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 – 04/10/2011

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 – 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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Weekly Training Log – 03/06/2011

This week was another recovery week, and for whatever reason, I found myself to be very tired for most of the week.  Monday started with strength training on Monday… and at this point, it’s pretty much always leg work.  We did a bunch of drills on the stationary bike which burned like fire, then some other plyometric exercises.

Tuesday was a morning swim where I have to say I felt absolutely aweful.  I was still suffering from allergies (sounds like an excuse!) and people that I am typically faster than crushed me.  In one drill, we were swimming 800 meters with paddles, pull buoy, and our feet tied together (if you haven’t tried it, try it… trust me, it’s like dragging an anchor).  I got my butt whipped.  Then later that same workout, we were doing sprints with flippers and again, I got killed.  Not good.  Tuesday night was an hour on the trainer.

Wednesday morning was my usual run in Umstead – and a beautiful brisk morning.  Wednesday night was dinner with friends, so no workout.  Thursday morning was another swim and another day of feeling like my swimming sucks.  The Dragonfly is back! Thursday night was just the end to a long day, so no workout for me.

Friday was a brick workout of 1 hour on the bike followed by a 30 minute run. It was really only meant to be a 30 minute run, but I had to make up for some missed rides during the week, so I made it a brick.  I actually felt pretty good, so all good.

Saturday was another brick workout.  Ryan took us on a 37-mile ride through all the steepest hills around Falls Lake… I still struggled to keep up with the guy, but I did MUCH better than previous weeks and I felt much more confident by the end.  Average was just around 19mph, which when you look at the hills was very very good.  There were a few flat sections where I saw my speed at 22-23 which is  good for me.  Following the ride, we ran 4 miles at a 7:05 pace.  There was one point on a flat section where our average was tipped at sub 6-minute miles.  Not bad!

Sunday was a “long” run.  We did around 6.5 miles and I just felt terrible.  A steak dinner the night before without much else probably didn’t help… but I did NOT feel good.

Anyway, the week is done and I just finished planning out next week and it’s NOT a recovery week.  I should be doing about 15.5 hours of workouts with a 70+ ride and about 15 mile run over the weekend.  It just makes me realize that it’s only week 9 and there are still 15 weeks left.  Brutal!

Tags: 37-mile ride, 800 meters, allergies, anchor, Anyway, beautiful brisk morning, Bike Run Strength, brick, brick workout, brisk morning, brutal, bunch, buoy, dinner, dinner with friends, dragonfly, Drill, Falls Lake, flat section, flat sections, flippers, Hospitality Recreation, hr 10.75 hrs, leg work, long day, m 65, Man-Made Disaster, Mile, Mile run world record progression, morning swim, MUCH better, paddles, Physical exercise, plyometric exercises, pretty good, pull buoy, rides, sport, Stationary bicycle, stationary bike, steak, steepest hills, strength training, sub 6-minute miles, swim bike run, swimming sucks, Thursday morning, Thursday night, time 3, Time 3.25 hrs, training log, triathlon, trust, Tuesday night, umstead, usual run, Wednesday morning, Wednesday night, Weekly Training Log, workout, workouts
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Weekly Training Log – 02/27/2011

Week #7 is done and this is the first week where I am sitting here feeling beat up.  The weekend was tough for me not just because of the increased distance, but  it’s allergy season and I am getting killed. But more on that in a bit…

This was another logistically-challenged week.  I traveled up to Boston on Thursday which really put a wrench into my standard routine, but I was able to make it work (more or less).  Monday was my normal workout with Olivier where he took my frustration with the bike ride last weekend to heart and blasted my legs.   Tuesday was a long swim followed by a tough Spinerval workout that night.  Wednesday was 45-minute run with a bunch of 30 second sprints thrown in… then I did a bunch of squats and lunges that I was feeling until Friday. Wednesday night was another Spinerval workout followed by some time on the Total Gym.  Thursday was a day off from workouts, but I was up at 3:30 and didn’t get home until 11 or so, so it was a very long day.  Then trying to get up for a 6am spin class (and 30-minute run) the next morning made me very tired.

So Saturday comes along we were supposed to go 3:30 on the bike.  But I started from my house and it take about 15 minutes to get to Ryan’s, so I ended up doing 4 hours (duration… take out our random stops and it ended up being a little over 3:30).  Anyway, the ride was fine.  I felt a little stronger this week, but I still got my ass kicked.  Maybe not quite so bad this time, but it was pretty bad.  The only good part (I think) was that Matt joined up with us about 30 minutes into the ride and there were a few points that I was able to beat him pretty easily.  That said, he was able to hang with Ryan for much of the ride where I couldn’t.  Anyway – Matt did Ironman Arizona recently, so I was pretty happy to do better than him on some of the hills.   By the end of the ride, I was spent.  And after the ride was over, I could really feel my allergies kicking in… maybe that was my problem.  Probably not. I am just not that strong on the bike.  Maybe my blog should really be called SuckyCyclistEvenThoughIHaveAnExpensiveBike.com.

Sunday called for a 1:40 run.  Ryan, Olivier and I ended up going about 1:50 and went just under 14-miles through the horse trails in Umstead.  I had an awful sleep the night before because allergies were just killing me. So congested and my throat scratchy… and the Zyrtec and Benadryl didn’t do squat.  But the run ended up being better than I expected given how terrible I felt going into it… and I was again spent by the end and just ready for bed.

And so here I am. Tired and generally feeling awful. But not because of the training… that’s the good news.

Tags: 15 minutes, 30-minute run, 45-minute run, allergies, Allergy, allergy season, Anyway, awful sleep, Benadryl, bike ride, Bike Run Strength, blasted, Boston, bunch, Cycling, fine, good news, Happy, Hospitality Recreation, hr 13.5 hrs, Ironman Arizona, kicking, long day, long swim, Matt, Mile, miles week, normal workout, Physical exercise, random stops, Ryan, spin class, Spinerval workout, Sports, standard routine, throat scratchy, Total Gym, Total Time, tough spinerval workout, trails, training, training log, United States, Wednesday night, weekend, Weekly Training Log, workouts, wrench, Zyrtec
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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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Weekly Training Log – 02/13/2011

Week #5 is done and I am quickly starting to see a pattern in these IM workouts.   What I am realizing is that the workout is really defined as the entire week and not by any of the individual workouts during the week.  Matt Fitzgerald (author of my workout plan) would probably say “duh – of course it is”,  but as I wrapped up my long run earlier this morning, that was my big “ah-hah”.  I wasn’t happy that I finished the run (which was miserable, by the way).  I was happy that I had finished the week… uninjured and still motivated… with a real sense of achievement for completing another unit.  Each week in the plan has a purpose and each week that I finish is completely satisfying.  I guess you could call the feeling an “ironman high”… much like the runner’s high people talk about after they finish a good long run.

Anyway, the week went well.  The swim sessions were most noteworthy.  Tuesday was a killer 3,900m workout and Thursday was almost as brutal with 3,400m.  My bike workouts were fine.  For the most part, they were indoors with the exception of my Saturday long ride which got me 50 miles in just under 3 hours.  Not bad, but it was cold, hilly, and I was in a hurry to get back so Mary Lynn and I could head over to the Fearrington House in Chapel Hill.  My runs during the week were fine, but my long run this morning was awful.  We were using a gift certificate to stay at the Fearrington house and breakfast didn’t start until after I was planning to start my run.  So, I went with no food and no coffee and I had absolutely nothing.  I ran for 1.5 hours and by the end, I was nearly crawling.  And now I am absolutely exhausted.  Maybe I just had too much wine last night.

This week is a recover week, so I should get a chance to relax a bit which is good since I will be travelling out to Cincinnati for a few days towards the end of the week.

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Category Weekly Training Logs |

Weekly Training Log – 02/06/2011

Week #4 was a recovery week for me, so this was not a particularly challenging one, but it was another step in the process and it’s done.  The mid-week workouts were not real different than most, but the weekend workouts were relatively short, so my total was low.  I was supposed to travel up to Boston on Thursday, but weather cancelled the trip, so I shifted things around a few times during the week.  Net result is that I got on the trainer most nights, ran in the rain for a few mornings, and had my typical tough morning swims.  Saturday was a short brick workout and since it was raining, I rode the trainer (the bike, not Olivier) for an hour and then ran in the rain for 30 minutes.  Sunday was  just shy of 8 miles in the rough trails of Umstead – I didn’t feel great during the run, but I had a few stretches were I felt great and was running sub-7 minute miles, but otherwise struggled up the hills. Not sure why.  Actually, I do know why. It was still very wet from the rain and with leaves still covering the rocks and roots, it was very tough to get in a groove.

This upcoming week will ramp up the distance and time. I will be travelling to Boston on Monday (no weather expected), but since it’s my day off, it shouldn’t impact things.  Mary Lynn and I also head to the Fearrington House this weekend, so I will be squeezing in some long rides and runs around that, but I should be able to get it done.  It’s still early enough in the program so the long workouts are too crazy.

Tags: 30 minutes, Bike Run Strength, Boston, brick, crazy, fearrington house, groove, Hospitality Recreation, long rides, long workouts, Mary Lynn, Mile, miles weekly training, mornings, Net result, nights, Physical exercise, rain, Ramp, rocks, roots, rough trails, short brick workout, shouldn't impact, Sports, squeezing, step, stretches, swim bike run, time 3, Time 3.0 hrs, training, triathlon, trip, typical tough morning, umstead, United States, weather, weekend, workout, workouts
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