing. It was a good day.
Then on Friday, I took the day off work and since the in-laws are in town, I took advantage of the playmates for the kids and went off on my long training day. I went to the pool first thing and did 3000 yds again. Then, I get on my bike and headed out for my long ride. I was hoping the rain would die down, but the first 2 hours were pretty miserable. Fortunately, I was at least prepared with booties, two pairs of gloves, and my jacket. I was scheduled for 65 miles and about 1.5 hours in, I was about to cut it short because I was absolutely sick of the hard-driving rain. Then, it started clearing and my mood improved. I finished off the ride, with hills, in 3:45 or so. I got off the bike, changed quickly and headed our for my hour run. I didn't feel great, but I was still cruising along and ended up doing 7.9 miles in 58 minutes. So even on my runs after long rides, I was still hitting 7:20 per mile and I felt like I was going fairly slow. My running off the bike is definitely getting much stronger.
Now, I am not traveling for business this coming week, so I'm really looking forward to another good week of training.
Then on Friday, I took the day off work and since the in-laws are in town, I took advantage of the playmates for the kids and went off on my long training day. I went to the pool first thing and did 3000 yds again. Then, I get on my bike and headed out for my long ride. I was hoping the rain would die down, but the first 2 hours were pretty miserable. Fortunately, I was at least prepared with booties, two pairs of gloves, and my jacket. I was scheduled for 65 miles and about 1.5 hours in, I was about to cut it short because I was absolutely sick of the hard-driving rain. Then, it started clearing and my mood improved. I finished off the ride, with hills, in 3:45 or so. I got off the bike, changed quickly and headed our for my hour run. I didn't feel great, but I was still cruising along and ended up doing 7.9 miles in 58 minutes. So even on my runs after long rides, I was still hitting 7:20 per mile and I felt like I was going fairly slow. My running off the bike is definitely getting much stronger.
Now, I am not traveling for business this coming week, so I'm really looking forward to another good week of training.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Commuting
I did my first commute to work today. My plan had an hour easy ride in the AM and then a 90 minute ride in the PM with intervals. I did the ride home with the intervals and ended up averaging 16.8 mph and 232 watts on the way home with ~2000 feet of climbing. It took me about an hour and 24 minutes. I felt pretty good most of the way. The Serrano hill was tough at the end, but I still made it up OK. The total for the day was 44.5 miles and 2:35 of ride time. Finally a good quality ride during the week.
Tomorrow morning is an hour on the trainer followed by a 90 minute run. Hopefully it's not raining too hard!
Tomorrow morning is an hour on the trainer followed by a 90 minute run. Hopefully it's not raining too hard!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Recovery
Today was an easy day - 2 hour ride followed by a 30 minute run. It was nice to sleep in a bit and still be back at a reasonable time. I covered 38 miles on the bike and about 4.2 miles running. My bike ride had ~1660 feet of vertical and I averaged 18.3 mph and 186 watts. It was a decent ride and I felt pretty good. Since it was a recovery ride, I decided to do the first test ride on my race wheels. It was a little hard getting air in them because the stems are a bit short, but otherwise, everything was great!! Can't wait to race on them and my first race is in less than 2 months!
My post-rdie un felt fairly fresh, too. I guess that's what a recovery week is about. This coming week, we start dialing down the weights and doing more on the bike. I'll have a longer ride on Wednesday and coach has thrown in a ride before my long run this week. I'm looking forward to it.
My post-rdie un felt fairly fresh, too. I guess that's what a recovery week is about. This coming week, we start dialing down the weights and doing more on the bike. I'll have a longer ride on Wednesday and coach has thrown in a ride before my long run this week. I'm looking forward to it.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Ice Bath
12,000 yds of swimming this week, 48.3 miles of running, 94 miles of riding, and 1:45 of weights. Today was a 60 mile ride with 4000' of vertical and I averaged 17.7 mph and 201 watts. I followed that up with an hour run where I covered 8.2 miles. My total training time for the week was 16:43. That's a new weekly record for swim yardage and it's only 10 miles short of my longest run week ever.
And I topped it all off today with a 10 minute ice bath. It was a little cold at first, but not bad and some people swear by them. We'll see how the legs feel tomorrow when I get back at the weekly routine.
And I topped it all off today with a 10 minute ice bath. It was a little cold at first, but not bad and some people swear by them. We'll see how the legs feel tomorrow when I get back at the weekly routine.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
No Juice
No juice this morning on the hard spin / weights workout. It could have something to do with the fact that my swim-run yesterday was 3200 yards followed by 11.5 miles with some intensity. The batteries on my PowerTap were dying, but I only averaged ~180 watts for the workout. Granted, it has walking lunges, step-ups, platform jumps, and squat holds, too, but that's 10 watts lower than normal. Tomorrow is another 45 minute "warm-up" run, then weights, and then a ride at lunch. We'll see how the legs respond to more weights!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Goals
Last year at Vineman half, I felt pretty good about becoming a reasonably decent triathlete. I had cut 24 minutes off my time from the previous year, with 17 of that coming from the bike and about 4 more coming from the run. I was pretty happy, but at the same time, I felt like I would be physically capable of going faster. I think it was at that point when I mentally committed to putting my energy into improving significantly at long-course triathlon. So, as part of that, I started spending money!
I bought some PowerCranks, a PowerTap, and started looking for a new race bike with race wheels. But arguably, the most important investment was a coach. After working with a coach for 6 months, I *think* I am at a whole new level. I say I *think* because I have no multisport proof. I only have a couple of half-marathons to look at my running improvement. On not a whole lot of speedwork, I cut 6 minutes off my half-marathon time on the same course from one year to the next and cut 4 minutes off my PR. My swimming has improved by 10-15 seconds per 100 yds. I haven't done any races yet, but we'll see how I do in open water. I am not so sure about my biking; I have been doing a LOT of lower body weights and power intervals, etc., and I think, based on my PowerTap, have added about 30-40 watts to my threshold power although I haven't been officially tested since last August. Perhaps I will do that soon to see where I am at.
I think a lot of people that get hooked on triathlon dream of qualifying for Kona. I was certainly one of them. I know I have a tons to learn about doing IronMan triathlons, but I can say that Kona is a goal. Not a dream, but a goal. Reading about this guy qualifying has made me even more committed.
So let's look at that goal using the SMART theory. It is definitely Specific. It is definitely Measurable. Is it Attainable? Is it Realistic? As of now, I definitely have the mental commitment and am willing to put the work in. Based on recent progress I am going to say it is both Attainable and Realistic. Obviously I will see how much more realistic this August in Louisville. And finally, with respect to Timely, if I am going to qualify, I want to do it in my "current" age group, which means I have 5 years.
I am not fooling myself; I know it will take a lot of hard work for quite a while and I don’t expect it to be this year. I am not the most naturally gifted endurance athlete. I think I have a decent foundation of running from years of soccer, but I have only been cycling for a couple of years and swimming is an issue for me. Having said all that, I am willing to work hard to shoot for goals and I think over the long term, you only hit what you aim at so you should aim high.
To get there, I figure I’ve got to swim ~1:05, bike ~5:20 and run ~3:20. I think it’s physically possible and the thing that I can wrap my head around is that it’s roughly double my time at Vineman 70.3 last year. For the swim, I’ve already taken ~10-15 seconds per 100 off my pace, but I figure I need to get down to the 1:20 per 100 yd range in my sets to be able to swim 1:30-1:35 comfortably for an hour or so. So I need to take another 5-10 seconds off my 100 yd pace. For the bike, last year at Vineman, I averaged 21.0 for 56 miles, so I figure I’ve eventually got to get to that speed for the Ironman distance, but I know that will take a LOT of hard work on the bike. For the half-iron distance, I can go hard on the bike and still survive the run, but for the full-Iron distance, I need to be able to do that pace on the bike with an easy-modest effort. I will have to turn myself into a strong cyclist! For the run, I did a 1:39 at Vineman last year, but I think my running is as good as it has ever been (1:22 half marathon) on only 35-40 miles per week (so far, but that will obviously increase over time). We’ll see what I can do on triathlong runs this year at the various distances on various courses, but I don’t think a sub-3:30 Ironman marathon (eventually) is out of the question with some more hard work. I know I will have to learn to run tough in the last 10 miles, but it’s something I can at least imagine doing.
So after all that, there you have it. Kona is a goal.
I bought some PowerCranks, a PowerTap, and started looking for a new race bike with race wheels. But arguably, the most important investment was a coach. After working with a coach for 6 months, I *think* I am at a whole new level. I say I *think* because I have no multisport proof. I only have a couple of half-marathons to look at my running improvement. On not a whole lot of speedwork, I cut 6 minutes off my half-marathon time on the same course from one year to the next and cut 4 minutes off my PR. My swimming has improved by 10-15 seconds per 100 yds. I haven't done any races yet, but we'll see how I do in open water. I am not so sure about my biking; I have been doing a LOT of lower body weights and power intervals, etc., and I think, based on my PowerTap, have added about 30-40 watts to my threshold power although I haven't been officially tested since last August. Perhaps I will do that soon to see where I am at.
I think a lot of people that get hooked on triathlon dream of qualifying for Kona. I was certainly one of them. I know I have a tons to learn about doing IronMan triathlons, but I can say that Kona is a goal. Not a dream, but a goal. Reading about this guy qualifying has made me even more committed.
So let's look at that goal using the SMART theory. It is definitely Specific. It is definitely Measurable. Is it Attainable? Is it Realistic? As of now, I definitely have the mental commitment and am willing to put the work in. Based on recent progress I am going to say it is both Attainable and Realistic. Obviously I will see how much more realistic this August in Louisville. And finally, with respect to Timely, if I am going to qualify, I want to do it in my "current" age group, which means I have 5 years.
I am not fooling myself; I know it will take a lot of hard work for quite a while and I don’t expect it to be this year. I am not the most naturally gifted endurance athlete. I think I have a decent foundation of running from years of soccer, but I have only been cycling for a couple of years and swimming is an issue for me. Having said all that, I am willing to work hard to shoot for goals and I think over the long term, you only hit what you aim at so you should aim high.
To get there, I figure I’ve got to swim ~1:05, bike ~5:20 and run ~3:20. I think it’s physically possible and the thing that I can wrap my head around is that it’s roughly double my time at Vineman 70.3 last year. For the swim, I’ve already taken ~10-15 seconds per 100 off my pace, but I figure I need to get down to the 1:20 per 100 yd range in my sets to be able to swim 1:30-1:35 comfortably for an hour or so. So I need to take another 5-10 seconds off my 100 yd pace. For the bike, last year at Vineman, I averaged 21.0 for 56 miles, so I figure I’ve eventually got to get to that speed for the Ironman distance, but I know that will take a LOT of hard work on the bike. For the half-iron distance, I can go hard on the bike and still survive the run, but for the full-Iron distance, I need to be able to do that pace on the bike with an easy-modest effort. I will have to turn myself into a strong cyclist! For the run, I did a 1:39 at Vineman last year, but I think my running is as good as it has ever been (1:22 half marathon) on only 35-40 miles per week (so far, but that will obviously increase over time). We’ll see what I can do on triathlong runs this year at the various distances on various courses, but I don’t think a sub-3:30 Ironman marathon (eventually) is out of the question with some more hard work. I know I will have to learn to run tough in the last 10 miles, but it’s something I can at least imagine doing.
So after all that, there you have it. Kona is a goal.
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