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 – 05/01/2011

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 – 04/03/2011

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 – 02/20/2011

Week #6 was a “recovery” week, but with travel from Wednesday to Friday, there wasn’t a whole lot of recovery for me.  The week started with a typically tough workout session with Olivier – my legs were fried.  Tuesday was another long swim with the group – we ended up doing more than 3,000 and half of it was with the kick board.  I realize I need more kick strength, but wow… almost a mile of kicking blows.  Tuesday night brought some new Spinerval DVDs that I gave a shot – made for a tough bike workout, but it was only 45 minutes which was shorter than I needed.  Wednesday morning was 6 miles of running with 8 hill sprints in the middle; followed up with my trip out to Cincinnati in the afternoon.  Wednesday night was a great dinner with some of my co-workers, so no workout for me… but it was a late night of eating and preparing for meetings.  Up early on Thursday morning to do a brutally boring (and sweaty) ride on the stationary bike in my hotel’s gym.  Thursday night was actually a really good time-trial swim. I did a mile in 30 minutes which is pretty good for me.  Friday morning was a great 6-mile run along the river in Cincinnati (sad, I have no clue what the river is?!) – but it is kind of like the Esplanade in Boston.

My long weekend workouts were both good and bad.  Saturday was a relatively short brick workout with Ryan. We did 40 miles on the bike followed up with a 4-mile run.  The bike was AWFUL.  Actually, it wasn’t that bad, but Ryan absolutely humiliated me (he’s getting me back for killing him in the swim and run… ).  But my gosh – it was like I wasn’t even moving.  So I clearly have identified the area for improvement… looks like no more cutting workouts short – I will be doing the full bike workouts (and then some) from here on out.

Sunday’s run was good. We did just over 8 miles on the single-track trails in Umstead.  We averaged about 8-minute miles which is actually really fast when you consider the rough terrain and the steep hills.  Olivier kicked my butt which I would expect… but I kicked Ryan and Michael’s which is damn fun.

This upcoming week is back to preparing for a longer weekend.  I will be doing a 3.5 hour ride on Saturday and then a 1.5 hour run on Sunday.  Good times. I am supposed to travel on Thursday which will complicate things a bit, but it’s a day trip so I think I can fit all the workouts in.

Tags: 30 minutes, 4-mile run, 45 minutes, 8-minute miles, 90 miles, Bike Run Strength, boring, Boston, cincinnati, clue, co workers, cutting workouts, damn, esplanade, Friday morning, good time, good time-trial swim, good times, gosh, great dinner, hotel, hr 11.75 hrs, humiliated, kick board, kicking, late night, long swim, long weekend workouts, longer weekend, Michaels, Mile, miles weekly training, new spinerval dvds, Physical exercise, pretty good, rough terrain, Ryan, short brick workout, single-track trails, spinerval, Sports, stationary bike, steep hills, sweaty, swim bike run, Thursday morning, Thursday night, time trial, Total Time, tough bike workout, tough workout session, triathlon, trip, Tuesday night, umstead, Wednesday morning, Wednesday night, Weekly Training Log, whole lot, workout, workouts
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