Weekly Training Log – 06/06/2011

It’s been 2 weeks since I update my blog.  Slacking, I know.  But the move has turned out to be much more difficult than I expected, so I just haven’t had the time.  BUT, I have more or less continued with my training without too much impact. 

Monday – Day off. Moving in day…

Tuesday – I went to my “new” gym and did 3,200. It was good just to be back working out again since I had 2 unintended days off.  I wanted to ride that night, but the unpacking was killing me.

Wednesday – 1 Hour run around the Esplanade here in Boston.  Pancake flat and I managed to maintain a pace at just over 7:00.  I felt really good, actually. Maybe  the few days off did me good.  That night I got on the bike for an hour and spun while staring at the Charles River from my window.

Thursday – I swam 3,200 again at the new gym and then got on the trainer for an hour.

Friday – Morning brick workout to make up for the ride I missed the night before. So I rode for 1.5 hours and ran for 30 minutes.

Saturday – This was the cornerstone of this week’s workout.  I did 94 miles in the Berkshires and ended up climbing about 10,500 feet.  It was brutal. The first 30 miles had me climbing almost 6,000 feet – it took me 3 hours… to go 30 miles!  I was not feel particularly fast.  But there some absolutely ridiculous hills on this route.  At one point, there was a mile stretch where I had to stand in my 32 gear in order to power enough momentum just to keep moving. There was no way I was moving sitting on the saddle.  It was so steep that my rear wheel kept losing traction. This was a normal paved road and I kept skidding.  After that hill, I had a little break before climbing to the top of Greylock Mountain. It was a great ride up through the woods. Long, but not too unpleasant.  The next set of hills came around mile 60.  It was steep, but not awful… but the ride down truly was awful.   A narrow road full of potholes and covered in dirt and gravel… all remnants of a brutal New England winter.  I amde it down, but I had to go slow and I lost a water bottle while going over some bumps.

Sunday – 2:40 run.  I started off the first 6 miles going around 7:30/mi and was feeling pretty darn good, but as the run went on, my legs were feeling the ride from the day before.  I really wanted to go 20 miles, but I finished my loop at 18 and just didn’t have it in me to continue.

This upcoming week is my last hard week and then it’s all about tapering.  Do I feel ready?  I am not feeling good about my swim – I just haven’t done enough and simply not enough open water swimming.  But I am feeling very good about my bike and run.  The ride I did this past weekend was much harder than what we’ll face in Nice and I felt great at the end… so, I am good there.  I am hoping to get out for an open water swim in the ocean this upcoming weekend. If I can get 2.4 miles in ocean under my belt, I will feel a whole lot better.

Ok. Tired. Must sleep.

Tags: 30 minutes, Berkshires, Bike Run Strength, blog, Boston, boston pancake, brick, brutal new england, bumps, Charles River, climbing, climbing to the top, cornerstone, esplanade, few days, Friday morning, gravel, great ride, Greylock Mountain, Horse jumping obstacles, Hospitality Recreation, Hour run, hrs total distance, little break, Mile, mile stretch, momentum, Morning brick workout, narrow road, New England, new gym, normal paved road, ocean, open water, open water swim, Open water swimming, pace, Pancake, past weekend, potholes, rear wheel, ridiculous hills, Slacking, staring, swam, swim bike run, time 2, Total Time, training, training log, triathlon, unintended, unpacking, upcoming weekend, update, water bottle, Weekly Training Log, wheel, workout
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Weekly Training Log – 05/22/2011

This was my heaviest week so far – 18 hours of training.  I missed about 30 minutes of running, so I guess it could have been worse, but I had some blister issues that I had to let settle down.  But this was my second to last heavy week… a recovery week coming up and then one last hard one after we move to Boston.  Oh yeah – we move to Boston next weekend.

Monday – Morning strength session with Olivier was fairly relaxed as I was still recovering from the half-ironman last weekend.  That night, I jumped on the trainer for :45 to start working the tightness out of the legs.

Tuesday – Morning swim with the group.  Nothing major to note – I did 2,900.  Tuesday night was 50 minutes on the trainer.  After, I finally biked up my bike from the shop – it needed repairs from when I broke my cable during the race the previous weekend.  It also turns out a screw had fallen out of my rear dropouts which is why I struggled to keep my real wheel aligned. That’s now fixed. Phew.

Wednesday – I decided to move my long run from the weekend to a mid-week run.  Ryan and I did 18 miles through Umstead – it would have been fine, but about 9 miles into it, the blister on my right foot that had formed during the race on Saturday decided to get bigger and then explode.  Wow, did that hurt.  So, the rest of the run was extremely painful.  By the end, my sock was covered in blood and the top of my shoe was bright red. Ouch.

Thursday – Morning swim with the group – swam 2,900.  Took the evening off.

Friday – Because I missed the evening bike ride on Thursday, I got up super early and was on the trainer by 5:15 and rode it for 2.5 hours.  I then swam for 30 minutes at lunch.

Saturday – Long ride.  113 miles in 5:57.  No land speed records, but it was 19mph average.  It was a memorable ride for a lot of reasons. First, it was the longest ride of my life. Second, it went far enough out of town that we were just on completely empty, very smooth roads riding through the hills of NC.  But the best part came about halfway where we stopped to pee … and a big black dog came out to greet us. His big tail was wagging and his ears were back, so we knew he was safe.  So we said goodbye and started to ride off… and then the dog was in the grass running next to us. We were soon going 21mph and the dog was STILL next to us. After a mile, he got distracted by something in woods and darted off to chase something.  10 seconds later – he was back next to us.  For 2 miles, he was running by our side – over 20mph the entire time.  It was really crazy.  Seriously – not sure why I was so taken by this, but I can’t stop telling people about it.

Sunday – Since I did my long run on Wednesday, this was only an hour for me.  I ran 8 miles from my house.

Tags: 26 miles, 30 minutes, big black dog, big tail, bike ride, Bike Run Strength, blister, blister issues, Boston, bright red, cable, crazy, Cycling, dropouts, ears, empty, entire time, evening bike ride. , grass, group, half ironman, Hospitality Recreation, hr 18 hrs, hrs 10, Ironman 70.3, land speed records, legs, long ride, long run, longest ride, lunch, memorable ride, Mile, Monday morning, Morning strength session, morning swim, North Carolina, Oh yeah, ouch, painful, previous weekend, real wheel, rear dropouts, repairs, right foot, Ryan, safe, screw, Shoe, smooth roads, Sock, Sports, swam, swim bike run, Thursday morning, time 3, Total Distance, Total Time, training, training log, triathlon, tuesday morning, Tuesday night, umstead, weekend, Weekly Training Log, wheel, Workweek and weekend
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Weekly Training Log – 05/15/2011

It has been a very long two weeks – so much so that I just didn’t have time to post an update last weekend.  To summarize that week in a sentence, it ended with a 100-mile ride in the NC mountains where we climbed a total 7,000 feet and I actually felt pretty good in the end… even better when followed by a night at the Biltmore!

This week was a recovery week which really acted as a taper leading up to the White Lake Half Ironman.  I will go ahead and post a race report later, but I summarize it by saying that I set a PR (5:16), but I was fairly disappointed with my performance.  Some my fault – some not.  More on that later.

Monday – I had taken Sunday off following the mountain climbs on Saturday, so I started the day with a 30-minute run before strength training with Olivier.  I felt pretty mediocre, so the run was really more of a warm-up for my strength workout.  I finished the day with a 45-minute run that just really felt awful.  I made it, but my pace was slow and not real fun.  My body was obviously still tired and then I just really don’t do very well at night after a day sitting around at work all day.

Tuesday – Morning swim with the group.  I got in about 2,500 and it felt pretty good.   Tuesday night was an hour on the trainer doing a spinerval workout.  I was going to ride outside with Ryan, but work has been kicking my ass, so I just didn’t have time.

Wednesday – Morning run in Umstead.  45-minute run with 20 of that being at a tempo pace.  The run felt pretty good, but 45-minutes is really not that long, so I was feeling just fine at the end.  No evening workout that night.

Thursday – VERY short morning swim.  We got in about 600m before the power went out at the aquatic center, so we had to leave.

Friday – I did a morning swim of a mile to make up for Thursday’s short workout.

Saturday – White Lake Half Ironman – finished in 61st place overall / 11th in age group – 5:16.  I was disappointed – really wanted to break 5 hours and still think it should have been possible.

Sunday – Off

So how do I feel after the half I did yesterday?  If it’s hot in Nice, I will be in some serious pain.  The run yesterday absolutely killed me – I started the first several miles at around 7:00 pace which is right where I should be, but the sun quickly beat me down and I slowed down to a 1:48 half marathon time.  I also discovered that I really dislike flat bike courses – never in a million years did I think I’d say that.  The flatness makes it so you never HAVE to change positions, so everything gets so stiff from being locked in position and you have to force yourself to stand, situp, or whatever it takes to mix things up and stay loose.  On hills, you are constantly changes positions which I believe keeps the body much more loose.  Also, any wind on flat courses can seriously screw you.  On hills, you are going to slower going uphill regardless and then you can fly on the downhill.  I am convinced I would have been much faster on the course yesterday if there were hills.

I do feel good about my nutrition strategy.  The ONLY mistake I made was with a homemade energy shake I have been taking before these long workouts and races.  The one I took this week had too much protein in it, so my stomach was pretty unsettled the entire time.  But that’s easily fixed.  The rest of my nutrition strategy went as planned and it worked great.

This week is back to heavy workouts with some long workouts next weekend.  I think this there is only one more seriously long weekend before Nice, so it’s getting to be crunch time!

Tags: 100-mile ride, 30-minute run, 45-minute run, age group, Aquatic Center, Bike Run Strength, biltmore, changes positions, crunch time, downhill, entire time, evening workout, Felt, flat bike courses, flat courses, half ironman, Half Marathon, half marathon time, heavy workouts, hills, homemade energy shake, hrs .5 hr, kicking, Lake Half Ironman, long weekend, long workouts, mediocre, Mile, morning swim, nc mountains, nutrition strategy, olivier, ONLY mistake, pace, Physical exercise, pretty good, Public relations, race report, real fun, Ryan, screw, short morning swim, short workout, Spinerval workout, strength training, strength workout, swim bike run, tempo, tempo pace, The run, Time 1.5 hrs, total 7, Total Distance, training log, triathlon, tuesday morning, Tuesday night, unsettled, update, uphill, warm-up, Wednesday morning, weekend, Weekly Training Log, White Lake Half, workouts, yesterday
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Weekly Training Log – 05/01/2011

This was a recovery week and it’s safe to say that I didn’t go above and beyond what the plan suggested.  We were travelling up in Boston for the week to look for apartments and I then I was in Cincinnati on Thursday which meant my training schedule was completely off.  But I was able to get at least one workout in a day, so I can’t really complain too much…  I definitely didn’t lose ground.

Monday – Day Off.

Tuesday – I rode for an hour on a stationary bike and then ran for 15 minutes on the treadmill.  Nothing more to say than that. It was ridiculously hot and my clothes were disgusting – it was an unventilated basement workout room.

Wednesday – Ran around the esplanade in Boston for 8 miles in the morning and it was so nice.  I just focused on running and didn’t do any speed workout or anything. 

Thursday – Another hour on a stationary bike (this time in Cincinnati). Boring. Sweaty.

Friday – Finally back home!  Friday morning I got in the pool for the first time that week (not good!) and did 2,200m.    In the afternoon, I ran 45 minutesin Umstead – it was an awful, painful run.  I don’t think I ever have a good run in the evening; probably because I have been sitting all day at work and my legs are ridiculously tight. 

Saturday – Long brick workout day. We went 2:30 (50 miles) on the bike a followed by an 8-mile run.  The bike was awesome.  I actually felt like I was able to keep up with Ryan… he still beat me, but there were plenty of sections where I was able to properly draft.  Towards the end of the ride, there are 4 large hills that we climb and for 2 of them, I destroyed Ryan.  I mean, really destroyed him.  I drafted him up to the point where the hill started and then I jumped off the saddle and pumped as hard as humanly possible. I got to the top, pushed for about a hundred yards and the jumped off the saddle again for the next hill.  By the time I got to the top, I was about a minute ahead of Ryan and promptly filled my mouth with vomit… then spit it out.  I red-lined it, but damnit it was worth it.

Sunday – We ran 10 miles of single track through Umstead.  These were some new trails for me, most of which were covered in pine needles, which made the run very soft and easy.  Still lots of sections where we were dealing with big rocks and roots, but overall not a very technical run which was nice.  In the afternoon, Mary Lynn and I went to Sandling Beach at Falls Lake about 20 minutes from our house.  We spent some time playing paddle ball and soaking in the southern culture… including large women in all-to-small Conferderate flag bikinis. One woman in particular decided to avoid tan lines on her back and removed her top.  Unfortunately, she forgot not to look up – Mary Lynn and I got an eyeful of sagging nip.  Not good.  So I promptly got in the very very cold water and swam a mile.

Next week is a tough week and potentially a trip out to the mountains for a long ride.  We’ll see!

Tags: 10 miles, 15 minutes, all-to-small conferderate flag, apartments, basement, big rocks, Bike Run Strength, boring, Boston, brick, cincinnati, clothes, cold water, Cycling, damnit, disgusting, esplanade, Falls Lake, Friday morning, good run, Hospitality Recreation, hrs .5 hr, large hills, large women, legs, Long brick workout, long ride, Mary Lynn, Mile, Mile run world record progression, minutesin umstead, new trails, paddle ball, painful, Physical exercise, pine needles, pool, room, Ryan, safe, Sandling, Sandling Beach, single track, southern culture, speed workout, spit, sport, Stationary bicycle, stationary bike, swam, sweaty, swim bike run, tan lines, technical run, Time 1.5 hrs, training log, training schedule, treadmill, trip, unventilated basement workout, vomit, Weekly Training Log, workout, workout room
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Weekly Training Log – 04/24/2011

I am a little late getting this weekly update out; we are up in Boston looking for apartments, so the last few days have been crazy.  That combined with the fact that last week was a tough week (but I somehow made it not as tough as it should have been)… I have just been too tired to squeeze in getting this update out.  But here I am – sitting in a Starbucks near South Station, furiously typing to satisfy my 4 readers. Thanks Mary Lynn and Mom!

Monday – This is typically a day off from any run/bike/swim, but because of the race last Saturday, I took Sunday off and worked out on Monday.  I ran 50 minutes at a “normal” pace and then worked out with Olivier in the evening.

Tuesday – Long swim with the group. We did a little over 3,000m.  That night, I got out for 1:15 on the bike.

Wednesday – 50 minute run in the morning where the focus was on doing 4×3 minute VO2 max intervals.  I did this in Umstead which mean that those 3 minutes covered lots of rolling hills which made trying to go fast very hard… or, looking at it differently, very easy to hit VO2 max.  I took Wednesday evening off.

Thursday – Long swim with the group… but only around 2,500m.  That night, I was absolutely exhausted and skipped the bike…

Friday – Morning brick workout – I worked on the bike trainer for an hour and a half and then ran for 50 minutes.  Considering I biked inside, it was an awesome workout.

Saturday – I set out at 7am for my first century ride ever… by myself.  It was about 60 degrees and misty out, so it was actually a little chilly in my shorts and shortsleeves. The ride was fairly uneventful.  My focus for the ride was to maintain an average pace of over 18mph for the entire ride and feel good in the end.  I did that.  Basically, my average was 18.7 mph for the 101 miles and I really did feel like I could have run afterwards. Could I have done a marathon?  I think I could have… not happily, but I could have.  My elevation gain throughout the ride was about 3,000ft which is about half of what I will climb in France.  But still, I am happy.  My other focus was on nutrition.  I used the strategy I used a few weeks ago with some subtle modifications and it really worked out great.  I basically made 6 hours worth of slurry and then cut up 4 cliff bars into 4 equal pieces each.  On the ride, I ate or drank calories every 20 minutes and my energy maintained the entire way.  Very happy with that.  So, I think I successfully proved out my method for France. I am sticking with it.

Sunday – The plan called for 2:30 of running which I was hoping would get us close to 20 miles.  It did not.  Ryan (who also did 100 miles on the bike on Saturday) and I slogged through a hot morning in Umstead for about 17 miles.  It was long and painful… mostly because my legs were heavy and like I said, it was hot.  First morning approaching 80 in NC this year, so it was great timing for a run!

That’s it.  This week is a “recovery” week which is good since I am travelling.

Tags: 15.5hrs total distance, apartments, Average pace, awesome workout, bike friday, Bike Run Strength, bike trainer, Boston, brick, calories, century ride, cliff bars, Cycling, elevation gain, Energy, entire ride, entire way, equal pieces, few days, First morning, france, Friday morning, great timing, group, Happy, Hospitality Recreation, hot morning, hour and a half, hrs 1.5 hr, intervals, last saturday, long swim, Mary Lynn, max intervals, Mile, misty, mom, Morning brick workout, North Carolina, olivier, pace, painful, rolling hills, run bike, Ryan, Shorts, South Station, starbucks, strategy, subtle modifications, swim bike run, Thanks Mary Lynn, time 2, Time 2.5 hrs, training log, typing, umstead, update, vo2 max, wednesday evening, Weekly Training Log, workout
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Weekly Training Log – 04/17/2011

Recovery week for me this week with a race thrown in at the end which made for a very strange week (or I thought so, anyway)… especially because I had a race last weekend too.

Monday – Strength workout with Olivier.  We focused on upper body and core to give my legs a break, but overall not a real tough session.

Tuesday – 3,200 meters in the pool in the morning … we alternated 400m of swimming with 400m of kick which makes for a long tiring session.  Tuesday night was an hour on the bike trainer doing intervals.

Wednesday – 50 minute run with 12×1 minute VO2 max intervals.  These workouts are tough, but I do love them.   That night I rode outside for 25 miles from our house to the bottom of Baileywick road… which means a hilly ride.  I felt awesome, but for some reason my average moving speed was 18.5… I would swear I was around 20mph.  Oh well.

Thursday – 2,800 meters in the pool in the morning followed by another hour on the bike trainer that night.  Nothing crazy that day… more or less taking it easy in preparation for the race on Saturday.

Friday – Ran 7 miles in the morning in Umstead.  It was a good run and my legs were feeling a little heavy throughout the rest of the day as a result.  I didn’t swim that day since I would be doing a swim on Saturday.

Saturday – Beaverdam Olympic Triathlon.  I will writeup a race report on this, but I did reasonably well.  The distances were 1,500m swim, 26.5 mile bike, 6.2 mile run.  I finished in 2:26 … splits were :27/1:14/:42.  I was a little disappointed in my swim time, but happy with my bike time that averaged 21.5 mph and my run which averaged 6:53 minute miles.   I placed 14th overall and 2nd in my age group, so no complaints there.  The water was cold (just over 60 degrees), but with my wetsuit and neoprene hat, it was actually not too bad.  It also rained… so a lot of people just didn’t show up.

Sunday – Day off!

Next week will be a tough week since I will be doing an extra run on Monday to make up for today (Sunday).  It’s also a tough weekend next weekend with an uber long bike ride and a long run on Sunday.  After that, we head up to Boston to look for apartments – we move in about a month.

Tags: 200 meters, 400m, 800 meters, age group, Anyway, apartments, Baileywick road, beaverdam, Beaverdam Olympic Triathlon, Bike Run Strength, bike time. , bike trainer, Boston, crazy, distances, extra, good run, Happy, hilly ride, Hospitality Recreation, intervals, legs, long run, long tiring session, Mile, mile bike, Mile run world record progression, Multisport, Neoprene, neoprene hat, olivier, olympic, olympic games, Race (classification of humans), race report, rained, real tough session, rest of the day, splits, sport, strange week, strength workout, swim bike run, swim time, time 3, Time 3 hrs, tough weekend, training log, triathlon, Tuesday night, uber long bike, umstead, upper body, vo2 max, weekend, Weekly Training Log, wetsuit, workouts, writeup
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Weekly Training Log – 04/10/2011

This was supposed to be a tough week for me, but I had to balance pushing the workload with doing a running road race on Saturday.  So while I feel like I pushed the volume, my hours were nothing crazy.

Monday – Strength workout with Olivier. We focused mostly on upper body since my legs were tired from the weekend. We did a whole bunch of tricep and lat work, but I wasn’t too sore during the week, so the workout was apparently not too crazy.

Tuesday – Swim workout in the morning. We did about 2,700 meters and I felt pretty good.  We did a whole bunch of kick work and then strenth work using the paddles.  It was cold on Tuesday, so I decided to move my scheduled ride to Wednesday since it was going to be warmer… so I had a much appreciated evening off.

Wednesday – Ran 6 miles in Umstead in the morning.  Started with a mile at easy pace and then moved into 10 x 1minute at VO2 max… meaning, I essentially ran at 5:30/mile pace for 1 minute ten times with a minute of recovery in between.  It was a good workout – I love Wednesday mornings.   That night I got out for 1:20 on the bike. I included 8 hill repeats up Lassiter Mill Road – it’s a tough hill and definitely got my quads burning.

Thursday – Swim workout in the morning. We got in a little more than 2,500 – nothing real special, but a good workout.  Thursday night was an hour on the bike trainer.

Friday – I was meant to do a brick in the morning and then a swim, but I chose to only do the swim in order to save my legs a bit for the 10-mile road race I had planned for Saturday.  I did 3,000, 2,400 of which was done in 100m sets. I was reasonably happy with the fact that I was sticking with 1:15 pace per 100m for the entire workout. That’s good for me.

Saturday – I participated in the Tar-Heel 10 Mile road race.  My goal going into it was 70 minutes – I wanted to be under 7:00 miles.  Long story short, I ran the race in 66 minutes and according to my watch, it was actually a 10.2 mile race.  Regardless, I was well under 7:00 miles. Worst case, it was 6:36 pace which, if you plug it into a marathon time calculator, would translate to a 3:06 marathon. I’ll take it!  I came in 46th overall out of 3,500 people.

Sunday – Long bike ride. I was supposed to go 4:15, which meant that I really wanted to get in 80 miles.  I did not.  Total time was just over 4 hours, but with pee stops, I was only riding for 3:50 or so and barely got in 70 miles.  My legs were sore and tired from the day before.  The one good thing about the ride was that I feel like I really had my nutrition dialed in.  By the end of the ride, I felt great (as in, not completely exhausted and not starving).  Basically, I had 5 hours worth of calories in a slurry (made of Perpetuade) in part of my aero-bottle. I would sip on that every 20 and 40 minute mark of the hour.  At the top of each hour, I would eat a cliff bar.  That, combined with drinking my electrolyte enhanced water (no calories), I felt great.  So, I am going to keep trying it to make sure it wasn’t a fluke and I think that’s what I can plan on for the race.  There’s still room to make the slurry a little thicker (more calories), so I can make it work for the actual Ironman.

Next week I do my first triathlon of the year.  It’s an Olympic distance triathlon… I just hope the water warms up a bit!  It’s only 57 degrees as of today – might be time to buy a neoprene cap.

Tags: 10-mile road race, 100m, 2 hrs 1.5 hr 13 hrs, actual ironman, aero, Bike Run Strength, bike trainer, brick, bunch, calories, cliff bar. , crazy, easy pace, electrolyte enhanced water, entire workout, Events, Good thing, good workout, Happy, Hospitality Recreation, Ironman Triathlon, kick work, Lassiter Mill Road, legs, long bike ride, marathon time calculator, Mile, mile pace, mile race. , mile road race, miles.  long story, Multi-Sports, neoprene cap, olivier, Olympic Distance triathlon, paddles, pee stops, Physical exercise, quads, race.  my goal, road race, Road Running, scheduled ride, sport, strength workout, strenth work, swim bike run, Swim workout, tar heel, tar-heel 10 mile, Thursday night, time 3, Time 3.5 hrs, Total Distance, Total Time, tough hill, training log, triathlon, tricep, umstead, upper body, vo2 max, Wednesday mornings.  , weekend, Weekly Training Log, workload, workout, Worst case
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Weekly Training Log – 04/03/2011

Recovery week this week and I took full advantage.  Not that I did nothing, but I definitely didn’t follow the plan entirely. 

Monday started with strength training – Olivier had me doing some painful sets of plyometric exercises and I was feeling it for days. I honestly don’t even know what the heck to call what I was doing… it involved a lot of jumping over tall blocks forwards, backwards, and sideways… then crawling all around the floor… doing lots of pushups… and sprinting forwards and backwards.  My legs felt fine, but I couldn’t move my arms for 3 days.

Tuesday was 2,200m in the pool and the realization in the afternoon that the previous day’s workout was killing me, so I decided to take that night off and not ride the bike.

Wednesday was cold and rainy, so I did my run indoors and got onto the bike that evening for an hour of intervals.

Thursday was 2,000m in the pool starting at 5:30 in the morning so I could finish and take my wife to the doctor.  Thursday night I was simply too tired to do anything, so I took another night off.

Friday morning called for a quick 40 minute run, but I turned it into a 1 hr/:40 brick to make up for some previously missed bike time.  I then got in my 1.2 mile time trial swim which felt great… I actually finished in 32 minutes which I was happy about. 4 minutes faster than my time in the half-ironman.

Saturday called for a 1:30/:30 brick, but Ryan was in the same boat as me, so we added some time to it.  The problem with Saturday though was that Olivier decided to join us so he could try out his new bike.  We went out planning to ride somewhere between 2-3 hours.  At some point, we ran into a guy named Ricardo that swims with us. This guy has qualified for Kona several times and is just  a very good triathlete… and his brand new P4 is a bit intimidating!  So he starts riding with us… Ryan and Olivier keep up with him and they are flying.  Me?  I am going freakin’ 27 mph and I am nowhere near them. And it wasn’t just a quick instant where I was going 27… it was 27 for about 5 minutes until I started to slow down to my usual 20 or so and they were nowhere to be found.   Anyway – the rest of ride was frustrating. I simply couldn’t stay with the group, even when they were slowing down to be nice.  But I felt good – I was starving – but I felt like I was maintaining a decent speed (even when the nasty head wind kicked in).  We ended up going 55 miles.  Once done, we jumped off and did a 4 mile run.  That hunger I was feeling on the bike translated into me having absolutely nothing on the run.  Olivier and Ryan took off and I was left floundering behind them.  Long story short – I finished, but it was painful.  So the day was somewhat disappointing for me. I realize I train with people that are much better than me in different ways, but I can typically beat them on the run (or at least keep up).  But I was so far behind on the bike and struggled so badly on the run that I just felt a bit demoralized.

Sunday was our run in Umstead.  We did “ze big loop” (9.4 miles).  Ryan wasn’t there, but Nathan joined us and proved to be an ass-kicker.  I still wasn’t feeling it for some reason and just couldn’t keep up for the first 4 miles or so – Olivier and Nathan were just too fast.   But luckily they had to empty their bladders and I did not… so I took advantage and went on ahead, assuming they’d catch up.  At about mile 6, Nathan did, but no sign of Olivier.  One thing I forgot to mention is that the Umstead 100-mile race was going on (some people had been going for 27 hours at that point).  I guess Olivier passed someone he knew in the race and stopped to chat – she had 4-miles left to go.  So Nathan and I finished and my average pace was 7:16.  Considering how bad I felt, I was very happy with that.

So why did I have such a rough weekend (mentally, if not physically)?  I have 2 reasons.  1) Pollen.  Allergies are killing me.   2) Work.  I accepted a new job on Friday and will be moving back to Boston… a month before the race!

Tags: 2-3 hours.  At, absolutely nothing, Anyway, Average pace, Big Loop, Bike Run Strength, bike time. , boat, Boston, brand new p4, brick, decent speed, different ways, disappointing, Events, Felt, fine, floor, floundering, freakin, Friday morning, good triathlete, group, half ironman, Happy, honestly, Hospitality Recreation, hunger, intervals, Kona, legs, Long story, luckily, Mile, Mile run world record progression, mile run. , mile time trial, nasty head wind, Nathan, new bike, new job, olivier, One thing, p4, painful sets, pence, planning, plyometric exercises, Pollen.  Allergies, pool, pushups, quick instant, realization, rough weekend, run indoors, Running, Ryan, several times, speed, sport, Sprinting, starving, strength training, swim bike run, tall blocks, Thursday night, time 2, Time 2.5 hrs, training log, triathlete, Umstead 100-mile race, Weekly Training Log, what the heck, workout
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Weekly Training Log – 03/27/2011

This was a bit of a crazy week with a number of things taking a higher priority than training.  My wife had surgery on her wrist on Monday which went reasonably well, then some work drama, and then some complications with my wife’s surgery took us back to the hospital on Friday.  All is well… but my mind wasn’t really in it this week.

But here is what I did.

Monday was my strength workout with Olivier. We did a lot of legs and abs.  A bunch of box jumps literally a high as my stomach meant my legs were killing me for days.  And my abs were shot (well, really the muscles around my ribs).

Tuesday was 3,000 in the pool and then a great outdoor ride in 80-degrees for 25 miles.  I felt awesome in the pool and it was sooo nice to be sweating on a ride.

Wednesday was my regular run in Umstead.  I ran for 15 minutes to warm-up and then did 10×1-minute hill sprints followed by 15 minutes of cooldown.  Wednesday night was off.

Thursday was another swim in the morning and an hour on the trainer that night.

Friday was an indoor brick of an hour in a spin class followed by 30 minutes fast on the treadmill.  That was a good workout!  We had to rush to the hospital on Friday night, so no swim for me.

Saturday was meant to be a 4-hour ride, but that was put on hold to help my wife through some complications from her surgery.  I did manage to get on the trainer for a few hours later that night while she slept – boring, but it was somewhat effective.

Sunday was 2:10 of running.  I felt like crap – allergies and just general stress from the week – so I didn’t set any land speed records by any stretch, but there’s nothing wrong with long slow miles.

That’s it. I think this week  is a recovery week… at least I hope so.  My bike is in the shop to get a new cassette put on as I prepare for the hills.  This one is an 11×32 which is ridiculous, but I need it with the mountains I will be climbing.

Tags: 10x1-minute hill, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 4-hour ride, allergies, Bike Run Strength, boring, box jumps, brick, bunch, cooldown, crap, crazy, Cycling, friday night, general stress, good workout, great outdoor ride, higher priority, hospital, Hospitality Recreation, hr 13.5 hrs, Human Interest, indoor brick, Land speed record, land speed records, legs, Mile, muscles, My wife, new cassette, olivier, Physical exercise, priority, regular run, ribs, ridiculous, slow miles, spin class, sport, stomach, strength workout, stress, surgery, sweating, swim bike run, Swimming, This one, time 2, Time 2.5 hrs, training, treadmill, triathlon, umstead, warm-up, Wednesday night, Weekly Training Log, work drama, wrist
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Weekly Training Log – 03/20/2011

This wasn’t technically a recovery week, but it was clearly less intense compared to last week.  I worked plenty hard during the week, but the weekend workouts were reasonable and not too taxing on the body, so I feel pretty good right now.  The hard part about this week was simply the residual exhaustion left over from last week… I really struggled through the first several days – I would say it took until Thursday until I felt normal.

Here is what I ended up doing:

Monday – Strength workout with Olivier

Tuesday – Swam just over 3,000 meters in the morning with the group and then jumped on the bike trainer that night for an hour Spinerval workout that night.

Wednesday – Ran 50 minutes with 10x1minute hill sprints in the morning – a brutal workout, but it’s my favorite.   I later jumped on the trainer again for another hour Spinerval workout – can’t wait to be able to ride outside during the week!

Thursday – Swam just under 3,000 meters in the morning with the group and then again jumped on the bike trainer that night for 1:30…

Friday – Ran for 50 minutes in Umstead in the morning and then did 2,400 meter swim time trial that night (plus warmup and cool down)

Saturday – The plan called for a 1:45 / :45 brick workout.  I ended up doing it all on my own, which is fine.  I felt REALLY good on the bike portion of it.  Ryan said two things to me last week that I have been focusing on… he said that I don’t seem to be pushing in a high enough gear and that I need to make sure to really pull up through my dead spot in my cycle stroke as my feet pass 6 o’clock with each rotation.  I did that and soon realized that I can really only pull through (and feel it) if I am in a gear that’s high enough.  So, I was able to address both things at once and I THINK it worked.  My watch, for whatever reason, didn’t store my route, so I really have no idea.  But I know these hills very well and how I normally feel – I felt like I was actually going fast on all of them on Saturday.  The clear indicator was that I could stay down in my aerobars for many of the hills and only pop up on the biggies.  My run felt great.  I ran 50 minutes at a 7:25 pace and there was a monstrous .75 mile hill in the middle of it.

Sunday – I ran hard with Ryan and Olivier through Umstead on what’s affectionately called “Ze Big Loop”  (as the French would say).  It’s 9.4 miles on the most hilly sections of smooth dirt trails of Umstead.  Long story short, Olivier decided he was going to take off like a bat out of hell, so Ryan and I could only try to catch up.  The first mile is down hill, so that was fine, but we soon started climbing for almost a mile and Olivier was cruising at something faster than 6:30… because that’s what I was going with Ryan and we were not catching up. But things soon flattened out and I pulled ahead of Ryan and started the task of catching up to Olivier.  My next several miles were all averaging about 6:30-6:45 minutes miles, so I was going very fast for me and was starting to gain ground on the little Frenchie.  We started hitting the rolling hills and I FINALLY caught up to him at about mile 7.  Ryan was about 3-minutes back at that point.  Olivier pulled ahead of me again and I ended up finishing about 30 seconds behind him.  Average pace for the entire 9.4 miles was 7:00 on the dot.  I really felt awesome and am not entirely sure why.  I have been tinkering a lot with my nutrition lately and this week’s test was using a new electrolyte drink before my workouts and I am really liking its effect on me.  I going to give it a few more weeks to make sure it’s not a fluke, but so far so good.

.. and now we start week 11. Time is flying!  But I am really starting to feel like I could complete an Ironman today if I had to.  I wouldn’t finish anywhere near the time I want, but I am starting to feel my confidence grow.

Tags: aerobars, Average pace, Big Loop, bike portion, Bike Run Strength, bike trainer, brick, brick workout, brutal workout, clear indicator, climbing, Cycling, dead spot, dirt, electrolyte, entire 9.4 miles, exhaustion, favorite, Felt, fine, finishing, focusing, group, high enough, high enough gear, hill sprints, hills, hilly sections, Hospitality Recreation, hr 13.5 hrs, little frenchie, Long story, meter, Mile, minutes, minutes miles, monstrous .75 mile, new electrolyte drink, o clock, o'clock, olivier, Olivier Tuesday, Physical exercise, pretty good, reasonable, residual exhaustion, rolling hills, Ryan, smooth dirt trails, Spinerval workout, sport, strength workout, stroke, swam, swim bike run, time 3, Time 3.25 hrs, time trial, training log, umstead, United States, warmup, weekend, Weekly Training Log, Wine tasting descriptors, workouts
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