26.2 under 4

Comparative Statistics

2012-02-11T10:28:00.000-08:00

After a stressful morning of homework, I didn't have time for my 5x6" track workout yesterday. So I tried to squeeze in a tempo run similar to last Saturday. I left my door not really caring too much what the first mile was, as long as I could hit 7:30 for mile 2, then potentially drop 10 seconds in each mile after that. Ambitious, sure, but after last Saturday's run it didn't seem like a crazy idea.

I don't know what it was about that run, maybe it was having a running partner keeping me on pace, but everything came together extremely well. I was able to focus on steady, efficient breathing, and same with pace, nice powerful strides, taking advantage of the forward motion. That was an awesome run, definitely the sort of reason why training can be so damn fun.

Then there was this week. I was tired again, just like the week before, but I guess compounding fatigue did more than I thought. The other difference, I didn't eat an energy gel right before yesterdays run like I did last Saturday, maybe that extra energy would've gotten me through the second half of this run:

The numbers are clear, I didn't go as fast, but heart rate wise, I certainly worked as hard if not harder. Perhaps the weather was a factor (12-15mph head winds for 1.5 miles of it, plus sleet for the last 2.5 miles of it). Either way, its crazy to think that it can be slower and harder at the same time. Even as much as I tried to focus on heart rate and stride, I just couldn't keep it up, I kept forgetting about them while convincing myself not to give up, to keep pushing.

Today was just over 11 miles at a very relaxing pace. An enjoyable run for sure. Tomorrow is cycling and lifting. Then starts a recovery week. Hell yeah for those.

Knowing it

2012-02-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

After Saturday's run, today's 5x6" at race pace workout seemed more than doable. After all I knew I could do 6 miles at a 7:08/mi pace, so less distance should be cake for sure. That's why I decided to try to do the first interval at 7:00/mi pace, and then take 10 seconds off of each interval from there. It wasn't until I got to the track and had done my warm-up that I actually thought through what that meant in terms of pace per interval. A 6:20/mi pace for the last interval was going to be tough, but why not give it a shot?

The first one felt totally fine, just cruisin along nice and strong. Even the second interval didn't take too much more effort. The third one had me breathing noticeably harder, though I didn't have to fight too hard to hit the right pace. The fourth was a whole different story. Since it's just 6 minutes, the duration isn't so bad, but the fatigue sets in quick. I slowed down a bit in the middle third of the interval and really had to push to get the split I wanted. It hurt, and I felt like I was done. I bargained that even getting another 6:30 pace would be fine for the last 6 minute interval. When it started, not even a lap into it the whole thing hurt, I was slowing down despite pushing it. I like I was pushing about as hard as I could despite the fact that I just couldn't run faster; almost like one of those dreams where you're trying your hardest to run as fast as you can, but you're not even going anywhere... It was painful for sure. About as close I've gotten to feeling like this recently.

Either way, because of the numbers on the heart rate, I know I was pushing just as hard in the last interval as I was in the second to last, even despite the pace difference.

Recovery Week, Nothin Special

2012-01-29T08:50:00.000-08:00

Despite Meyers's "life gives you periodization" theory, I've decided to stick to my plan al la Friel. I honestly think one reason my performance at the conference championship this past August wasn't so great was because I was just exhausted and over-tired from training. Even with a three week taper, my legs just felt sore and tired that whole race, and in the ones after. So I really don't want to repeat that with Nationals. So here's how the last few, and the next three weeks look:

I know over training is more-than-likely under-resting, but since I've been getting about 9 hours of sleep every night, I don't think the resting will be a problem. On the other hand, with my job requiring me to be on my feet for ~30 hours a week more than normal, that seems to just add to stress and fatigue on my legs and stabilizer muscles. If I were sitting on my butt all of those hours, I'd feel a little better pushing hard on the rides and runs.

So this past week; it started off a little awkwardly. Because of my work hours, I flip-flopped my Sunday 3 hour ride and my Monday rest day. Tuesday was standard, as was the rest of the week really. The most interesting thing to note, actually, is the pretty consistent fatigue in my legs. As I've said before, the lifting is going extremely well (I think). I can definitely feel the addition strength in the pool and on runs. On the other hand, my hamstrings are just downright achy. The feeling comes and goes, so I know its not much to worry about. Then again, the outside of my my right ankle has been tight and twingey for about a week now. I'm definitely going to tape it up during non workouts to try and give whatever stabilizers or whatever to recover as much as possible.

As for today's run, it was just supposed to be an hour of easy running. Instead of going by feel, I decided to stick as true to Friel's suggestions as possible and keep it in zone 3 for heart rate. Even doing that was difficult; running slower would have felt a little awkward:

Marked Improvement?

2012-01-21T06:54:00.000-08:00

Here's the Saturday morning workout: 5x6' intervals with 2' rest
Goal: race pace (7' miles) at least

Last week:

This week:

That's one hell of a drastic change, and I highly doubt I can chalk it up to the past three weeks of training. After all, since I've been sick and skipped a few workouts (2 hours less this week) I was much more rested over all. Also, this morning I added a caffeinated Honey Stinger gel to the pre-run tea, I'm assuming that caffeine helped big time. Also shoes, last week I wore my heavy trail runners because of the snow; this week was back to trainers. And there's always the weather to consider, a little less cold, a little more helpfully blowing wind, etc.

By the end of the 4th interval, I was already in pain, I knew the last one was going to be very hard. My legs ached all over, and my empty stomach was feeling tight. I tried to relax and focus on breathing, but keeping pace demanded too much mental effort. So for the last one, I was happy to just push hard instead of keep pace again, and, by the end of the last interval, I was about as close to vomiting as possible without actually doing it. Just shy of dry heaving.

At the very least I can say that effort level improved if nothing else. Having the rest of the club around (even though I did this workout solo) is still motivating, and that helps me make these workouts a little bit harder.

Oh yeah, also, yesterday's run was 10 miles at just over an 8 minute pace. I didn't have the Garmin since it wasn't charged, but I stopped my watch at 8:21:50 at the end of this 10.1 mile route:

Another improvement over last weeks 2-hour, twelve-mile Friday run.

Exciting.

Pick a marathon and do it!

Tough and Loving it

2012-01-11T17:43:00.000-08:00

Some workouts have left certain muscles aching, other workouts leave me just physically exhausted and wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep forever. Of course, there are even those workouts that leave me feeling energized, like I could take on anything.

The ups and downs are great, tons of fun, and reminding myself why I'm doing this makes it all that much better. But sometimes I wonder if I'm pushing too hard too soon. Knowing how much core work I need to do, I've added extra workouts here and there, even some yoga, trying to get my mid section in to shape as soon as possible.

On the other hand, though it could be too much too soon, I've been getting the recommended workouts in, and the strength training now should only make the speed training that much more effective later on. So its a mixed bag (like everything) but I see no reason to stop just yet.

Since last post, lifting has been going well. I'm still slightly hesitant to push too hard, but I've been hitting the right numbers everywhere except with squats/leg press. I think it's smarter to play it safe, if I got injured, I have no idea what I'd do with myself. Rides and runs have gone well, nothing exceptional to report, though I'm thinking I may benefit from doing some bench mark testing: finding out what my 'best' is right now, so I know what exactly what pace to be working at for each workout instead of just going mostly by how hard or easy a workout feels... maybe I'll do that next week.

Long Road Ahead

2012-01-04T17:25:00.001-08:00

I honestly cannot wait to see what I am capable of by the time Nationals comes around this April. There's no denying it: I'm weak. Not mentally, or even in terms of cardio, but my muscles are just damn puny. I thought the bulk of these tree trunk legs might count for something, but without the core strength to match, it doesn't matter much.

So here's what prompted this: today's workout, 1 hour easy swim followed by lifting. I thought a bit about the best order for these workouts, even about separating them--one morning, one afternoon--but thinking back about high school workouts, we always lifted at the end of the day, so that seemed like a good way to do things. So I swam, and it felt great, I was surprised how quickly it all came back. I had anticipated having a very rough time getting my breathing back on track, and just getting used to the water since its been a solid 3 months since my last, real swim workout, but at the end of it I felt great, and was even putting up some solid splits.

Then came lifting: Friel's Maximum Transition workout period for lifting. I was supposed to start with one set of 10-15 squats at 1.3-1.7 X body weight. So I aimed at 245, but thinking about it, I think that was my max in high school. So I put 180 up on the rack, got underneath it, and just getting it off the rack felt some muscles in my back twinge, telling me that this was not a good idea. So I backed it off by half, still my back didn't feel great underneath the weight, but my legs barely felt what was supposed to be a brutal 15 rep set. I decided to do it twice, just because I felt I wasn't doing the workout justice.

Then was supposed to be seated row at 0.5-0.8 X body weight. I only got to rep 8 of the minimum, 95 lbs. Weak. After core and calf work (at a normal weight and number of reps) I was supposed to do lat-pull downs at 0.3-0.5 X body weight. This one I did at the minimum, but only got to the 12th rep when I was aiming for the full 15.

On my cool down run, I was thinking its pretty ridiculous how I was able to do those marathons and this whole past season of triathlons with relatively little strength. I always took it for granted, but now its something I've got to work for, just like anything else. Like I said, I'm excited to see what adding strength training is gonna do for my race times.

Nationals Here I Come

2012-01-03T18:05:00.001-08:00

Day 1 of my 16 week training plan for Nationals.

I read up on Friel's book, I think its a solid plan. I know it could be better, but at the same time, I feel like I have so much room for growth as an athlete that I'll be fine. I spaced out my hard/ breakthrough workouts, making them the priority. The rest of each week is just about base and form.

Because a local bike shop hosts trainer rides on Tuesday nights, this is the night of my hard bike workout. But more on that later.

Today started with a 30 min run. Right when I woke up I went out the door. It was just supposed to be medium effort, so the 7:58s was more than fine with me. I didn't check the weather until after I got back. 12 degrees. I have to admit, the last half mile hurt a bit, probably not a good idea, but I'm just that eager to be kicking my own ass again.
Not having been on a trainer in a year, I was a bit unsure of what to expect. I was surprised by the amount of effort it took to pedal, even in an easy gear. Maybe it was because I pushed kinda hard in the morning run, maybe it was because I kept trying to push myself, but the trainer ride hurt.

I used my Garmin as just a heart rate monitor, and did my best to keep it in the 160s as much as possible. We did some "hills" and sprints, that I went all out during (after all, supposed to be my hard bike workout) so I took full advantage of the recovery and let my HR drop a bit. At the end, when everyone else had finished, I decided to go for broke and pushed my heart rate up to 175. I felt like I was gonna vomit by the end, and it was glorious.

I'm really glad to back into the training game, and I can't wait to see how I do come April.

Long Road

2011-12-19T08:18:00.000-08:00

So now that the semester is finally over, I'm going to have to sit down and actually hammer out a training plan, at least I've been telling myself I'll have to do that. It'll probably start out with more lifting, and more, moderate intensity/ long duration workouts, like I've been trying to do so far.

Like yesterday, one of the tri-sharks posted that he wanted to go out for two hours, and so we hit the road when it was warmest out (I think like 46 degrees). So this guy Ross was on his brand new frame, a Speed Concept 9 that he got for free because his old Equinox TTX was still under warranty. So since his bike is about $5,000 faster, and he's just a faster rider than I am to begin with, his "easy aerobic" workout, was a little more intense for me, even though I drafted off of him for about 75% of the time.

Either way, it was a solid workout, and I'm looking forward to getting a lot more long rides in now that I'm finally done teaching spin.

Track 8x200

2011-11-18T05:26:00.000-08:00

So, the normal Wednesday routine gettin me ready for the 5k.
After an easy spin class (a bunch of low resistance sprints) I walked over to the track for some more sprinting. I planned on doing 8x200, set the time for 5:15, and hoped even one person would show up.

Nick was in town for the tri-club dinner and had said he might run, but it was very cold and he only had shorts and a t-shirt. When he didn't show up at 5:15 I figured it was because of the temperature, so I got the workout going. He showed up about halfway through (as is noticeable in the splits). They weren't awful before he showed up, but afterwards they were. Each one hurting more than the previous one. Definitely one of those, 'a partner helps you push harder' sort of workouts.
Running fast is hard.

Track Workout

2011-11-09T16:46:00.000-08:00

I taught my 4pm spin class, then walked over to the track and did this 6x400 workout.
It hurt. A lot. Trying to stay motivated. Gotta keep up in the turkey trot!

Running in the dark, by myself was kinda fun. It really helped me to zero in, to focus on what I was doing. Even though my splits got progressively slower, I'm still happy with the range I kept them in.

In other news, USAT announced the date for Nationals 2012: April 21st! Mark your calendar!

Running Again

2011-11-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

Powered by peanutbutter M&Ms I headed out to meat the team for an easy long run. No one showed up so the workout was totally up to me. I had already planned on the traditional, hilly, triathlon club 10k route, so even though some 5k specific training would have been better, I decided to stick with the plan.

The plan was to go easy, and, well, you know how that goes some times. I just went out by feel, and it felt good. It was my first real run in 5 weeks, since Tri-the-Illini. Mile one ticked off at 7:52 without a problem. From there things just got faster and more fun. It wasn't until mile 5 that it started to hurt, but at that point I was all in.

Good for long-term training? Probably not. Fun? Hell yes.

Through the last half-mile everything hurt, a good sign, but more surprising, the soleus in each of my legs were the most sore by the very end. Funny, because since my legs still ache from lifting on Thrusday I thought my quads would be holding me back.

The plan for this week: Spin class on M,T,W and a track workout Wednesday night too. More lifting Thursday, Friday off, lift/spin on Saturday, and then another run like this a week from today.

Long time comin

2011-11-03T06:32:00.001-07:00

First real prep-period specific workout today.
I've been teaching my spin classes, but today I finally went back to the weights.

Last time I lifted was... four years ago? With you and Jeff at IMPE I think. Yikes.

I felt it. I know I've written about how I've felt weak before, but nothing like some simple sets to prove it to ya. After the squats my leg started seizing up. During the pushups, I went a little too hard and re-pulled/strained that muscle in my back that I went to physical therapy for a year ago. And of course, I couldn't even get through all of the abs sets. Wow.

Definitely makes me think: How much better could I have performed this past season if I had been training right all along. Yeah, yeah, you told me so.

So here was the workout, 3 sets of 20 reps for each:
Squats (front with 55lbs, too much weight)
Standing lat-pull downs (50lbs, just right/ could maybe bump it up)
Step-ups (18lb bar, could probably add more)
Push-ups (I went for shoulder width, and proper form - Ouch.)
Hamstring Curl (60lbs, just right)
Seated row (50lbs, just right)
Abs w/ twist (tried w/ 10lbs, switched to body weight & still couldn't finish)

So this workout was a huge slap in the face, but in a totally good way.
It's seriously motivating to keep at it, and keep going back for more.
I do want to play it smart though. With the strain in my back, I'm not going back until it's 100% again.

I did miss it for sure. The squats felt great. Brought me back to days at Loyola lifting with the other shot-putters. Its just a good feeling.

Whats Next(?)

2011-10-02T15:02:00.001-07:00

Race Data from tri-the-illini,

Race season over. Thank god.

Well, there's a slight chance I might end up doing Michigan Sthttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifate (one girl on our team really wants to do it, but only if other people do it too, so if no one else does I might, thoughts?), but even if I do, I won't be working out at all this week.

Then the plan for Nationals starts with four weeks off (as completely as possible with my spin classes).
Then I'll do two weeks of prep, followed by a good, old-fashioned Triathlete's Training Bible season of training. The problem is, even with a season behind me, I'm not exactly sure where my skills are.

My best time (2:18:54) puts me in the 66th percentile, so to speak, when looking at last year's nationals results. I'm 20 minutes shy of top ten ranking. So I'm clearly not a top performer, and in terms of addressing specific skills I'm a little unsure of how to approach this season.

Without a doubt, my #1 focus will be the run, then swim, then bike. But do I keep working solely on endurance and speed with occasional force and muscular endurance training? Or, do I step it up and throw in frequent force, muscular endurance training, and even anaerobic endurance training?

Priority #1 is bringing my 10k under a 7 minute pace. With my best swim, and my best bike, that barely gets me into the top 100.
I even think I can get my swim down another minute or two. My confidence in open water has improved drastically, and if I can throw in a little extra speed, I don't think a 22 minute 1500m swim is too unreasonable. That would involve taking my Dayton pace, and holding it for an extra ~17 minutes, mostly anaerobic endurance there?

With the exception of heavy legs at the end of a race, or my cycling muscles being shot ever since conference, I don't think my muscles have hurt at all. I think the strength is mostly there (except on hills, clearly). The breathing is where it hurts the most. Especially today, and like at Evergreen, there's been time where getting my breathing under control has been the biggest factor without a doubt.

So what does that mean? More anaerobic endurance?
I plan to read the training bible again, and hopefully get some more insight from that. Otherwise, I'm all ears for advice

Stupid Awesome

2011-09-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

In trying to recruit for triathlon club, I've heard the same excuse from a lot of people: "I really want to, I don't have the right bike." When I tell them to slap some toe baskets and slick tires on their mountain bike, or buy an old Schwinn, they give another lame excuse about it not being good enough.

So, to shut them all up, and to make them realized that their excuses are the only thing holding them back, and not the bike, I rode the time trial tonight, on the Le Tour. I wasn't gonna let that heavy, 1980s steel frame or wobbly back wheel slow me down. It didn't matter that the shifters are rusted and squeek like a herd of mice in a cheese shop, its not about the bike.

I averaged 21.1 mph, and still beat everyone in the club that were on their road bikes with clip on aero bars, proving that its all about the motor. And here's some reasons why I consider that 21mph to be slow.
1) I raced on Saturday, in this recovery I'm not in top form.
2) This morning I did a solid abs workout, another reason to have less energy.
3) I taught a spin class that ended about an hour before the time trial started; even less energy.
4) The back wheel is so wobbly and out of true, that it makes most people cringe.

To quote our club's advisor's blog title, "you've got to want it"

Still Workin It

2011-09-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Despite "peaking" for Conference, I'm gonna keep pushing hard through these next 5 weeks of races. Yesterday, Billy, Andrew, and I all went for a relaxing recovery swim. Nothing too hard, just stretching out, moving the limbs and staying loose.

Instead of diving back into the typical routine, I was forced to change up the workouts because the rec was closed for Labor day. After a solid set of core work (crunches, bicycles, leg raises, Russian twists, and supermans) I decided on a tempo-ish 6 miles.

Not wanting to go out too hard, and end up injuring myself during this recovery-ish period, I just went by feel; running at a pace that felt good. I did have tin the back of my mind pushing hard through the last two miles, and since the wind would be with me for a good portion of that last part, it seemed like the right thing to do. After turning the corner at 4.5 miles, I had the wind ay my back for the next full mile. It wasn't too hard to go fast until I turned again at 5.5 and the ~19mph wind was swiping across me. The last 0.5 hurt like hell. And I'm glad. I got my heart rate pretty high, something that I'd been struggling with.

Very pleased with the workout. Time for some fried rice.

Working it Out

2011-08-17T18:48:00.000-07:00

This whole week has been a jumbled mess so far. The pool at the rec has been closed for maintenance the past three days, (the days of the week I normally swim) but I think I've come up with a decent replacement plan.

Monday was an easy run instead of an easy swim. About an hour and a half. It felt good even with the race the day before.
Tuesday, instead of a hard AM swim and an easy PM cycle class, was a long day of biking. I went out for a ride an hour before the class. Then ran hard the 1.2 miles from my apartment to the rec, taught my class, then ran back, again, hard, trying to keep the pace as close to 7s as possible.
Today, would have been an easy AM swim with a PM 6x800 track workout. Instead it was AM core work, with the track workout.

So lots of running so far this week, but since its the area I need the most improvement in, I'm thinking its probably for the best. I wasn't thrilled with the slowing splits of today's 800s, but it was the first track workout with Nate in a long time, so my laps were spent trying to keep up with him rather than trying to maintain consistant effort throughout. They hurt, a lot, the lungs and legs burning equally. I'm especially glad that I brought the pace back under 6/mi for the last 800, but would have liked a more consistant time over all.

Either way, according to Friel, this week is to be focused on anaerobic endurance. So far so good I think, with hard interval efforts. Next week is speed, and the final before conference is power. I'm feeling great, feeling strong. Fingers crossed for good things to come!

Marked Improvement

2011-08-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

So the post-race recap I gave over the phone seems to have been a hasty and mis-informed. I said my swim was much slower, it wasn't. I said my bike was faster than Evergreen, it wasn't. But the fact that I PR'ed still stands, and it was ALL on the RUN!!! Hell yeah! Clear evidence of the need to focus on one's weaknesses for overall improvement.

So here's how I figured it out. Wanting to have a record of all of my triathlon times in one place, I threw together a spreadsheet (though I haven't put on indoor triathlons... maybe I ought to do that too). And here's what I found by looking more closely at my results from the past.
So first awesome surprise, my swim today wasn't that much slower than Ohio State. In fact, if you factor in the run distance to T1, my swim times were probably pretty much damn near the same. It was a beach start today, something new, I'm not a fan, a whole lot more fighting than an in-water start, but I tried my best to start closer to the front. Biggest thing I learned today, I need a lot of open water practice in the pool. My form goes to shit the second I'm in a lake. I need more confidence. Starting next week, I'm going to ad open water swims to my weekly workout routine (since I joined the Tri-Shark triathlon club).

Second big surprise, was my bike split from Evergreen. When you said I flew through it (at the race) you weren't kidding, 1:04 is ridiculous considering it was 2k longer, I clearly pushed way too hard. (Nice to know I'm capable of it though :-) Today was probably good to have no speedometer. I'll have a pair of Zipp 404's at conference in three weeks, I don't want to push too hard on 'em, but I do want to take advantage of their added speed. Thoughts on that? Maybe just up my MPH from this Sylvania race by 0.5?

And the run. I don't know if you remember when I was at mile 4 at Ohio State, and said "this hurrrrts." Didn't even feel that way today. I could have pushed faster for sure. So coming in 2 minutes faster in the run was huuuge!

I love seeing all of this hard work pay off! Post some of your runs man!

Solid, but not great Tempo

2011-08-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

Not the fastest tempo run on the books, but considering how I felt before it started, it was a pretty good one none-the-less. Before I got going, a little part of me was dreading the workout; I'm tired. But I got going, and my legs felt heavy. I dragged them through an easy warm-up mile on my way to the track. After some stretching, Nate showed up and we got the run under way. I planned the first lap being a little slower than the 8:00 that it turned out to be. But I figured as long as I was able to keep the others on pace, it was fine. And for the most part that happened. The next splits were 7:51, 7:34, 7:22, and 7:01. I tried really hard to get that last mile in under 7, but it was just hurting too much. I'll take it though, considering its a rest week and I'm not feeling tip-top. All considered, I figure the workout was solid. Plenty of time for crazy stuff in the next two weeks comin up.

How'd your run go?

Blame it on the Wind?

2011-08-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

Being a rest/taper week, maybe going to the TT and trying my hardest to break 30minutes wasn't a good idea. But it was also a Quintana Roo & Litespeed demo night, so I thought if I had any chance of breaking 30, this was going to be it.

On Karl's recommendation, I went for the top-of-the-line Litespeed over the same by QR. I did everything I could to be properly prepped to kick-ass at this TT, but things just didn't go right when it started. I pushed hard from the get go, per usual. Trying to find that point between pain I can endure for 30 minutes, and that little bit more that'll ruin the whole ride. The wind was out of the north/west, and because of the way the route is laid out, after the first 1.5 miles, the wind is all in your face until the 5 miles to go mark. I pushed as hard as I thought I could manage through the headwind and rolling hills. The carbon aero frame with a DA group didn't seem to help much, even though I was crouched as low in the drops as possible. At that 5 miles left mark, I was breathing too hard. Panting, gasping for air, I tried to take control of my breathing to speed things up, but over the next few miles, I just couldn't do it. My breathings slowed and steadied, but it was my cardio that hurt more than my legs. Not enough threshold work I guess, but even at the end of the TT, my legs didn't hurt as bad as they did the first time. I was still exhausted and shaky, but in an entirely different way.

Without the official times, I didn't PR, I was slow of my 31:43 best by a few seconds. So I'm not even sure what this means. Perhaps overall fatigue of training? After this Sunday's race, I enter the "Peak" phase of training. One week focused on anaerobic endurance followed by one of speed training, then a super easy week before Conference. Hopefully the taper will be enough to bounce back from this fatigue, and kick some ass. Its all adding up to this. Not too much more I can do other than stick to the training plan as tightly as possible, eat right, stay well rested. I guess we'll see what happens!

I'll take it as a good thing

2011-08-02T05:57:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 5:40 this morning for mile repeats.

Having fixed the LeTour (again), I rode my bike to the track in lieu of a warmup. Maybe that was a bad idea. Since I didn't do a serious warmup, I figured I'd take my first mile a little slow since the plan was to do six miles total.

The first few strides were difficult; my legs felt heavy. Even so, I stepped up the pace for the first lap, then eased back and just tried to hold it near 6:30s again. First lap, like I figured, a little slower than last week's 6:29. The next was a little better in all respects; legs weren't sluggish, lungs didn't burn, and I even pulled off the time I was hoping for. After another 400 break, it was time for #3. I started way too fast, my watch said 5:18 pace at the first 200. I slowed it down too much and for too long. By the time it came to the last 400 yards, I was 10 seconds slower than I wanted to be, and I had to push hard to eek out a 6:33. When I got to the 4th, the legs felt heavy again, a slow 6:44 pace felt like I was pushing 6:00 flat in an 800.

But since the goal was 6 miles of repeats, I couldn't stop there even though I really wanted to. I talked myself into one more, this time not even looking at the watch, just keeping an eye on heart rate. An old guy at the track saw my HR monitor an asked my what I was trying to keep it at. Since I really only use it to review HR and not to manage the workout, I figured doing the last one with the goal of holding zone 5 for as long as possible would be solid, even if it meant a slower time. The whole mile hurt, I kept trying to push faster, and harder, but it just didn't happen. My heart rate didn't seem to want to get above 165ish. It did ocasionally, and certainly for the last lap, but for how much it hurt, I would have expected the HR to be higher.

So I'll take the pain, and still decent speed of this workout as a good thing. It means I'm pushing hard enough, and possibly slightly under-rested. Saturday was a 53 mile ride at an average of 20mph, which includes stops at intersections. Sunday was two 6 mile easy runs (as easy as runs can be in 95 degree heat) one in the AM, and one in the PM. Yesterday was a 6AM spin class and a 5 PM endurance swim. My goal is to push hard through Thursday, then seriously taper, and take it super easy before Sylvania on the 14th.

Mile Repeats: In Control

2011-07-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

Monday was endurance swim, nice and tiring.
Tuesday AM: Swim work on anaerobic and muscular endurance, left me sore and exhausted
Tuesday PM: Nice easy spin class.

This morning I was groggy and slow to get started. I jogged the mile to the track and pretty much started the mile repeats right away. They were awesome. The skies were overcast, there was a slight breeze, it wasn't too too hot, but hot enough to be drenched by the end.
The goal: Hold 6:30s for the first three and kill the last one.
I got greedy. With each one I wanted to go a little faster.
Either way I'm thrilled with the results:

Loving this!

Switching it Up

2011-07-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

Even though the decision was made to take this week a little easier because of the intensity of the last race, my hard hardheadedness got the best of me with training.

Monday's swim workout was supposed to be an easy endurance work out. Despite slightly achy muscles, it actually went rather well, and I felt very strong in the water. However, when stretching out afterwards, my entire back was extremely tight. I tried to stretch my trunk extensors, but doing so didn't make them feel better, in fact after the stretch they felt so stiff I could almost barely move my back for a moment.

So wanting to allow those muscles and the rest of my body some extra recovery, I decided to work on my run and do some tempo work Tuesday morning. The warm-up was too fast and I ended up bonking just 4 miles in, and couldn't hold the pace under 7:30s. Clearly too much too soon. The spin workout that evening was actually pretty hard too. There were some local cyclists in my class, and their effort made me work harder than I probably should have.

This morning I did plan on doing the swim workout I replaced on Tuesday. The alarm was set, but I slept through it the first time it went off. Since I was so groggy trying to get ready for the swim, I decided sleep would be a better way to spend the next two hours.

And now its too hot out to run this afternoon. The plan is to finally get that swim workout done this afternoon, and maybe get the track workout done early tomorrow morning. I'm a little behind schedule this week, but I think it'll be for the best in the end. Especially with the heat, and recovery, I gotta make sure I train smart.

Of course: Unwanted Pains

2011-07-11T07:27:00.001-07:00

Yesterday's scheduled workout was a 12 mile run in zones 2 and 3. I made it through the first 4.5 when I started getting sharp pains in my lower back, especially on deep inhaling breaths. My first thoughts were that this was from the 50 mile ride the day before where I spent a lot of time on the aero bars, that and the fact that I don't do enough core work. (I'm trying to work on it, it just slips my mind too often.) Because of the pains, and the race this Saturday, I decided there'd be no advantage to hurting myself, so I cut the run down to 6 miles.

This morning, when I went to grab some pots and pans from a low cabinet, I had the same sharp pain in my back, made me feel like an old man.

So as for training, I'm still planning on my recovery week workouts, but I'm thinking I'll cut them short if my back starts bothering me. The schedule is:
Monday: 4x500 Swim, zones 2-3
Tuesday: 8x50 Swim, zone 5b; 45min Cycle, zone 2-3
Wednesday: 50min Tempo run
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 8x20'' Sprints, zone 5b
Saturday: Race!

In terms of the approach to training, and cutting workouts short this week, I figured I had to determine exactly what my priorities are, and this is what I came up with:
#1: Perform well in every race
#2: Peak at Conference

That being the case, I don't see any advantage to over-extending myself in the name of peak performance at conference if it means a weaker performance in the races before hand.

Thoughts?

Going Solo

2011-07-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

For various reasons, I ended up being the only person doing today's track workout. Originally I'd planned on a pyramid from 400 to 1000 and back at 200 intervals, but since that sort of workout wasn't in Friel's book, I was hoping to change it up. Being the only one working out, I felt like I could do whatever I want. I opted for mile repeats and 20 second strides.

I wasn't sure what sort of pace to aim for, so I looked at your mile repeats from a few weeks ago, and decided to aim for sub 7 at the slowest. After a mile jog out to the track, brief stretching and a bathroom break, I was ready to go.

The first one felt easy. Halfway through my first lap I looked at the Garmin, saw a 6:20 pace and figured I ought to slow down, but I couldn't. It felt too good, even by the 4th lap, I still wasn't hurting. But I definitely paid for it. The second mile wasn't so bad either. I figured the slight drop in pace was OK as long as I didn't get too far from the split of my first mile. If I remember right, only the last lap of the second mile started hurting. In the third mile, everything changed. It was hard to get going, it was hard to get fast, overall, it just hurt. I kept looking at my watch, telling myself to go faster, trying to go faster, but not being able to. It was the exact opposite of the first mile. And the last mile was the same, except worse. I told myself that I'd save it for the last lap, and I tried to, "drop the hammer," in the last 400, but I just couldn't seem to will or muscle myself fast enough forward to make up for lost time.

After a brief break, it was time for the 20 second sprints. The complete struggle it was to complete each one was a solid reminder that I actually did push hard enough in the mile repeats. I'm totally bummed that my splits were all slower than last week, and significantly so. The only consolation is that I've been training hard, and perhaps if I was able to top last week, it would mean that I haven't been training hard enough.

Tomorrow is a moderate swim in the AM, and a moderate bike+run in the afternoon. After that, its recovery week, and Evergreen!

Rearranging Workouts

2011-07-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

Luckily, only one person showed up to my spin class on Tuesday night so I got to cancel it and head out for the TT. Nick, Abby, and Katie all did the 40k, but wanting the LT workout, and to try to break 30min, I went for the 20k. With my legs still achy from the past week and a half, I rode around for a while before the TT to loosen up and get the blood flowing.

When it was my turn to start, I stood up and cranked hard to get up to speed. I pushed just until my legs started hurting a bit, and decided that I could handle that amount of pain for the duration of the ride. While it would have been nice to not get passed, since I had a time in the books, and started in a more appropriate place, I was just too close to the fast guys, and I got passed by mile 5. My more measurable and realistic goal was to at least average 23mph. Nailed it.

Again, like last time, I think I could have pushed harder, or more consistently, but since my Tuesday night bike workout is normally moderate intensity, I don't mind. I'm still happy with how I performed.

Because the cycling workout was harder than normal, and because I was up until midnight catching up with Nick, I skipped this morning's swim workout so I could get a good night of sleep. My plan is to move the skipped workout to tomorrow morning, and to change Thursday's usual swim+bike+run workout to just a bike+run, with the focus being on the run. I want to add a lot more tempo-run type work into my training, because I feel like it'll be the key to sustaining the speed that I'm trying to build with the track workouts.

Gotta love this training game!

Still Fighting It

2011-07-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

This has been one hell of a training cycle. Jumping right back into it after the Ohio State race has been tough. Last weeks workouts were brutal, but felt great because of it. And yet, they've left my muscles more achy than ever before. Its not that I'm physically tired, it just feels like I'm moving slow, even when I'm working hard. Of course, some of the splits show otherwise, but still, this is rough.

Today's swim workout focused on force, anaerobic endurance, and muscular endurance. That meant wearing a regular swim suit for extra drag on top of 5x300 with long breaks, and 5x200 with short breaks. The warm ups was mostly fine, though I think I could have taken it easier. During the second 300 I started thinking about giving up. Of course I didn't, and I suppose the fact that I wanted to give up means I was working hard enough (5b effort). The rest of the workout took a bit of determination to get through, but I did, though I think my overall fatigue may have made the perceived exertion higher than the actual exertion.

I guess what I'm wondering about is if this is a good thing or not. I know you mentioned last week in regards to the swim and run, that sometimes going harder because you feel like you can isn't the best thing to do. I definitely remember Friel stating the same thing. I'm almost wondering if I pushed too hard last week and if I'm paying for it now, or if this is normal for this type of training. My biggest concern is performance in the next race, I really don't want this fatigue to affect that. My plan is to push through this next week, and hope that next week's recovery cycle before the race is enough to get over the fatigue, and get ready for the Evergreen Lake triathlon.

That good kind of hurt.

2011-06-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

As I let you know, Tuesday's swim workout was killer. I took a muscular endurance and an anaerobic workout from Friel's book and wrecked myself in the pool. It felt phenominal, but I almost fell asleep at my internship and then again later in class. Totally worth it. That night was my spin class, as always not too hard, then an easy swim workout Wednesday morning.

And then the track workout Wednesday afternoon. Nate didn't come, so I was worried I wouldn't be pushing myself hard enough, and for the 800s, and I didn't feel like I was, but looking at the numbers, I was still faster than the 800s three weeks ago, even with one extra. I was aiming for a 5:30/mi pace on each one. Came closest on the first two, but held back too much on the first lap of the others. Something I can still work on. This week we measured our rests. Instead of just standing around, we jogged 400 super easy before the next 800. Maybe staying loose helped with the speed.

Either way, with the 800s done, it was time for some speed work. The workout was eight, 20 second all out sprints with 90 seconds of rest in between each. Killer stuff. It felt incredible to push so hard; to not worry at all about breathing; to just muscle through it moving as fast as I can. Everything I've read about proper form made these easier; easier being a relative term. I know I could push hard with my feet hitting and pushing off the ground the correct way. Motivation to keep working on that too.

After the sprints, we layed around on the track for a while, messing with the high jump and what not, then it was a 1 mile jog back to my apartment. Needless to say, even with a great dinner, I was still hurting. Sleep was restless, definitely paying for it.

With my body still recovering from the brutal swim on Tuesday, and the same sort of run yesterday, today I wasn't ready for my typical swim+bike+run Thursday workout. I needed some recovery, so Katie and I planned a 60 mile bike ride from Normal to Washington and back. She got a flat 2.5 miles from the start, so it took a while to get back in town for a new tire (old one was slashed and popped the new tube we put in it. So, running an hour and a half behind schedule, we only got half of the ride in. We took the ride very easy, holding back for one of Katie's friend who is trying to get into road biking. So it was a perfect recovery/endurance ride. Needless to say, I'll have to get that hard swim+bike+run in this weekend.

A great week of training. One more before tapering for Evergreen. Gotta take some more time off my race.

I Feel Great!

2011-06-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

This recovery week thing really seems to be working out.

Monday was the first time I really did an endurance workout in the pool. Easy effort, but with focus on form/ technique, I was swimming faster than normal with much less effort.
Tuesday, still did my speed workout in the pool, but I cut out the muscular endurance work. Again, went fast, and felt great doing it.
Today, I was honestly worried. All morning I was very tired, light headed, and would get winded going up stairs. And like I said, I crashed my bike on my way to the track workout.

But then we did the tempo run a-la Hal. 10 minutes easy, 20 minutes building to race pace (and faster), then a nice cool down. He said we were supposed to feel refreshed after the run. And boy did I. Pushing each mile didn't even hurt. All I had to do was tell myself to go faster, focus a little bit on form, and I was able to take 20 seconds off a mile easy. Though the last bit of the last tempo mile was getting towards pain, I was glad that it didn't hurt. It tells me I've got more in me, that when I do things right, if I don't hold back, I can do some serious damage to my previous times.

Tomorrow is just a workout for fitness maintenenance, to keep the weekly hours up. Nothing more. Then some strides on Saturday before leaving for Columbus and I'll be set for the race. I'm ready. I feel good about it.

Finding Weaknesses

2011-06-19T08:29:00.001-07:00

I owe you a lot of credit. While at U of I, I never realized how much work, sweat, pain, time, energy, etc you put into cycling. Actually being serious about a sport is quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever done.

During the past two weeks, working to fatigue and sometimes through it, I've realized what weaknesses I have. I know saying that I am weak isn't the right mindset to have; I have to work to overcome them.

In swimming, my shoulders and triceps are weak, affecting my pull, and overall efficiency in swimming. In cycling, my quads are weak, it kills me on the hills, and leads to early fatigue. On the run, its my hamstrings and calves. They both start out tight after the bike, and their overall lack of strength again slows me on the hills, but most importantly keeps me from being fast.

Of course, when I'm discovering these things, I'm not defeated, I'm not upset or sad, I'm friggin angry. Again, I have to admit I never realized how hard this is. Doing something well is extremely hard. Its not that those other guys trained more than I did for a specific race and they certainly didn't train harder. Bottom line, they're stronger. They've been at it longer. They probably did track or swimming in grade and high school; they've been building strength for the past ten years.

Again, I don't see this as a disadvantage as my part. There's nothing I can do about it. It just means that I have to train smarter. I've committed the time. I can put in the effort. I just have to do everything right from here on out. The Triathletes Training Bible was a huge suggestion. With its help, I can make this work for me. I'm gonna try my hardest to kick some ass this season, and I've got a lot of strength to gain in the meantime.

I'm gonna start with a run. See you in two hours.

Cool Ride

2011-06-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

Going with the Training Bible's suggestions, today's workout was based on time (3hrs), not distance. Good thing too, because a little bit after the 1/3 of the ride, we came across a bit of a surprise.

The ride started out pretty hard. Kevin and I were late to meet up with Nate, so we booked it to the meeting spot. I had promised a long slow ride to Kevin since it was his first time out in a while. Unfortunately, I hadn't mentioned this to Nate, so when we all got started, Nate booked it, and my first instinct was to keep up with him. Getting discouraged, Kevin turned around. We did too and pushed hard to catch up and convince him to stick around that we would slow down. Not having it, we went separate ways.

So, Nate and I took off again, pushing hard right away to get the heart rate up, then backing off to try and keep it steady. It was a solid ride, nothing speacial, until that point I was takling about earlier. We were passing the parking lot on the south side of Evergreen Lake and saw a couple of tents up next to the Bloomington Cycle van, and another big van. Turns out Ibis was demoing their mountain bikes. Hell yes please!

So we traded in our rode bikes for some mountain bikes. The mechanics switched our pedals over and we were bombing through the trails, awesome. Its decent single-track for sure, not super technical, though there are some turns that you can't take too quick. Tons of fun, and a nice way to break up the road ride. It was almost like an interval workout, sprinting up hills real quick, then coasting on the downs. Even made me think about bringing the Palamino down to school so I can ride the trails every now and then...

After doing two loops of the easiest to access trails, we hopped back on the road bikes and headed back to town. Though the ride time was technically shorter than 3 hours, I was still out for three hours, and with a race coming up next weekend, thats good enough for me. I'm reading the recovery chapter of the Training Bible, and I definitely want to make sure I get enough rest before this race, just in case I've been pushing too hard these past few weeks.

Tomorrow's plan, some light lifting and a two hour run, easy pace, probably zone 3 max. I want to focus on the cardio aspect of it, and I'll probably throw in some hills for good measure, but taking it easy the whole time... FUN!

A Few Good Runs

2011-06-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

I've been consistently running about 20-25 miles a week,trying to seriously hurt myself 2-3 times a week in the form of repeats, tempo and long runs. After the 12 with you 3 weeks ago, the long runs have been a bit of a failure, exhausted by heat, running out of water, they haven't gone well. Tempo on the other hand has been getting better:

On Sunday I decided to do some Bart Yasso style mile repeats. The time period between intervals seemed long, and the warmup and cooldown seemed long too, but there was no walking, so It was plenty painful:
I've never run an 8 mile mile-repeat workout before, but it actually felt great.

I took Monday off, climbed Tuesday and did a 2 mile run afterwards to remind the legs what running was, loosen up, and to tell the muscles to keep storing more gylocogen, which at that point was depleted after 2 hours of hard climbing.

Then Wednesday I decided to do a tempo run. It was cool, and I decided to do a warm up mile and then see if I could get the next 3 under 7:

They big take away for me now is how comfortable I'm beginning to feel in the 6:45-6:55 range. The low-overall mileage (15-30 per week) and copious tempo has been getting me quicker and feeling more comfortable at those speeds. This is a good thing, as I can feel my sub-20 5k coming on soon and a 43 minute 10k as well. If I can get those, and I hear back about my med school deferral soon, I may sign up for a few fall half or full marathons.

One out of Six

2011-06-15T20:34:00.000-07:00

My legs felt heavy from the get go. Too much exercise yesterday, and I pushed too hard this morning too. I warmed up sure enough, but didn't get to stretch since I was late to the workout.

I decided not to use the garmin to dictate pace this time; I wanted to genuinely motivate myself, and maybe try to keep up with Nate. In the first 400, the heavy legs were weighing me down, and I let them. Nate took off from the get-go and I just did my best not to fall too far behind. The next thee sprints weren't great. Each time I held back, wanting to 'pace' myself so I could finish strong. At the end of each one, I knew I held back, I recovered way too quickly. Though my lungs and HR coninue to feel like the limiting factors, clearly I've got a mental war to keep battling through. Either way, I'm happy with the numbers, though I feel like I could/should have pushed harder.

The last 400 does bear specifics though. Knowing it was my last, and realizing that I wasn't making myself hurt, I wanted to really leave everything on the track. The first 200 was hard, lungs burning quickly, though this time, deciding to go as close to anaerobic for as long as possible, I decided not to think about that pain. Instead, it was all about the legs. I could literally feel them pushing harder and kicking faster. It was incredible. Breathing almost didn't matter as it was all about turn over, and pulling myself as quickly through the last 150 as I could. When I crossed the line, I was finally breathing as hard as I should have been after the other sprints. It took me a good minute just to be able to huff out, "nice job" to Nick, and then take a sip of water.

Having gotten further through Triathletes Training Bible, I know I need to do shorter distances to improve speed. Those friggin strides that I keep ignoring. Knowing that I still had something left, I did 4 strides on the way home, each time trying to get back to the feel of the last 400. Not being able to do so further proving the need for this sort of work.

Luckilly I have about 10 weeks until the Conference Championship. Plenty of time to work.

Also, lots of work being done with training plans/goals, I send you that sometime

Magic Number?

2011-06-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

Long story short: I'm looking for distinct, measurable goals that will help me improve my speed.

When programming today's 5x800 workout into the Garmin, I looked back at the Runner's World article about the Magic Number for training. I copied the charthttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif and did some circling to figure out what pace I should aim for with today's 800s. According to the article, I should use a recent race to figure out training numbers. That's all well and fine, but looking at my training numbers from recent workouts show completely different results:
(the blue circle being the 10k from my last triathlon, and the blue/red/yellow circle being the best 10k pace at nationals)

The article says to use the numbers you're at. But I feel like that won't help me improve as much as working harder could. Could harder be too hard and ineffective? Unsure, I checked out Hal Higdon's page again for some more advice. Aside from learning I've been doing tempo runs wrong, I found that speed work does not guarantee a fast race pace. Great.

I decided that running slower than I know I can isn't going to help me get any faster, or learn how to push through pain. So my goal 800 pace was 2:54 splits, right in between my most recent 400 pace and the 400 pace that corresponds with my recent long/easy run pace on the Runner's World chart.

So, the workout: During the first 800, the watch was yelling at me to slow down. Probably good because of my tendency to start too fast and bonk just as quickly. I kept my pace under control, but always pushed hard through the last 100m. The second 800, didn't even hurt that much, at this point I felt like I was selling myself short. The next three proved me wrong. They hurt, a lot. Again, mostly the heart rate and breathing getting the best of me. My muscles hurt, but not like they did during last weeks tempo-ish run, or yesterday's swim workout.

My goal for the next 8:00 work out, will be to at least run at a faster average pace. Again, I'm not sure if I should train where I'm at, or where I want to be. I do think 5 consistent, albeit, possibly slow (considering) 800s is better than 2 really fast ones, and three really slow ones.
Either way, my copy of Triathlete's Training Bible is in. So hopefully I'll have something to tell me everything I've been doing wrong. I'd still appreciate your thoughts though

Learning

2011-06-01T17:01:00.001-07:00

Reasons why today's tempo run didn't go well:
1) I jogged the mile to the track where we met for the run.
2) I pushed the pace too hard from the start.
3) I'm still a wuss
- My mouth and throat were dry from the get-go and were burning by mile 4
- My legs were like lead through mile 4, I kept looking at my watch knowing I had to push harder, but I just didn't have the strength to actually do it.

When I hit mile 4, all I wanted to do was stop. Stomach, mouth, throat, legs, lungs; everything hurt so I stopped the watch and walked for a bit. After walking about 100 yards I knew it was all mental. I pushed myself to finish the run, especially because Nate was still going and I hate looking bad almost worse than I hate being slow. I thought I had the Garmin on for the last mile, but apparently not. Either way it was slow. Even with Nate on the track, I couldn't find the motivation to push harder. I used heart rate instead of pace, trying to keep pushing harder for the next two BPM until I was above 170 in the last mile. I eventually hit 168, but couldn't go higher.

Consolation: though it wasn't as fast as when we went for the tempo run in Minnesota, it was way hotter today. Also, I did a pretty hard swim workout this morning. I fell asleep in the early afternoon and was feeling groggy and lazy right before the run.

At this point I feel like my weakness is cardio. I just can't seem to get my heart rate high enough, or even tolerate it when my HR is kinda high.
Another weakness is muscle strength. I can do low and slow, but hard and fast workouts weaken my legs really quickly.
I want to get faster, and I'm even tempted to sacrifice endurance workouts for more speed work.
Thoughts?

Workin My Way Back

2011-05-25T16:29:00.001-07:00

Ever since the weekend, I've been slowly getting my strength back. I've cut workouts down by half, and I think that's helped me keep training, and get over the flu at the same time.

Monday's swim was pretty good considering. It took quite a deal of motivation to get in the pool, but once I did, I felt pretty good. I decided that after a long warmup, I'd simply do a 1500, cool down, then call it a day. 1000 through the main set, I was feeling solid and picked up the pace, and even sprinted the last 25 yards. I had found a solid groove, and the going felt good. After a quick breather, I started up the cool down, and immediately my arms and legs felt like I'd just finished maxing out on the bench and squats. Ugh.

Tuesday, by the time I was supposed to head to the pool for the morning swim workout, I still felt like crap, just totally exhausted, like whatever virus I had still had a firm grasp on my system. I used the day to get some research done and to put together an awesome Pirates of the Caribbean spin workout for my class that afternoon. Despite resting all day, the spin workout kicked my ass. I was constantly short of breath, and my legs barely had the strength they normally do. It was embarrassing, but the pirate music helped me through it.

Today, again I skipped the swim. Spent my day learning photoshop. I got out to the track, Nate joined, and I think we go a solid workout in. I still felt/feel a little groggy, but I think I'm almost back to where I was before I got the flu. And here's the numbers to show it:
Definitely not perfect, not even great, but I'll take it for now.

I was trying to think of a race you could do, and a reason to get back on the bike. How about a triathlon? There's the Muncie, IN Labor Day weekend Triathlon on September, 3. Its the big event I'm training for since its the conference championship. Just a thought.

Long Weekend

2011-05-22T11:02:00.001-07:00

The gurgling in my stomach during Wednesday's track workout turned into a fully violent case of the flu. I spent that night camped outside the bathroom, not knowing which end was going to painfully erupt next. Graphic enough? Fun! It hurt like hell.

Obviously, I took Thursday off to get better. Friday being my normal rest day, was easy to get away with not doing much. My stomach was and is still all in knots. The most I've eaten in a single day since Wednesday is so Ramen, Saltines, and Gatorade. Not exactly the diet of an endurance athlete.

Never the less, I thought that getting my body moving might help, you know get the blood circulating, heart pumping, juices flowing, all typically good things. Setting out for a long ride yesterday, I barely got 10 miles before I started hurting. At 15 I talked myself into turning around. The whole way back killed. Right after I ate some Ramen, then after a short walk and bumming around all afternoon, I finally felt good by the end of the night, and was able to stomach a few handfulls of peanuts.

Today, thinking the worst was over, I woke up and ate some oatmeal with dried cranberries. Figuring it was bland enough for the still odd stomach. After that and almost a liter of water, I set out for a nice long run. I was aiming for 11 miles on the hilliest route I know. Goal pace, whatever it took to finish. Again, not long into it, just after 3 miles, I felt like I'd spent all my energy. I was totally dehydrated, and pushed until 4.5 and a water break. I stretched out in the park for a little bit, and decided that I'm still just too damn weak from being sick to get right back into endurance training.

After all pros take time off when they're sick right? I'm kind of unsure how to approach training and recovering from the flu at the same time. I definitely don't want to sacrifice the fitness I do have and get soft while I get healthy. Is there a way to train and recover?

Back to the Track

2011-05-18T17:08:00.001-07:00

I got an email yesterday from a grad student interested in the club, specifically in training partners. We e-mailed back and forth and he agreed to come out for my 4x800 on the track.

I jogged the mile there from my apartment, then did some drills and stretching until he showed up. I had all sorts of crazy thoughts running through my head about what this guy was going to be like, and what showed up blew my expectations out of the water. He was a state qualifying swimmer in high school, has been competing in swim since he was five, and ran the water polo club at WIU during his undergrad. Shit.

So the first 800 wasn't bad, 5:58/mi pace, I was feeling pretty good, and even pushed the pace at the end and finished it ahead of him. He said he hadn't done track work in a while, so I thought for a second I'd be leading this workout. The second 800 felt about the same. I pushed a little here, he did there, I finished just behind him at another 5:58. And from there it went downhill. The third, I had some gas, and went straight to the port-a-john after finishing a good 30 yards behind him at 6:20. On the pot I decided, I'd do everything I could to hold on for the last one. When we started, I did just that, I settled in behind him on the track, and pushed hard the first 400 despite my stomach sloshing around. My whole body felt like crap during the last 300, there was definitely a sudden drop in pace because my bowels felt like they were going to explode. But I kept going, I stayed about 30 behind him and kept pushing, but by the end, he had at least 50 yards on me, even though I finished with a 6:08.

So it'll be great to have him around to push me, and to kick my ass around the track and in the pool. Hopefully on the bike I'll be able to get him back every now and then.

Derby Dash 5k

2011-05-10T11:39:00.001-07:00

Well, I haven't posted on here in months, but I thought this was fairly worthy. I've been looking to test my fitness ever since cheering on folks at the U of I marathon, so I looked for a 5k nearby, and low and behold, there was one Saturday morning at 9am, 2 blocks away from the apartment.

So I woke up at 7, ate a PB&J and a cup of tea, wandered over to registration, signed up and got to the start line. It was very convenient.

After the turkey trot debacle, where standing near the 6:30 pace line put us behind 200 walkers, I got up to the start line 3 rows of people back from the leaders....Still....i needed to dodge around people for the first 100 yards. After I settled in around 15th of 380 people, it was just a matter of pacing. I looked down after the first quarter mile and saw I was running a 5:50 pace, so I backed off a bit. Coming through the first mile the time read off 6:26, my watch said 6:30, and since my goal was 20 minutes I was very pleased (needing 6:27s). As per usual, the first mile didn't hurt.

The second mile was another story. I had started moving up as the rabbits lost steam, but I was working hard and the lap pace had me at 6:40's, so I had to focus and step up the effort. I was in 12th at the turnaround, and feeling it. As the second mile came past, I was right back where I wanted to be, right around 6:30.

Starting the third mile I had some more motivation, there was a guy starting to fade and I saw myself with the opportunity to take him. And I did (11th!) not problem, just a quarter mile into the last leg. I was totally alone the rest of the mile, all I could hear was myself breathing, I swear it must have been so loud the race volunteers were wondering what was wrong with me. Still I was closing on one more guy in front of my, so I was focused.

As I neared the end of last mile, I was right on 10th places heels. I was in a ridiculous amount of pain(and lets face it, if you're not in loads of pain at the end of a 5k, you're doing it wrong) but I came around 10th, strode hard into the last 1oth, and finished in what i swear the clock said was 20:07. The official results say 20:12..but who cares. Still missed the mark by a handful of seconds:
http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?pubID=3&rsID=109501

Anyhoo..This weekend I bought myself some saucony fastwitch 4s. I think taking an extra 4oz off each foot should shave those 12 (7) seconds off my time. Those, and some more tempo runs should get me below that pesky 20 min mark.

My first 20k TT

2011-05-03T17:45:00.001-07:00

I've been planning on doing this for ages. Well, for as long as since I knew they existed. On my long rides, I've been riding out to the TT course, riding it, thinking about how I'd approach each part of the course (hills, turns, flats, etc) in order to speed through it as fast as possible.

After my 110 mile weekend, and an overall lack of motivation in terms of working out (so I can get through finals), I finally had a Tuesday night free to go for the TT that a local bike shop hosts.

I had two goals.
1.) To beat our club moderator. Not a "mine is bigger" thing, I just needed some sort of goal, and knowing her ability, trying to beat her would really be pushing myself.
2.) To not get passed up. They start everyone 15 seconds apart, with the slowest person going first. I knew that everyone behind me may be faster, so this goal was a more physical and immediately measurable way for me to get my ass in gear.

In order to get the times right as we cross the finish line, we had to shout out our number in the starting order. I was "24," nice, my age, a solid TV show, something I can remember. But it was out of 30 something, so that meant I had about a dozen or so faster people behind me. Now that's motivation.

When it was my turn to start, I was freezing. It was below 45 degrees, windy, and I was just in bike shorts and a short sleeve jersey. I kept telling myself it was extra motivation to go fast, warm up, get the ride over with, and get back into my car. The timer said go, and I fumbled to get my feet into the pedals, but when I did, I cranked hard, out of the saddle to get up to speed. My heart rate skyrocketed and I was afraid of going out too fast like I still tend to do.

I past the person who started 15 seconds ahead of me. And soon after that the next few people too. By the fourth mile, I didn't have anyone else to catch. From then until the end, my only motivation was my speedometer and the amount of pain I was in. As far as I was concerned, if I didn't feel like crap, I wasn't doing it right. My throat and lungs burned in the cold. My saliva turned to syrup, and the best part was that my legs were too numb for me to realize that they were aching. Looking back on it, I feel like I took the first half too slow, but then again, if I had gone faster there, I might have not had enough energy at the end...

Looking behind myself near mile 10 I saw that there were a couple of riders within a quarter mile. And going up a steep hill, I panicked, thinking I heard someone coming up behind me. I was just psyching myself out, but it helped speed things up. At this point my legs were starting to hurt despite the cold. With my mouth gaping open, gasping for air, spit had started to ooze out my mouth and fly off in the wind. I was in a high gear, cranking hard, reminding myself about the best form possible, trying to maintain a high speed. Then about two miles later, just before the final valley and finish line, it actually happened. Some guy on a top of the line Specialized tri bike crept up behind me. For a second I matched him in speed, but he slowly pulled away as we started heading down hill.

On the way back up, in the last 400 yards to the finish line, I needed to take revenge. No one was allowed to pass me. I at least had to catch him in order to get back. Not caring about an aero position, I grabbed my drops and got out of the saddle. I lunged forward and gave the pedals everything I had. I dropped that freakin hammer that race commentators are always talking about. I shouted to myself "explative this!!!" I started inching up towards the guy's back wheel. When I had it, my calves seized up. But they weren't allowed too. I pushed harder, abusing the bike for everything it would give me. Anyone stronger than I may have bent the frame with the amount of torque I was trying to get out of it. I eventually matched the guy in purple shorts, but you and I both know that wasn't enough. Just a few yards in front of the finish line, I got my wheel a solid foot in front of his and shouted "24!" as I crossed the finish line.

I've never felt so wasted after a race. It was incredible, and I can't wait for the next time I get to do it.

Lookin for Hills

2011-04-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm under the impression that making hills a regular part of my workouts will make me a better runner. I'm pretty sure I've only read good things about them, so unless I'm doing track-workouts, I think I'm going to seek out as many hills as I can. I know of a couple solid places around here, so here's hoping that I won't get sick of them too quickly.

One reason for the hill search is that I know that I really need to improve my form if I'm going to get any faster. At the UD tri you were saying how I don't really run with my knees, so I figure that running hills will force me to do that. With my mind on form, I started out today's run, probably way too fast, but it felt good, so I'm not complaining. I tried to hold onto that pace as I went, and by mile 6, it was taking serious amounts of effort to keep it going. I even felt like I was running faster, but the Garmin kept me on track, and told me that I wasn't going any faster at all. I really tried to push through the last quarter mile too, telling myself that if I ran hard enough I wouldn't have to do strides. But then I felt lazy and did a couple of them anyway. Hopefully I can keep on track with all of this stuff. At this point, I'm the only thing holding me back.

50 miles, I'm happy

2011-04-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

Getting term papers done has taken up the majority of my time, so my workout routine has been pretty much reduced to just teaching spin classes. So two days off of exercising, but eating like I'm in the peak of training was enough motivation to get my but in gear this morning. My Garmin's battery was low, and I didn't realize it until I was already ready to go out for the ride. So while passing the time, I decided to do a couple sets of pushups, leg-lifts, and crunches.

CU Boulder goes for long rides on Saturdays and long runs on Sundays, so I'll definitely try and keep those in my workout routine. Either way, I planned ahead of time on going for a real long ride, I wasn't sure if I'd actually hit 50 miles, but I'm totally glad I did. I probably pushed too hard at the beginning, but that's were the majority of hills were, so I had some fun speeding down them and pushing as hard as I could to get over the next one fast without loosing too much speed. I ate a banana at 25 miles, and a GU at 40, I think those are the only reason I didn't totally crap out. I've read some articles about race nutrition recently, so I'm working on finding that right balance.

Hopefully I'll have the motivation for a long run tomorrow. I'm thinking 10 miles. Then strides. Because I have to get fast. At the same time, I'm not willing to give up the endurance that I've built up, especially since the races last 2.5 hours. So I think my overall plan from here is just to do more short distance speed work throughout the week with the same long runs on weekends, though I'll try and pick up the pace of those too.

New Mantra

2011-04-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

Last night the tri club went to check out the Gamma Phi Circus. I frat of gymnasts that train all year to put on one weekend's worth of shows here at ISU. One of our members does the silks and spanish web... Insane. The fitness and control that those people have with their bodies is truly amazing. So that kicked my but in gear.

I've been a little lazy this week, chalking it up to wanting a solid recovery from nationals before I start killing myself all over again. But the circus, combined with looking at the UC Triathlon Club website was all the motivation I needed.

I went to the pool and pushed... harder than I ever have? At the very least it was close. After a solid warm up, here's the workout:
300yds @ Threshold Pace
100yds Drills
50yds Sprint
50yds Backstroke
recover and repeat x4
I think comparing the 300s to 1200 repeats might be fair. The split on my 4th one was about 4:30. After the first lap, each successive one hurt more and more until the last one felt like my legs and lungs were about to explode... Fun!

The only thing that got me through the last few laps of each 300 was the mantra "If you want to be a champion, you've got to train like a champion." Of course, things like that never sounds as inspirational when the workout is over, but its exactly what I needed/ will need to get to nationals next year. Its gonna be a hard year's worth of training. I like to think I've got what it takes, but its going to require me to dig deeper than I ever have before.

should be interesting

Reverse Taper

2011-04-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

I'm a little unsure about how to train throughout the summer. I'm definitely going to take advantage of the local tri-club's workouts, but this'll be the first time I've really focused effort on fitness maintenance and speed work instead of building endurance.

IT took me a while to figure out what I even ought to do today. Tuesday/ Wednesday were spoken for with spin classes, and I was tempted to do a swim/run brick workout today. Unfortunately, my back is pealing like crazy from the weekend's sunburn, so I decided not to show that off at the pool. Even though I wanted to go to the track for some speed work, I figured I should ease into training since I'm still sore/tired from nationals. So I ended up deciding on a 7 mile run.

Not trying to push myself right away, I was surprised to see a sub 8 split for the first mile. At the same time, it was nice to see, so I made that my goal for the rest of the run. That was probably a bad idea. It hurt. I stopped for a bathroom break at one point, which was nice, but I went way too fast with a downhill + tailwind portion of the run. That took a lot of energy out of me, and everything against the wind was a struggle after that. Trying to make it a temp run in the last mile, I really pushed hard. I'm trying to get more and more accustomed to complete discomfort and the feeling of needing to puke. The end of the run was gut wrenching. But fun, and totally worth it.

USAT Collegiate Nationals Results

2011-04-10T17:29:00.001-07:00

So my official place is 377 out of 595.
I was hoping to pull off top 50% but, I guess I'll take top 64%.
In slightly better news, my bike put me at 323, but that includes grad students, which are taken out of the 377.
Here's my bike with just a little bit chopped off the end:

I'll take it, and use it, and push myself to do way better next time. Tons of room for improvement. After all, I've got to earn this next year.

Interesting workout.

2011-04-02T17:05:00.001-07:00

Today's weather was sunny, so the bike ride was moved as it has been before. All things considered, it was one hell of an interesting workout today.

My morning started at 7:15am when I got up to set up things for the 5k that we hosted. Breakfast was a banana, then at 9, some eggs, potatoes, and a bagle. About 30 minutes later was two more bananas and an apple. Around 1, I met up with the team for a ride. They rode the 12 miles out to Eevergreen Lake, but I threw my bike on my car-rack and drove out there so I could get some open water swim practice in.

It was windy as you can imagine. I'm not even exaggerating when I say there were waves a foot tall. Nevertheless, I squeezed into my wet suit and charged into the lake. It was cold as hell. I barely felt like I could breathe. After a little bit, I turned around and swam back to shore with my head out of the water the whole time. I looked at my watch and saw that I swam for a grand total of 1 minute. Wow. I psyched myself up and ran in again. This time I didn't go balls out. I took my time, getting used to the breathing and my surroundings. This time I actually noticed the biting pain in my feet and arms from the freezing lake water. Again I turned around and ran up on shore, this time stripping off my wetsuit as fast as possible, as if I were in T1. On the bright side, getting the suit off went really well. The big let down is that I was in the water for just over a minute again. At the very least I can take away two things. (1) The water will not be that freezing next weekend. (2) The current and waves will be nearly non-existent since I'll have three waves of swimmers ahead of me. Basically, it can only be better, and I'm looking forward to that.

After a bit of a rest, warming up, drying off, and waiting for the rest of the team to get to the take, I finally hopped on my bike and went out for a lap on the local 20k TT course. I took it pretty easy, riding with our club's faculty adviser so I could get to know the route, and her advice about triathlons as well. After she and the team started biking back to town, I stuck around and did one more lap. The data below is from my solo TT. The last 2 miles got cut off because I didn't hit lap when I stopped and the data was off. Regardless, miles 1 to 5.5 were pretty much all head wind. Then in the last 4 miles, I had to slow to nearly a stop, twice, because of traffic on the roads. I was hoping for better numbers. My legs hurt enough for better numbers. I guess I can blame it on the wind and traffic, but only so much.

The plan between now and Saturday's race: 8 miles super easy tomorrow, just to keep the endurance up, followed by some transition practice. Monday, wil be an medium difficulty, non-stop 45 minute swim, in my wetsuit in the pool, just to get used to it. Tuesday and Wednesday will be my spin classes but I'm pretty much just going to sit there and move the petals without much effort. Then a light jog the day before the race and its Nationals... the excitement is turning to nervousness.

Back Where I Started

2011-03-31T16:24:00.000-07:00

Its taper week #1 of 2, but its also peak training. I've dialed back on volume to focus on intensity and speed. And I'm right back where I started. It was about 12 weeks ago that I started seriously training for triathlons and raced at UD. I'm sure you can remember how incredibly wasted I was at the end of the race. Everything hurt.
I like to think that I've pushed myself harder in this training than I ever have with anything before. And I hope that the results show.
UD Indoor Triathlon vs. Today's Brick Workout
10 min Swim: 590 vs. 650 yards
20 min Bike: 6.72 vs. 8.5 miles
15 min Run: 1.75 vs. 2.1 miles
So the improvements are small, and the bike is really hard to compare, but I can honestly say, that as much as today's workout hurt, the recovery was quick. Water, stretching, banana, chocolate milk; I don't feel like I could hit those same numbers, but I feel like I still have energy. I think that has pros and cons. On the one hand, I'm still not pushing my max (but in a taper that's probably for the best). On the other hand I should be able to go faster, or longer. At this point I'm hoping for both.

From here I hit the taper hard core. This weekend I'm going to focus on transition practices, while still getting in a solid ride, and a nice relaxing 8 mile run. Next week is mostly resting, and teaching my obligatory spin classes...

I'm pumped for nationals. Even if I place at the back of the pack, I've worked my ass off for this. Sure, as always, I probably could have given another 10%, but since its too late to worry about that, I've just got to give this my best shot. In the words of Karl, I'm going to, "go for puke."

Threshold Workout

2011-03-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

I was able to talk Nick and Billy into doing a threshold workout as you suggested. They were skeptic, but I think my enthusiasm won them over. We warmed up on the way out to the farm roads, about 3.5 miles away from camps. We all started off together, but since I was the only one with aero bars, and we were headed into the wind, I soon took the lead, dropping the rest. It was 20 minutes of pretty much solid pain. I was cranking fast and hard to barely get 17 mph. When time was over, I sat up, looked around, and couldn't see either of them in the road behind me. I turned around and sped back, waving my arms and shouting at them to stop when I eventually did see them.
After a short break, it was time for the second set. The tail wind was phenominal. With the help of some small hills, I came close to hitting 32 mph and was thrilled about that. What wasn't so thrilling was the fact that i ran out of road. Though the 8 mile stretch worked for the way out, coming back was just too fast with the tail wind. I had to pull a U-turn and head straight back into the wind for the last 7 minutes of the workout, and it was extremely painful.
What was worse, was the final sprint Nick and I decided to do to end the workout. After both 20 minute intervals, we rested a bit, then did a very short, 1/3-1/2 mile sprint. Nick was pushing hard, so I had to work harder, because I had to beat him. I thought my quads were going to explode, which would only be appropriate because my lungs were already on fire. From the end of the sprint, all the way back my legs were completely sore. But it was so much fun.

Its Not Over Yet

2011-03-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

On yesterday's ride, in addition to Nick and myself, three girls from the Tri Club joined us for the first leg. The original plan was to do the loop by lake Bloomington, then head back to campus and drop off people, pick possibly more up, then do it all over again. Since it was the first ride for some of the group, we took things really easy, and even ended up cutting about 7 miles off of the first leg. Since I was heading out, I didn't mind too much. When we got back to campus, I stretched out a little bit, had a snack, and filled up my water bottle. Though I thought I'd be on my own for the second half, I was surprised to see another new-to-cycling club member ready to go. We ended up doing the same route as the first time, so the ride was probably just under 60 miles. I ended up turning off my GPS since the battery was almost dead, which is fine, because the numbers it was keeping track of were nothing too impressive. Since it was slightly windy, I managed to get a solid workout in by leading the group the whole time, and not really spending too much time recovering. I'm more pleased with the fact that a lot of people are getting into the sport than I am with the ride as a workout, so either way it was a solid day.

Since we moved the ride to Saturday for the sake of the weather, I had to figure out how to get the swim and run in on Sunday. Though I prefer to swim hard and then run myself out of energy on Sundays, the fact that the pool doesn't open until two kinda prevents this. Instead I decided to go for 14 miles early in the morning, so I'd have a little time to stretch out and recover before the swim.

The run was a killer. It started cold, then got windy. When it wasn't windy, it was hilly, and sometimes it was both. I didn't think too much about the pace, except when each mile sounded off. I am definitely pleased with the splits and was glad that I kept it under nines for the second week in a row. I think the reason that I was able to pull of the ride, this run, and still feel good enough for a swim is nutrition. I've been eating like a pig the last two days, making sure my system has every single thing it could possibly need. I'll have to go into diet-ish mode during the week so I don't put on any pounds that'll just slow me down.

I love this sport.

Practice 5k

2011-02-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hal Higdon's Training program had Ameena and I both racing a 5k this weekend, but since it's a little too early for that in the season, we decided to make up a course and have a mini 5k time-trial anyway. We decided a point to point would be more fun than an out-and-back, so we drove her car to other side of Springfield Lake and raced back. I started off, way too fast, but I didn't want to back it off too quickly, so i eased into the pace I wanted. After about 1.2 miles, I came up a slight hill and felt like I was gonna die, I felt like lead from head to toe, and just continuing was a struggle. But I eased off the pace a little, focused on form and breathing, and I was able to keep going.

I was only 30 seconds or so off the turkey trot pace, so considering it's still so early in the season and the training cycle, I'm pretty pleased.

Also, I should note that In Garmin's eyes. I finally went for a "run"and not a "slow run"

5xUgh

2011-02-22T10:18:00.000-08:00

I'm glad to hear you're running is going well! I'm sure you'll get that BQ pace at the Illinois Half without a problem.

I think I may need to scale back weekend training. Even with Sunday off, and a relatively easy day in the pool yesterday, my interval workout was killer. It may have something to do with the below freezing weather, but my legs were sore all over, especially in the hips. I tried some high knees and butt kickers to loosen things up, but they only helped so much. Actually, my legs felt pretty good by the fifth interval, but I'm guessing by that point, by body was in some sort of denial about the pain, plus I was going pretty slow, so that helped too. Anyway, it was hard, but good to be outside. Considering these intervals were slower than the winning pace at last year's nationals, I've got a long way to go.

Third Time

2011-02-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

I woke up and my hamstrings were pretty achy. Not sore, just stiff and uncomfortable. I tried stretching them out a bit, but it didn't seem to help much. I spent the morning getting hydrated and not eating much for breakfast. After a huge and slightly unhealthy dinner last night, I continued the gorge by getting some pizza with the triathlon club. Because of all the calories last night, I thought I'd be able to make it through all of my workouts today without a solid breakfast. I need to stop being stupid about things like that.

I subbed a spin class first, not too difficult of a ride, but I was definitely still tired and some people in my class said it showed. After a long break and some stretching, it was time for the swim workout. Intervals. Yay. It was hard. Nick was very encouraging, but I was still very exhausted and short on energy. After the swim. I raced back to my dorm to change, eat an apple and banana, then down a bottle of powerade. The sugars helped quite a bit, because riding was pretty great.

Maybe it was just being on the bike that was so incredible, or maybe it was the intense amount of endorphins that were likely running through my system. Either way, the ride was phenomenal. It hurt, a lot, but Nick and I took turns in the lead to break the wind. On the way back, even though we were going quite a bit more slowly, it still hurt. Thinking a sprint was a great idea, I decided to leave every small bit of energy I still had, out on the road. It wasn't a super long sprint, about a third of a mile I guess, but I was psyched to hit 27.6 miles per hour. It was glorious. And after quickly changing again, it was time for another huge meal.
I can't wait to spend all of tomorrow laying around and not exercising.

Too Nice to Rest

2011-02-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

Today's weather, perfect. Tomorrow, same. Sunday, crap. Even though I was exhausted from yesterdays workout (20 min swim, 25 minute ride, 20 minute run), I just had to do a little bit of rescheduling. I sent out a mass text, and the workout was on. Saturday's long run was being moved to today, and Sunday's long ride will be tomorrow.
The other guys I ran with were all exhausted too, so despite the intimidating distance goal, the pace was going to be nothing but relaxed. With the Constitution Trail finally clear of melted snow, we took advantage of the ultra flat route, and coverage from the wind. Once we ran out of Trail to run on, Travis and I took to my favorite 7mile route while the others headed home. The wind was brutal in miles 6 and 7, but it helped make it more of a workout than just a nice long easy run.
We came up short on distance, so we headed over to the school track to work in an extra two miles. A high school track team was out there working on relay hand-offs, and that helped make the circles a little more entertaining.
The other big thing about today's workout is running form. Travis has got it. Quick cadence, mid-foot strike, relaxed upper body, I did my best to copy this while we were out there, but my own shoddy form kept creeping back. I definitely still have running things to be working on. Otherwise, I feel great!

Revenge

2011-02-15T10:11:00.000-08:00

Today's run was my turn to kick some ass. (Take that wind!) Even though the wind was blowing at about the same speed, I managed to get a really solid workout in. I spent most of my time running perpendicular to the gusts, but going straight into the wind was unavoidable. If I cared more I would have made all of my south bound mileage during the warm up part of my workout when I'm less concerned about speed, but on the other hand, it was tons of fun to push as hard as I could. Definitely a tempo run. With more speed work like this, hopefully I'll be able to improve the running portion of my triathlons.

Relentless

2011-02-13T22:32:00.001-08:00

I practically flew through the first 10 miles. It was phenomenal.
But all of those miles were going straight in one direction. Right before I turned east, something occurred to me, I'd had a tail wind the whole time. Even though I only went a short mile before turning north again, the site of my face with a blast of wind in it practically felt numb.
I had two miles of riding due south, into the wind around mile 16. It was brutal. The aerobars barely seemed to help, I chugged along like I was 90 years old and out for a tour around the neighborhood. When I hit the turn around point, I thought about cutting the ride short, heading back early while I still had some strength to get through the 8 miles straight into the wind that I knew would be brutal. But, stubborn and overambitious, I had to get a full 43 miles in. So I did. And it was so hard.
There are probably better ways to describe the wind, but I like 'relentless.' It never seemed to ease up during those 8 miles back into town. I thought about climbing off my bike and walking for a while. I thought that maybe I could even run as fast as I was riding (of course, there's no way in hell that I could have). I thought mostly about calling for a ride home. Every time I saw a car, I secretly hoped they'd offer me a lift back to town.
The music helped the most. I know an mp3 player while riding isn't a good idea, but it is the only reason I stayed on that bike the whole way back. I doubt you'd have been able to hear me singing over the howling wind, but I was belting out the lyrics to "I believe in a thing called love" and other crazy songs.
At the end, my legs felt like jello. I ate a ton of food. It was glorious. I wouldn't want the ride to have gone any other way.

Spring Comin Early

2011-02-12T15:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's rest day wasn't as effective as it should have been. The Tri-Fit Challenge that ISU is hosting (complete the distance of an Ironman over 3 weeks) had a swim clinic last night, so I went to get some pointers about my stroke technique. Though I didn't end up swimming very much. The more efficient stroke did call for use of muscles that I'd previously been leaving out. My shoulders were quite a bit more achy during today's swim workout than they normally are. But it was just a 45 minute swim, and I feel like I got a great workout in. When the swim ended, I had 15 minutes to "transition" to the club run that meets out on the quad. I nearly had to sprint to get there on time, which ended up not making a difference, because only Nick showed up, and he was running late too.

Since he knows better running routes than I do, he led us around town and tried to stay slow so we could run together. The first 7.5 miles actually flew by, probably because of the new route, busy streets, and having someone to talk to on the run. Not feeling super, he ducked out at 7.5 miles, so I slowed town and trudged out the last 4.5 miles. The worst part was the last bit of mile 9, running straight into the wind. It definitely drained me of energy, and I was extremely thirsty for the rest of the run. Amazingly enough, even though I didn't plan out the route, just making it up as I went along, mile 12 ended right outside the front door to my dorm. The last quarter mile hurt, a lot, running into the wind again, but it was one of those runs that was just great over all because of how exhausting it was. I have to admit that even though I'm focused on triathlons, I still really like long runs.

Runnin in the Snow

2011-02-02T12:26:00.001-08:00

The student fitness center was closed today so I had to get some sort of exercise. I talked three other guys on the triathlon club into going out with me. We ran in the streets for the majority of it since the sidewalks had huge drifts on them. The best/hardest part was the lap we did around the school track which had 3-12 inches of snow, depending on where the wind had blown it... Tons of fun.

Triathlon Training: Week 2

2011-01-29T13:29:00.001-08:00

Its exhausting. I feel great when I'm exercising, the workouts are great. I can feel myself getting stronger in the pool, and the comments people give me about how they are sore and exhausted after spin classes mean that I'm doing something right. On the other hand, going to and from class sometimes feels like a death march. There are moments during some classes where all I can do is fall asleep. I eat a ton, a couple plates of food, and a bowl of cereal at my two meals each day, plus fruit throughout the day, enough fruit to supply a Planet Smoothie, campus dining services has to be loosing money on me.

Thursday's workout was rough. 20 minutes of biking, 15 minutes of swimming, and then 20 minutes of running, all in a row, each harder than the one before it. Again, my pace was slow on the track, but the worst part was that, walking into the student fitness center, I didn't feel like I had any energy at all. Of course, once I got my legs cranking on the bike, I felt great, but still, the swings in energy are rough. Yesterday's rest day was great, though I ate enough food for two people at every meal. I felt like I should hold back on my day off, but since the weekend workouts are all three hours long, I felt like carbing up was the better idea. And it must have helped.

Today's run was incredible. The hills were horrendous. By the last mile, Travis and I were walking up the steepest ones. As if trail running weren't hard enough, the inches of snow and conversation made a 10:40 pace feel like 8:00s. And yet, just because I have to, after the run around the lake, I did a couple of strides at the end. After the 45 minute car ride back, I jumped into the pool and did my best at a serious interval workout. It was rough. The warm up was brutal, and my stomach was totally unsettled by the Snickers bar I'd eaten about five minutes before (hey, they were great for energy on the AT, and I'd run out of fruit). Eventually my stomach did settle and I was able to get some solid sprints in. By the end of the 45 minute workout, my back muscles were tweaking and I knew it was time to get out of the pool. Hopefully I'll be able to get enough rest today to kick the ass of tomorrow's 43 mile bike ride and 6 mile run.

Ugh, time for a nap.

Week 3... or 1

2011-01-20T12:07:00.000-08:00

Depending on how you look at it, this is either my third or first week of training. On one hand, I've been taking spin classes, swimming, and doing a bit of running for the past three weeks. On the other hand, this is the first week of intensive triathlon training. Needless to say, I'm beyond pooped.

I followed the schedule pretty much to the T and here's what my HR results look like:

I know that resting is a vital part of any training program, but as of right now, I know I'm not getting enough sleep. Early classes don't help, but the worst part is I'm just not sleepy by the time I go to bed. If only it was acceptable to get my 8 hours of sleep in the middle of the day when I actually feel exhausted.

I separated the Tuesday and Wednesday workouts, one in the morning, one at night. Maybe that's one reason I'm not sleeping well, I suppose the evening workouts could get my body revved up when I have no where to go. Hopefully, this weekend I'll be able to get a lot of sleep in. In the mean time, I'm just trying to stay off my feet as much as possible while I am awake. In addition to that, I eat a crap ton of food, so hopefully my body has all it needs, except for sleep of course.

Its gonna be a fun weekend, so here's looking forward to that!

Recovery Run

2011-01-17T09:24:00.000-08:00

After this weekend's triathlon, I'm feeling super motivated to get fast. Since I have 4 weeks until OSU and 12 until Nationals, I feel like I should be able to improve quite a bit. I'm reworking my training schedule to be almost entirely triathlon focused (I'd still really like to run something at Illinois this April). I'm using Sally Edwards suggestions, and anything else I can find and should have something soon.

Even though today should have been a swim workout (accoriding to the yet unfinished training plan) I had to go for a run because the Fitness Center was closed for the holiday. Travis and I went out for an easy 7 miler that ended up being pretty hard. Sure the pace was slow, but adding a constant conversation was more than I was used to. Additionally, mile 4 was all into a pretty strong wind, and I woke up still kinda sore from the triathlon & climbing. After the run I got in some strides, and then a quality breakfast right after streatching. Hopefully this will be a good start to a strong training program.

And my knees say, "ouch"

2011-01-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

Woke up still a little sore from Friday's class, and probably from the added stress of yesterday's run too. Regardless, I gnawed on the stale bagel I swiped from the dining hall the night before and spent two hours sitting around while the food digested.

I felt a little overdressed at the start of the run. The sun was out and radiant heat helped warm the legs and arms. One mile into it, I took of my hat because my head was so warm. I nearly took my gloves off at mile 5 because I could feel them sweating, but since I'd prefer stinky gloves to frozen hands, I left them on. When hit 5.5 miles and turned around, I found out why I was so warm. I hadn't realized it, but the wind had been at my back the whole time.

The last half of the run was a bit of a struggle, but not too bad. Either the bagel hadn't been enough, or I waited too long to run, either way, my stomach felt completely empty and was growling for food the whole time. It probably didn't help that I didn't carry a water bottle, but I didn't think that'd be a big deal since its so cold and I'd be running so slow. Even though my splits slowed down a bit throughout the run, I'm glad they did. Gotta take these long runs nice and slow so I don;t get burnt out. I definitely want to avoid shin splints or other problems again. I'm going to focus quite a bit more on nutrition this time around, so hopefully that'll help with injury prevention too. Sitting down to write this post, my knees were screaming quite a bit. They've calmed down now, and hopefully won't give me any trouble the rest of the day.

Not bad though

2011-01-08T07:14:00.000-08:00

Hal said to just go out at a comfortable pace today. Since I woke up very achey from yesterday's fitness classes, that seemed like a wonderful idea. Apparently it was 6 degrees out when I started my run, so I put on all of my cold weather gear even though it was only 5 miles. We got a couple inches of snow here last night, so I slipped a few times and had to jump through a couple of drifts as well. Over all I was very happy with the pace. I possibly pushed too hard, but it felt good. Since tomorrow's long run will probably be just as cold, I'm definitely going to take advantage of the long slow run pace. Hopefully that'll go just as well as today did.

Not great, I know

2011-01-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

A summary of midweek training for week 2:

I was going to say "marathon training" which technically it is, but I've also been training to be a spin instructor, and for triathlons. That said, I feel a little less bad, but still slightly disappointed that my workouts have deviated so much from Hal's plans.

Monday: cross training. No problem, did a spin class. Wore my HR monitor and averaged 148bpm for the 57 minutes of warm up, class, cool down, and stretching.
Tuesday: run 3. Nope, did another spin class. Averaged 152bpm but didn't include stretching.
Wednesday: run 5. Not even close. Did a spin class in the morning averaged 148bpm, then practiced my spin class in the afternoon and averaged 152bpm.
Thursday: another run 3. Another spin class at 135bpm, then swimming for a half an hour.
Friday: Supposed to be a rest day, hah, I wish. I had to work at campus rec, and part of this was two 45 minute strength and cardio fitness classes. My quads were burning and my core is aching.

Hopefully tomorrow's 5 and Sunday's 11 will go well.

Going forward from here, I'm planning on continuing dropping some midweek runs for extra cross training. I'll make sure I get in all of the speed work that Hal calls for, but in the mean time I'm going to try and work on my skills on the bike and in the pool. Plus, once I get a new front tire, some pedals and shoes, Its gonna be hard to stay of the bike. Yes, I know this isn't ideal for marathon training, but since I'm just going for sub 4 and not a BQ, I think I'll be alright.

Treadmill Workout

2010-12-16T15:07:00.001-08:00

Since I won't get in shape by laying around and relaxing after finals, I decided to decompress with a nice little run. It snowed quite a bit last night and I left my pants at home, so the treadmill was the way to go. Yahoo.

I decided a nothing too intense would be the best way to go. But then I started getting a little bored and decided to crank up the incline just for fun. I got all the way to 5 before I felt like I may slip off the machine. Trying to make the best of the hill, I backed off slowly, going down 0.5 after counting to ten-one-thousand in my head. So that was fun. I finished up that mile at the slow 9:30 pace that I started with. A little bit of boredom later, I cranked up the treadmill to a 6:30 pace for a quarter mile. I tried to focus on quick turnover, that magical 180 cadence that they talk about on goodformrunning.com. After another slow recovery from that, I did the hill thing again, this time cranking it up 0.5 after every 15 seconds. I went back down after I got to 5, I think. After that it was a nice cool down.

Compared to yesterday, I don't feel nearly as wasted, but my back is about as achey. I think posture is improving significantly though, so I suppose that's the better thing.

I Need to Get in Shape

2010-12-15T13:51:00.000-08:00

Two and a half weeks until the 18 week marathon training program starts for Illinois.
Four weeks from today is my first spin class.
Four days after that is my first indoor triathlon.
I need to get into shape.

The Student Rec Center did free fitness classes this week, so I brought half the tri team to a spin class yesterday. They all really seemed to like it, and they're on board for the classes I'll be teaching next semester, so the pressure is on to have good classes. I'll sort of feel responsible for their cycling form and endurance, at least until warmer weather and the outdoor season starts.

So I went for a run today, on a treadmill, and oh-my-god its been a while. Sure I did seven outside a week and a half ago, but the 3.5 inside today felt really hard. Sure I hadn't eaten, and I'd already been to PT, but that's no excuse. 3.5 shouldn't make me feel the same way 12 used to. But there was one very bright side. Because of PT the muscles I've been working on strengthening were kind of sore. While I was running, and trying to maintain proper form, having these sore was fantastic. I feel like I know how to engage them now, and I even felt like I was carrying myself the way the pros do. Or at least as close as I can at this point.

I'll probably try and get another few miles in tomorrow, and start working on building my endurance back up. I already have a holiday gut, so its time to start working that off if nothing else.

Group Run

2010-12-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

According to the tri club workout schedule, we're supposed to have a group long run every Sunday. I can't be exactly certain, but I'm pretty sure that this is one of very few runs that actually had more than one person this semester. Either way, there were six of us that decided on a 6-7 mile run. Not terribly long, but no one really has been training since the Chicago Marathon. There were a few stops when we debated about exactly what route to take but otherwise we kept a pretty solid pace throughout the run, especially for not having run that distance for quite a while. That said, it did hurt. I'm sure it had more to do with me being out of shape than it did with the cold, but I was close to getting side cramps during the first few miles. Just after mile 3 two people dropped out, not feeling well and the rest of us decided on getting 4 more miles in. We took a route I've never done before, it took us around a lake on the West side of town. There was a huge flock of geese dominating the path, but after a little bit of shouting the waddled out of the way. On the way back everyone picked up the pace a little bit and it was at this point that my legs began to feel really heavy. I felt like I could have gone on a little more, but probably not much. Best part was, my shin and shoulder felt fine throughout the run and after as well. My knees were really stiff at the end. Oh well. I'm excited to get back into running. Reliving the Melbourne training ought to be fun!

A little bit of training

2010-11-22T06:33:00.001-08:00

My shin felt fine again three days after the 5k. Since the Turkey Trot is coming up, I decided that getting some training in might be a good idea so I can keep up with you and Karl. He told me last night that the slowest one of us buys the beer. Noted, and don't think I won't be doing something about it.

Last Wednesday I did a 50 min spin class then jogged a mile to see if my shin was OK.
Then Thursday, I went to the dorm fitness center for more biking, but there weren't any so I ended up running for a half hour then doing a little bit of core work.
When I got home on Saturday, after talking with dad for an hour or so, the two of us went for a three mile run. Just really relaxed, about a 10min pace I think.
Yesterday, after lunch, I did the 3.5 loop with the following splits. 7:50, 7:24, and 7:44. I don't know what the pace of the last 0.5 was, but I'm sure it was slow.

Anywhoo, my shin has felt fine through all of this, and hopefully it'll continue to feel that way. Who knows.

My First 5k

2010-11-14T15:17:00.000-08:00

This run was such a crazy adventure I think it deserves a post on Brickfeet. So for now, here's the data:

More later.

Indy Monumental Marathon

2010-11-07T16:41:00.001-08:00

So I'm pretty thrilled about how the marathon went yesterday. 3:38:22 is a result I can definitely say I'm proud of, which is what i was after in deciding to run the race.

Still...a lot of factors played into the fifteen minute difference in time, both positive and negative:
- fatigue from the first marathon
- 40 degrees colder at Indy
- 1 week taper (as opposed to 3)
- gained fitness from Chicago?
- gained fitness from the 20 miler the week before?

A lot of common knowledge type assumptions say that Indy should have been significantly slower than Chicago, due to fatigue from the first marathon, and the much shorter taper. But that goes assuming that the limiting factor in my training was recovery, and not training.

Anyhoo, there's a lot to think about. But knowing what went right, and what went wrong is still probably a few races, discussions, and some digestion time away. As of right Now, i'm just happy with my result:
http://imm.onlineraceresults.com/individual.php?bib=796

And my GPS Data:

The Spikes in Pace correspond to my 2 bathroom breaks, and the regular fluctuations are the water feeds. There are some definite distortion of the altitude data due to the buildings at the start, as well as the finish, which probably account for the extra mileage in those laps. I highly doubt i ran an extra .07 miles during that first mile due to not being on the tangents, it was probably closer to .01, like the other miles.

Anyways, i'm really happy with this. The only question I have is whether or not i could have run even faster during chicago if the weather had been better!

Smells like Cookies

2010-10-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

Around mile 4, right past prince crossing, I swear there's a cookie factory. Every time I run by it smells like chocolate chip cookies, and for about 10 minutes after, it's all I can think about.

Anyhoo, as the marathon is a week away, I moved up all my runs because Hal's plan is for a marathon on sunday, and Indy is on saturday. That meant 20 today, and honestly, it was the easiest 20 miles I've ever run. I'm not sure if it was the chilly temps, 20oz gatorade i brought with, or just increased fitness, but the last few miles were far from a slog, in fact i felt i had a kick in me.
Afterward, with a nice stretch, two glasses of chocolate milk and some homemade fried rice (i can make some wicked fried rice now) I actually don't feel that spent. This is a really good thing, because I need to be at a wedding in 90 minutes. So , with that, gotta run!

P.S. I like the updates to the site! We gotta think about the next race we want to do!

Easy Half

2010-10-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well, easy half marathon, and last half of the run. Started out like balls, felt aweful. Then it started to rain, and for some reason I started to feel better, go figure. Anyhoo, got my 2 hour run in per Hal's 4 weeks between training plan, i think yesterdays run took a lot out of me. I figure it's all right, I might as well have a large training load now, and ease off the next two weeks.

Hopefully that works out.

BQ pace

2010-10-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

So after reading through your last few posts, I was inspired to go try and run a BQ pace. Well.... it was far from premeditated. It was cold out, and I started running at a good clip, not looking at my watch until the first mile split announced itself with the usual beep. I decided to shoot for the BQ pace after I looked down and saw 7:08.

The first 3 miles went really well. The fourth and fifth were a challenge, but I really only felt it in my legs. So, i just focused on my form, kept pushing, and the spits stayed solid. As I turned north on timber ridge trail, I gained a tailwind, but even though I felt fast, my pace slowed, and attempts to pick it up didn't work. As I crossed the road onto the last mile, I almost felt like hurling, but I managed to hold down my breakfast.

Needless to say, I need to get a lot faster before I'll be able to do that another 19.2 miles. losing some more weight would probably help too.

Tomorrow..2 hours, 16-ish miles.

Like Donkey Kong

2010-10-21T12:33:00.001-07:00

..thats right. It's on.

I'm loving reading your reent posts about your tempo, pace and track workouts. I think "shit, thats fast, I gotta run faster than that next time". Not that I'm competitive or anything...

So with that in mind, I went out for 7 yesterday, 3 today barefoot. I'm not sure if it was the wind, or the 4 15+ mile days backpacking in the UP, but I felt a little sluggish starting out. Then as I turned left at Prince crossing, I started kicking up the pace. I personally think mile 4 was faster, there's some weird blip on the Garmin file where i was apparently running 10's, that never happened. Oh, well, I'm satisfied with the run regardless.

Anyhoo, Gotta find an excuse to come down to blo-no and run with you.

9 Under 8

2010-10-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

Monday night, as I figured out today's schedule, because of meetings and studying, I figured I wouldn't have time to run in the morning. Since I had an exam at 3:30, running in the afternoon seemed like a great way to blow off some steam, relax, and stop thinking about school for a bit. I don't know if it was stress relief, or being awake for a while, or the super healthy-delicious lunch, all I know is that when my first split was 7:51 I thought to myself, "sweet, but no need to go crazy, lets back off a bit." Then came mile two, and three, and I as wondering how long I could keep it up. And then instead of just wondering, I decided to see if I could keep it up. I guess I really don't have any more excuses to wuss out, I gotta push the pace when I can. I was secretly hoping my splits would be Boston qualifying, but, alas, I'm still more than thirty seconds away, hah, not even close.

All I know is that I'm gonna keep things up from here. Eating the way I am, stretching the way I am, running the way I have been, it all seems to be working rather well. So even though my brain constantly aches from staring at books and computer screens for 12 hours every day, its nice to know that I'm doing well with the running.

Experience

2010-10-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

I think now I'm comfortable with calling myself a runner. Even though I haven't run short distances races, it seems like I've got a decent amount of experience at this point. Thinking about yesterday's 9 at race pace, and today's 12, each time I was able to go out an run by feel. I did check splits on my watch, but other than that, my speed was pretty much determined by how hard the running seemed to be. I don't think I would have been able to do that a year ago while we were training for Detroit. Of course, I can't call myself terribly competitive since I'm rather slow, but I think that is something that even more work and training can help me to achieve without a problem. Maybe my first marathon would have been better if I'd been running for this amount of time when I started training for it. But of course, without having had the marathons as training goals, I doubt I ever would have built up mileage or even run half as much. So that's what I thought about during the first few miles this morning. The interesting part, is that despite this experience, I still make some of the same, stupid decisions while running.

By mile 4 I knew I was going to need a bathroom stop before I was finished with the run. Passing a port-o-john a few hundred yards later, I thought that I'd be fine and be able to make it the neary 3 miles before I passed it again on my way back. For some reason I can't take my own advice; if you think you have to, you should. When I was just a little over a half mile away, I had to stop and walk for fear of leaving a stinky brown trail on the sidewalk. Of course, I eventually started running again, and got there, but was very uncomfortable for quite some time. Got a little dehydrated again, but waterfountains along the trail helped with that. And then for some reason, after the bathroom break, my shorts started chafing me. Yahoo for running.

Race Pace?

2010-10-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

I think I'd like to be able to run my next marathon at an 8:30 pace. 9:10s seemed like selling ourselves short in Melbourne and since you got through the training for 8s I think my decision seems pretty logical. That being the case, I did today's pace workout at the prescribed pace.

My stomach was a little full from the substance-free tailgate I volunteered at, but a few burps in the first mile helped that stop bothering me. It all went rather well, except mile five was pretty much all stright into the wind. Once I got onto the sheltered path again, it felt really bizarre not having to push really hard to keep going at that pace. Though after that bit of harder running, my mouth got really dry, and I was definitely beginning to get dehydrated. I got some pretty bad cotton mouth, probably from the little bit of drinking last night, and the lack of water all morning at the tailgate. Either way, it was a good enough run, and hopefully tomorrow's 12 will go just as well.

Booted

2010-10-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

Yahoo for track workouts. I tried to do a little reading on the subject this morning so I could get the most out of the track workout. I need to learn how to push myself harder. I think I was too concerned with finishing the entire workout instead of getting the most out of each of the six 800s. My legs never really hurt, but breathing was certainly hard at time. Halfway through the third 800, I got booted from the track. True, I just assumed I could use the middle school track while classes were in session, but I hoped that it was a little to chilly for gym classes to be outside. From there I decided to finish the workout and took the repeats to the streets, where hills and traffic made it a little harder.

Splits wise, I'm not terribly thrilled by the numbers I posted. I definitely could have run faster, though I think having someone faster along for me to chase down would have helped, like those mile repeats we did on the School of Mines track. On the bright side, there are only two more track workouts in this training program, by then it'll definitely be too cold. Or, I can do what I probably should have done today and just use the university track, if its open.

Its all in [my] head

2010-10-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Four miles on the training schedule, nice and short, its about time I throw on those new shoes and see what neutral trainers feel like.

It's been raining all night and the weather was a little chilly. Since I forgot my long-sleeve running shirts at home, I slipped on my gloves before starting the run. Right after I hit the start button, I was almost sprinting. Maybe it was excitement about the shoes, maybe it was the intensely deep sleep that I got last night, maybe it was the desire to see how fast I could do a short run since I haven't done any yet; no matter what it was, I had to slow myself down. I didn't want to get a mile or two into it and completely crap out.

I picked a loop route that was supposed to get me door to door with the exact mileage. There were some uphills at first, and some downs at the end which more than helped the splits turn out the way they are. I was a little surprised at the time of the first mile, but even more so for the third. I felt like I was slowing down, the heart rate was beginning to hurt, but I guess the down hill helped more than I thought. Seeing 7:14 for mile 3 was all the motivation I needed to run even faster. During the entire last half mile, I felt like I could barely breathe. During the last 0.15 of the mile I thought I was going to vomit. With a tenth to go my average pace was just a couple seconds above 7. Hell yeah. Hopefully I will have energy for a solid track workout tomorrow.

Pain, Back

2010-10-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I tried a heat wrap to soothe my back pain and hopefully increase circulation. However, all it really did was make my back even more stiff. Today, oddly enough, my back hurt on the other side. A sharp, cramp like pain near where the lat starts near the external obliques. I stopped at 4.75 to stretch it out, but that just hurt like hell. Luckily enough, the pain went away for a few miles and din't return until 7.5ish.

It was a new route today too. Running along some sidewalk-less roads wasn't terribly fun with the amount of traffic, but its better than not running at all. I'm not super pleased with the splits, but they can't all be amazing.

Heating Up

2010-10-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

Despite the frigid temperatures that we had in Blo-No this past weekend, its been getting pretty nice around here the past two days.

I moved runs around this week to accommodate the endless schedule of classes, meetings, and jobs, so today was my chance to squeeze in an 8 miler. It started out really rough. My legs were still tight from yesterday, my ankle was beginning to bother me again, and the shoulder hurt more than it ever has at the start of a run. A mile into it, not much had changed, pain was still there. In an attempt to focus, and clear my mind, I corrected my form in a once-and-for-all decision, and immediately the run improved. The pain soon faded, I was able to get a lot of thinking done about the tri-team, and my pace improved immensely.

I'm sure it was just grogginess and lack of blood flow that slowed things down during the first mile, and thats the price to pay for early runs.
Yay running.
Oh, I'm using Hal Higdon's advanced 1 and am on week 8.

Trouble with Tempo

2010-10-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

Needless to say, this run didn't go as well as I'd hoped it would. A little tired, legs a little sore, and a lot of things on my mind, it was hard to really focus on this run. My mind kept bouncing to and from form, proably one reason why my pace is so bouncy around the 8 minute mark. Plus there's the fact that I don't really know what my fast pace for a tempo run should be since I've never really run a race shorter than a half-marathon. Excuses aside, it still went pretty well, it hurt a lot, so I know I was doing something right. Hopefully I'll be able to get plenty of rest today before tomorrows 8 miler.

Cake Walk

2010-10-03T13:30:00.001-07:00

If I'm going to run that December marathon, then today was supposed to be 16. I snagged a bagel and some bananas from the dining hall last night so I'd have a pre-run breakfast. The bagel didn't sit well, they never do, but either way I was able to get out the door about an hour and a half after I woke up.

Per the advice of Sir Halingdon Higdon, I kept it slow and comfortable. My hamstrings were a little tight from the day before. I didn't stretch after yesterday's 7 and there was a lot of walking around afterward at the apple orchard. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling tip-top when the ran began, but two miles into it, I hit a solid groove and felt like I was on cruise control.

I had mapped out a nice loop on map-my-run, but I missed the turn due to the multiple names problem that streets often seem to have. CH 29 online is apparently CR 1800 or Towanda Barnes road in real life. Would have been nice to know. So I ended up doing an out and back, continuing to head straight east on farm roads, through what turned out to be some pretty gorgeous countryside. There were even a few hills which added to the fun.

Turning around was fine/fun but at mile 13 I felt like a bathroom break was going to be necessary. Luckily, Bloomington-Normal happens to have plenty of parks with port-o-johns and water fountains so I got to leave a nice steaming pile of releif at 13.5. Seriously, steaming, its been pretty cool around here lately, so that was fun. The run got more and more painful as I closed in on the end. My stomach was ferociously growling for some sustenance. I guess one GU and 16 ounces of water to keep you filled during 16 miles of running. So after some quick but thorough stretching I went straight to the dining hall and devoured a banana and blueberry topped waffle and washed it down with some chocolate milk. Not bad.

Post-Europe Recap

2010-10-02T09:44:00.001-07:00

The weekly mileage is a little off from Hal's plan, because he calculates Monday to Sunday, and Garmin calculates Sunday to Saturday. Still it's been a good 6 weeks of training:

It's crazy to look ahead at the last week now before the race 8miles, 3 miles, 4x400's, 2 miles, rest, rest, 2 miles...then 26.2 on 10-10-10

Shizzam!

2010-10-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

A phenomenal run.

I got up at 8 so I'd be ready to run with some people on the Tri Team at 9. It was pretty cold and windy outside as I waited on the quad for the others to arrive. When it was 5 after the hour and no one showed up, I decided to head out on my own.

Because of the wind I decided to start out on the Constitution Trail since it's pretty sheltered. I was running into the wind, but it wasn't so bad, my pace stayed pretty solid. After a mile I turned West, running across the wind, and mostly off sidewalks until mile 3. Even though that third mile was up a slight incline, I was surprised to see I was closing in on eights. Though the flatulence was probably an additional propellant at that point, yay beer farts!

Mile 4 was south bound, down hill with the wind behind me. Because the cold weather helped cool my body down, that was probably the easiest 8:12 mile I've ever run, and things only got better. I was thoroughly surprised to see a sub 8 time on mile 5, and that I got faster in mile 6. By the time I was closing in on the end of mile 7 I knew I was pushing hard. I didn't know I was so close to a full 7th mile, so I probably would have finished it if I knew. Either way, ALMOST a sub 7 mile 7. Hell. Yes. Phenomenal run.

Highschool flashback

2010-10-01T12:58:00.001-07:00

The assignment from Hal today was 30 minutes tempo, right around 10K pace. I haven't raced a 10K, so i just went with my gut. I came across the first mile at 7:13, which was right where I thought I would be, as my 45 minute tempo was at 7:20's. I didn't check my watch for a while, but when I looked down I was at 1.7 miles and my pace was at 6:55, i was a little surprised, especially since i was going into the wind, but I decided to try and keep it going. I turned around right on track, and kept going on the way back.

Surprisingly it really didn't even hurt all that much until with about a half mile to go...then i felt like i was gonna puke. It's nice to see that the training and rest is paying off.

And oh yeah...haven't run sub 7's since highschool. It's nice to be back there.

A Nice Pick-Me-Up

2010-09-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

By the end of 6 straight hours of classes today, (I sat in on a graduate level linguistics course during what is normally my break), I was feeling beyond burnt out. I've been working pretty much sun-up to sun-down every day. I bring homework to meals, and my only real breaks are fitness classes or work which I can't really zone out during since attention is beyond necessary. Feeling overwhelmed, I decided to throw everything on to the back-burner and go out for 8.

There is still plenty of ground that I haven't covered on the constitution trail, so I decided to head east. It was flat, a few hills, but mostly just phenomenal running. Form felt good, breathing was fine except for a little congestion, and my heart rate stayed low despite what felt like a fast pace. I was really excited to run pretty consistent numbers up until mile 7. Seeing the 8:48 split on my watch made me angry and I went after 8:00 on my last mile. Pushing hard may have been stupid since I have a two hour fitness training class tonight, but you know what, it felt damn good. I had a piece of apple pie with dinner and I'm hoping that'll serve as motivation to keep myself moving through the class tonight.

Yahoo for running!

Third and Final 20

2010-09-19T18:58:00.001-07:00

I woke up at 4:30am and had my standard 2 PBJs and a banana, got the bowels cleared and headed out the door at 7:45, my approximate start time for the marathon in 3 weeks. The run went....it just went. I ran my 10 mile race pace yesterday at 4:30, which lead to me running 30 miles within 19 hours. That coupled with a 58 mile week added up to huge training load and lots of pain on the run, nearly as painful as melbourne. Still, the average was 8:53s, pretty much exactly what Hal's training plan told me to do.

So the 20's went like this:
9/19 @ 8:53s
9/5 @8:56s
8/22 @10:20s - (ran the last 13 with ameena, and was just getting back into it after Austria)

Bart Yasso has a formula for race pace, he says take your long run pace, and subract 10%. For a 8:53 pace, thats 53 seconds. perfect for running 3:30. I'm hoping that the added speed from not running on gravel, and a draft will make 8:00's more than tolerable.

I also started wondering where a 3:30 would land me in the grand scheme of things. And found a site for the average marathon time by age. seems for us that would be about 4:25-ish. 3:30 also slots somewhere into the top 10%. (see chart of finishing times by half hour)

I also started paging through the 2009 results. Interestingly enough, out of 37,000 finishers, less than 1,000 came in under 3:00, another 1,000 rolled in in the next 15 minutes, and another 2,200 in the next 15 minutes after that. about 200 people rolled in between 3:30:00 and 3:31:00, so at 3+ per second. there's gonna be a lot of people there at the finish line.

Because of the huge gap in my training, i'm still not set on a 3:30, but i'd be happy falling in anywhere between 3:30 and 2,000 people later at 3:40.

Glad your run with the tri team went well. Go buy a bike.

Running with the Tri Team

2010-09-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

Since a lot of the Tri team members are training for the Chicago Marathon, they wanted a big group together for their last long run. We drove out to Peoria and ran on the Rock Island trail, a mixture of blacktop and crushed limestone which made for a nice run. I forgot to turn on the Garmin's GPS (I had turned it off for a spin class on Friday) so I have no idea what the splits were, but I do know that mile 4 was at 8:30s, pretty sweet. Just before mile 5 even though I was feeling great, and feeling stupid enough to attempt the full 22 with Abbey and Katie, I decided to play it safe and just do 10 with Brandon and Emma instead. We slowed the pace down quite a bit on the way back, and at the end of mile ten, I was definitely feeling the pain of it all in my legs. Nice to know that, even though I haven't been training or even running all that much, I can pull off a pretty long run if I want.

Other than last weekend when us three brothers ran together, this was my first time running with a group that intended to stay together. It was a lot of fun to have people to talk to the whole time, the miles flew by despite the thunderstorms. It must have been a lot of fun to be on a cross country team, at least for the workouts that were easy enough that you could chill out and talk the whole time.

After the run we went over to Katie's parents house where burgers, BBQ chicken, and a mountain of brownies were waiting for us. Definitely a phenomenal Saturday.

What If...

2010-09-01T17:28:00.000-07:00

I was registered for the Chicago Marathon. Yes, I'll admit it, I could have registered for the Chicago Marathon and have been training this entire time. Though money would have been a bit tighter this summer, and I'm not exactly sure training would have worked out as well as I'd like with my summer work and school schedule, it could have been done. But I still think I'm in decent shape even if I'm not in good enough shape to run a marathon, or even a half marathon as well as I'd like to. But then I saw something on facebook. Team VW is raffling off 15 entries to the race, so I entered.

I was gonna head out for 6 miles today anyway, but putting my name in for a chance to run the race served as even more motivation. It also gave me something to think about while I was out on the run, not that I'm short on things to think about these days. Apparently, it was even motivation enough to run harder than I normally would have right off the bat. I'm even surprised that the pace was really solid for the first three miles. Either way, it felt good. And yes, I wore the ankle brace because the joint was bothering me quite a bit throughout today and I didn't want to exacerbate anything.

That said, yesterday I took off because I was thoroughly exhausted and had to be up early today. Monday was swimming again. This time I nabbed a pair of goggles from the lost and found so my eyes wouldn't burn after the hour of exposure to chlorine. I started with slower laps this time and working on my breathing. The whole workout went really well and I was able to really push through the last sets of laps and feel drained by the end.

Sunday was an easy three. Mostly a recovery from the five the day before. Saturday's run was interesting, it wasn't fast by any means, but it was really hard. The heat was most likely a huge factor as any pace seemed to keep my heart rate rather high. It hurt despite the slowness.

First Spin Class

2010-08-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

I had an interview for a job with Campus Rec today. Since it went so well, I decided that I should try one of their spin classes. The only problem was that I had to drop off my interview clothes at the drycleaner which is 2.5 miles from my dorm before the class. So I walked there as fast as possible without jogging. The whole walk took me an hour straight and my heartrate was already hitting in the high 120s. I barely had anytime to relax before class started.

And then it did. By the end of the first 10 minutes I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. My legs were pretty much fine, I was trying to be as accurate as possible when we were told to increase RPMs or resistance. Maybe I went too hard out of the gate. Either way, I was glistening with sweat and the mat underneath my bike was begining to look like a small pond. It was hard. It was fun. Definitely thinkin about doing them more in the future.

And it Was Good

2010-08-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I didn't spend much time playing volleyball since I wanted to get to a seminar about Campus Rec. So Tuesday was pretty much a full recovery day.

Today was super busy. With meetings and classes straight from 10 to 3, I was exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open through my homework. I was exhausted and my mind was too when I got the reading done. It was time for a run.

I got ready and headed out to the Constitutional Trail, Bloomington-Normal's paved equivalent to the Great Western Trail and Prairie Path. The weather was perfect and so were the trails. I was going to do 5 regardless, but by the time I hit 2.5 on the out and back I was feeling really good. At 3 I was ready to turn back since the sun was going down, but that is exactly when I started picking things up. I was feeling good, my form was rhythmic, breathing was easy so I started pushing things a bit. When I dropped 20 seconds in mile 4 I wanted to be faster than 8s for mile 5. When I took off another 20 seconds, I knew I had to keep going harder.

It was not a phenomenally fast run by any means, even in terms of what I've done before, but since everything went so well, it was a real confidence boost for the next time I head out. I did wear the ankle brace since the joint has been hurting just a little while walking around campus in sandals. I'm definietly going to try and take it off for shorter and easier runs until I feel comfortable with it off all the time.

Yahoo for running!

week recap

2010-08-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

Transitioning back into running has been a big question. I'm not sure how to handle the volume, long runs and speed work...so i'm kind of just taking it day by day.

Friday was an easy 7, 8:30's, that felt okay. Saturday during Karls race, i jogged 6-ish miles between a few points on the course so i could cheer for Karl during his first half marathon.

Then Saturday was the 20 miler. Not wanting to go hard and not finish the distance, ended up running near 10 minute miles, and only did 19. I ran the first 7 alone right at 9's, and then joined up with Ameena for the last 12 running around monona lake.

Today was supposed to be 6, and Hal said easier or harded depending on what you want. SO i ran 7, and tried to do it right at race pace, average ended up at 7:51s. I'm feeling alright about the marathon, still hoping for 3:30 if it's possible.

Have fun with the swimming and spin and running when you can. All will be good stress relievers once classes start.

Switching Things Up

2010-08-24T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, kind of on a whim I decided to swim laps instead of go for another run. Sunday's run wasn't fantastic, I only made it 5, it was hot, I was a little faster than Saturday but it felt super slow, I walked a little, oh well. So I went to the only free pool for students that is open right now and there was a swim practice going on. I felt bad because all the parents were sitting there watching, then this creeper guy (me) walks in while there kids are swimming... I learned a new word to throw in here, ChoMo, its phenominal way to make child molesters sound hip I guess.

Getting off topic. I called mom for some tips on swimming workouts and in the end I settled on some latters, starting with 25, building up, then coming back down. By the time I got to 75 I felt like I was already drowning. I was having a hard time getting really solid breathing down so I could keep going fast. So I settled on some slow 100 repeats for the rest of the night. Plus, that made things easier since the pool got a little crowded for a while. By the end of the night, I got into a solid groove, and I will definitely go back for more, but only after I get some goggles. For the rest of the night, my eyes were killing me. They were all bloodshot and dry, blurred my vision quite a bit.

Tonight's plan is some sand volleyball, so I guess I'll have to go for a run on Wednesday.

First Run, Old and New

2010-08-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

I really have no excuse to not be running, at least since classes haven't even started yet. I woke up this morning and needed a lot of motivation to get out of bed. Once I remembered that Karl was running the Madison Mini today, I gave him a call and found what I needed so I could get out the door. I threw on my shirt from last year's race and headed out.

I checked map my run for routes, and they all seemed pretty simple, straight forward loops. I found one that was listed as a cross country course so I decided to run over there. The primary goal was to sweat out all of the toxins from last night's beach party, so I wasn't too concerned about pace since just going forward took a lot of effort. It was two miles out to the course, and I ran the 5k loop before heading back. The town reminds me a lot of Champaign, go figure, but the huge park where the XC course was has disc golf too. Since I brought my frisbees, I'll definitely have to get out there for a round or two sometime.

I saw a fair amount of other runners, and a bunch of cyclists, always good to know that you're in an active town. I hope the feel of this run sets the mood for the rest my time in Normal. Good stuff for sure.

Awesomely Slow

2010-08-11T23:46:00.001-07:00

You probably saw my Tweet, but this was probably the best run of my life. Yeah, it was slow, yes, it was painful.... yeah, I've only been running about twice a a week as opposed to the normal 5-6 times, but the sunrise in the alps and the surprise 1000ft climb at mile 16 made it awesome.

I didn't bring any water, i didn't have a water bottle to bring, so with 5Euros in my pocket i set out at 5am. I had a few brief panic attacks when I got lost and was a little worried I'd never make it back without asking the police to track Herwig down for me, but it all ended up alright. Thanks to my super awesome broken-german abilities, i was able to ask two other runners for directions, and also to buy a coke at mile 13.

Anyhoo, i'm a little happy i was even able to do the run, I'm less than 2 months out from 10.10.10, so while maybe i won't be breaking any records, and probably miss my goal of 3:30, at least i'll finish...

Put up a post-recap of muddy buddy! I still check this thing!

Almost Muddy, Buddy

2010-07-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

Since it stormed all night, roads were flooded, and everything was soggy at the very least, I thought it would be a perfect chance to get into the Muddy Buddy mood.
My ankle has been bothering me, not terribly, but there has been a constant, almost numbing pain, for the past couple of days. To help it, I went for a 20 mile bike ride on Thursday and took yesterday off completely. Since I'm not giving up runnign while getting ready for next weekend's race, I went out for 7+ today and wore my ankle brace. It worked great and my ankle feels no worse now that the run is over.

The run itself was pretty entertaining. The first two miles were pretty normal, but then I came to a section of the Great Western Trail that was quite flooded. Not even running on the slight ridges at the side of the trail helped, but since I was wearing my trail runners, my feet stayed nearly dry. It was fun to go splashing through the puddles, especially when the few others that were out became so surprised at the sight of it. No, the pace wasn't terribly fast, but the whole run felt good. It was the first time I ran for more than an hour continuously and didn't feel like I was about to have a heart attack. Perhaps this is becaue I've gone out with music which has really helped me to concentrate on breathing and running form. Either way, I'm glad it is fun again.

Simply Marvelous

2010-07-20T15:07:00.000-07:00

While driving home from work today, I was having trouble staying awake in the car. When I got home, I had a little snack, checked my e-mails, then almost immediately fell asleep. It was a little cat nap, but even so, I was feeling super groggy. After another little bite to eat and some Man Vs. Food on TV, I finally figured I ought to at least go out for a short run. I wasn't optomistic; the 5 on Saturday, and the 6 on Sunday both were excruciating in the heat and extremely slow as well. Since the weather was supposed to be in the high 70s I thought today should be a little better. It was a LOT better.

Again I only paid attention to heart rate instead of pace, and even in that respect I didn't get too crazy. I ran hard and occasionally looked at my watch to see if my heart was working as fast as my legs. For the most part, it wasn't. My heart rate stayed surprisingly low for the majority of the run. Because I was feeling good, I added an extra 1/4 mile, but by that time, the HR was up around 180 and calling it quits seemed like a great idea. I'm super thrilled by this run and it gives me hope that Muddy Buddy will go well! Less than two weeks!

Hot & Hard

2010-07-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

Trying to get into shape three weeks before Muddy Buddy is going to be a very hard thing to do. I went out for a run on Tuesday with no real goal other than going out. It took me almost exactly 33 minutes to do the same course that I did today. Now that I know what that distance is, I'm not terribly impressed by the results. But, it is possibly the hottest part of the summer so at least I have some consolation. On the other hand, the first mile on Tuesday was 7:23, so I know that I can push myself into a pretty decent pace.

I know all things contribute, but I seriously think that today's breakfast was a big factor in the result of the run. I ate a German Pancake from a quality restaurant in Downers Grove while I listened to my Grandpa tell stories about his father and family. Though it was delicious, eating more than the first quarter of it was almost painful. The waitress told me the pancake was big, but I did not expect it to be the size of a large dinner plate. It must have contained at least 4, maybe even 5 eggs. After eating that, I didn't bother with lunch except for a carrot and some fruit right before the run, which was a spur of the moment decision anyway.

Like I said, the time was not great, but since I was only paying attention to heart rate, I suppose I should not be terribly surprised. After all, I haven't been in training mode for almost two months now. I'm definitely glad I have Muddy Buddy to look forward to!

Week 1 Recap, last 10 and 5

2010-06-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

Week One of training is over. And actually it all felt quite easy, going off without a hitch. So that considered I'm going to stick with the advanced training program. Most notalble of the workouts was the 5 mile "pace workout" that i decided to try and do in 7's. Not sure how it woudl have gone without some bowel problems. In the end the two short breaks for bathrooms probably helped my pace, giving me a few minutes of recovery.

Week two is going well so far. Sundays 10 miler went well. My speedy buddy jared said if i feel comfortable on my long runs, dont' worry about the pace being too fast, so i didn't, and i'm quite happy.

Yesterdays 5 was fun. I started out feeling pretty bad, which i attribute to writing off the previous days 3 miler because i played 18 holes of frolf and climbed for 2 hours. I think i probably still should have run. Anyway, i hit my stride on mile two and then put the hammer down for the last mile. It's nice to see i can break 7's after a 5 miler as well as my 3's.

feelin good. easy 3 today, 30 minutes of tempo tomorrow. I'm enjoying this so far.

All Comin Back

2010-06-13T15:16:00.000-07:00

I had to go for another run today so I could make up for yesterday's disaster of a run. I decided to start out much slower to get through the miles one at a time. I went through the tried and true morning routine and had relatively no unwanted stress on the run. Though the first mile was intentionally slow, I pushed the next two a bit so I could catch up to and pass another runner, competitive, perhaps, but it felt nice to not be the slowest one out there. And like it has in the past, speeding up helped me forget about the pain in my ankle which has unfortunately returned. In mile four I got passed by someone else, but I was a little too tired to try and keep up. Instead, I did a little speed play, picking up the pace at the end of miles and sometimes elsewhere.
After charging through the last bits of mile 6, I was feeling pretty good and close enough to home that I tried to keep that pace up until the end. It wasn't super fast, but faster than I would have gone if I was only concerned with finishing the distance. By the time I stopped I had the runner's pain face on and felt like vomiting was just a few more feet down the road. Not super fun, but pretty entertaining at the same time. By the end my ankle was not in bad shape; it has definitely hurt more in the past, but at the same time, I don't much like the idea of making things worse. Since the appointment with Bresch is now less than two weeks away I'm optimistic that things will work out soon.

"Nonsense poopey pants!"

2010-06-12T07:05:00.000-07:00

I headed out without an exact plan of where I would go, just knowing that I should run because I haven't in a long time. All I really had in mind was a direction to start in, and a target distance of more than 5 but less than 8. The first two miles went relatively well, I felt good and there was no pain in any joint or muscle. Yet when I made it into mile three, a familiar feeling returned. It has been a very long time since I went for a run first thing in the morning, I think since last summer during training for Detroit was the last time I got out of bed, and went out the door within twenty minutes. The bowels started rumbling and a was in the familiar mindset of wishing there was a bathroom around every corner. Admittedly, at mile 5 the humidity and exertion of running after 3 weeks off got the better of me and I used the need to poop as an excuse to take my time crossing County Farm Rd. I started up again and pushed on for a decent way, but the having to use a bathroom got the best of me. I tried to run/walk all the way home, and nearly colored my shorts brown because of it. Not a glorious return to running, but at least it was familiar.