Since the triathlon two Sundays ago, I haven't done a whole lot. I swam the Monday night after the race (May 18th), and went biking for 14.76 miles on Tuesday the 19th, and I swam on Wednesday the 20th and Saturday the 23rd, then ran 3.1 miles tonight, Wednesday, May 27th. I also played golf with my dad on Memorial Day, but that doesn't really count as "training." Ironically, though, it'd been so long since I played golf that the repetitive swing motion made me sore the next day.
The reason for my reduction in training is due to the simple fact that I've been very sore recently. Mainly saddle sore. I'm not used to all the miles I've been putting in on the bike. Part of it has to do with my ride on the 19th. 14.76 miles is the longest I've ever been on the bike, and come the Thursday after, I could tell I'd likely been biking a bit too much. The back of my thighs ached constantly, likely from all the time in the saddle, and that ache continued thru Memorial Day. It was far less than pleasant, and I decided to back off a bit and let my body recover from the race and the extra miles I've been doing so as to prevent sickness or injury.
That said, the bike ride on the 19th went very well. I met up with a local triathlon group at the downtown airport to ride, and did four laps around the complex. Not only was this the longest I've ever done, it was a new record for average speed - 15.7 MPH. My goal is to get my average speed up to around 17 or 18 MPH for the half Ironman (HIM) in October, so this is a step in the right direction. I'll grant that this course is mostly flat (two short, but steep, hills), but I'm hoping if I train well here it will translate come race day. I'm also glad I met with the group - had I been on my own, I likely would have stopped after three laps instead of getting the extra 3.7 miles in.
I don't have much to say about the swimming workouts. I did the yardage and felt OK doing it.
Tonight's run went well, however. I did 3.1 miles in 39:19, which is a new record for me. I ran .5 miles and walked .1 to rest for the entire run, and it worked out well. When I first started running last summer, I was doing .1/.1 splits, so to come back after a long layoff and still manage a .5/.1 split for 3 miles felt good. I'm confident that after a few more weeks, maybe a month, I'll be back to running upwards of 5 miles without walking at all.
Overall, I'm glad I scaled back the training a bit. I'm in the beginning of my HIM training plan (it's a twenty week plan) and I think that for my current fitness level it's a bit ambitious. My plan currently is to do what I can, sticking to the plan as closely as I can, and hopefully eventually do all the workouts it's calling for. Even if I never get there, I'm firmly in the "You have a HIM coming up, it's time to train for it" mindset, so I should be able to work up to the distances needed by October and be ready for this race, even if my progress to those distances is slower than my plan would like.
My main focus now is the HIM. I'm planning on doing a 5K on the 4th of July, and I have the Matt Mason Tri at the beginning of August, but both of these are pretty minor races for me right now. I'm doing the 5K mainly because it's going to be a cool, patriotic race, and the Matt Mason tri will really just be a tune-up for the HIM, giving me one more chance to practice my transitions and open water swim skills for real before the big day in October. Of course, the Matt Mason tri will also be really patriotic, which really appeals to me (it's a memorial race for a fallen Navy SEAL, who was killed when the helicopter he was in was shot down in Afghanistan on a mission). In fact, the race's patriotism is what inspired me to sign up for it last year. I'm looking forward to actually experiencing it this year, provided Mother Nature doesn't have other plans again.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Kansas City Triathlon Race Report
Fair warning: this is a long entry. The race was last Sunday, but I purposely took a few days to get this up here because I wanted to let the entire experience sink in a bit before trying to write about it.
This past Sunday, I participated in the Kansas City Triathlon. It was my first outdoor triathlon, and I spent the entire week before the race obsessively checking the weather, hoping that we wouldn't have a repeat of the Matt Mason tri last August and end up with another rain-out. The rain came down in torrents on Saturday, and Sunday dawned cloudy, but the weather did not actually do anything on Sunday.
They offered both a Sprint and Olympic distance at this race. I chose to do the Sprint distance, the shorter of the two. The Sprint consists of 500 meters of swimming, 12.4 miles of biking and 3.1 miles of running.
I got out of bed at 3:30 am to make sure I had enough time to get to the lake. The transition area was set to open at 5:00, and I wanted to leave by 4:15 to get down there. I'd packed most of my stuff in my car the previous night, so all I had to do this morning was get dressed, air up my tires and put my bike rack and bike on the car. We ended up leaving right on time, and got down there and parked almost right at 5:00.
The first thing I did was take my bike off my car and went looking for chip pick-up. After getting my timing chip, I found my way to the entrance to the transition area. Upon finding it, I got my body marked by the volunteers there (my race number, 523, on my left arm and my age on my left calf) and entered transition.
Everyone in transition had an assigned rack based on the race number. Every rack had a range of race numbers, and where you placed your bike on that rack was a first-come-first-served system. I found the rack that contained my number and was lucky enough to get the spot right next to the center aisle (a very enviable position as it limits the distance you have to travel in transition and makes spotting your rack that much easier).
I'd brought a shopping bag with me to help me keep my stuff organized once the race started, and was planning on using it mainly as a place to stash my wet suit after the swim finished. I ended up being very glad I had it with me; it made finding my bike that much easier as all I had to look for on the ground was a grey rectangular bag.
I placed the bag and my towel behind my bike, put both pairs of shoes and my camelback in front of my bike, and placed my helmet directly beneath my bike. My helmet contained all the miscellaneous items I would need for the ride - my sunglasses, my cycling cap, my gloves and my spibelt which contained my cell phone.
Below are two photos of my transition area before the race started. I apologize for how dark they are; I took them before the sun rose and didn't think to take any more once it was light outside. Not shown here is my shirt - I ended up draping it over the aerobars before the swim.
After getting the transition area set up, I had a bit of downtime before the swim warm-ups started. I walked around and looked at some of the vendor tents, then got into my wet suit. I got into the water and did some warming up after they opened the beach, mainly to get accustomed to the water temperature, which was at a chilly 64 degrees.
The race start was done in waves, based on which race you were doing and your age group in your particular race. The Olympic race started first, followed by the Sprint.
As the Olympic triathletes took off, most of the Sprint racers gathered on the beach to await our turn to start. Watching them was very sobering. The water was very choppy and many of them were calling over the kayakers or the people in the pontoon boats and being pulled from the water as they were unable to complete the swim. Getting pulled out like this is a big deal - by asking to be pulled out (or just getting pulled out without asking), you're disqualified from the rest of the race. No bike, no run, no finisher medal. You're just done for the day, and seeing some of these athletes tapping out made me a bit nervous.
.
In no time at all my wave was next to start. We were called up to the corral and entered the water, moving out about five to ten feet from shore. I went in barefoot (I'd worn swim shoes in the warm up) and the cold water quickly infiltrated the ankles of my wet suit. As I stood there in the cold water for the fifteen to twenty seconds it took for the race director to blow the horn and send us on our way (if felt more like fifteen or twenty minutes), I was very nervous. I'd just seen a bunch of people get pulled from the water, and didn't really know what to expect since I'd never done an open water swim before. Thankfully, before I could think it over too much, the air horn sounded and off we went.
The first 100 to 200 yards of the swim went well. I was surrounded by people but had enough space to swim without being smacked in the face by someone's feet, and I was getting my sighting down and heading in a pretty good line for the first buoy. Then I turned to take a breath and sucked down a lungful of water instead of the air I'd been expecting. I, of course, stopped dead, coughing and sputtering and trying desperately to keep some form of forward movement going so I wouldn't be plowed over by the people behind me.
A few seconds later I'd recovered enough to resume mostly forward movement, but the effects of that one bad breath were telling. I couldn't confidently do freestyle. Every time I put my face under and tried to take a normal stroke, I felt like I was choking again. I resigned myself to doing breaststroke, a little bit of backstroke (which usually ended pretty quickly after waves splashed my upturned face), and a weird hybrid of the two where I was on my side, doing a breaststroke kick and pulling with my lower arm.
Overall, my swim was not what I wanted. I expected this to be my best event. After all, I swam competitively for almost a decade, and for four of those years my main event was the 500 yard freestyle (the swim here was roughly 550 yards). This should be a walk in the park, old hat, easy as pie. Never have I been so wrong.
The open water really got to me. I know that happened when I sucked in that water: I tried to take a breath at the exact instant a wave was in my face. Obviously this is never a problem in a pool, so I didn't think too much about it until it happened. Had I been more practiced at bi-lateral breathing, I would likely have been breathing on my left side at the beginning of the race (the side away from the wind). However, for my entire swimming career, I've always breathed on my right side, and undoing all those years of habit is just plain hard and exceedingly uncomfortable (it's akin to attempting to write with you non-dominant hand). But, now I have something I know I need to work on in training.
The swim ended up taking 16:31. Had I been in a pool, I could have completed this in about 10 minutes at my current level of fitness. When I exited the lake and looked at my watch, I wasn't really pleased with my time, but I was very pleased that the swim was behind me and that I was out of that cold water. I headed up the beach to transition just as fast as I could, stripping the wet suit off my upper body as I did so.
Once I reached the transition area, I found my bike easily, thanks to having that nice end spot on the race. I had to sit down to get the wet suit the rest of the way off, then threw it into the shopping bag and quickly toweled off, concentrating on my feet, trying to remove any sand and mud that might still be on them so that wouldn't be a factor once I got my socks and shoes on. I got my socks on as quickly as I could with wet feet, then got my shoes slipped on and threw my shirt on. After my shirt was on, I donned my sunglasses, biking cap, gloves and helmet, then took my bike off the rack and walked towards the bike out area. All told, I spent 6 minutes 59 seconds in T1, which is a little bit too long. This is an area to work on for next time.
The bike portion actually went pretty well. I've said before that swimming is my best event, but biking is my favorite. I really enjoyed the ride at this race. I went a bit past the bike mount line and got my right shoe clipped in and then took off, getting my left shoe clipped in fairly easily, which is not always a given. The bike course was very well marked in terms of where to turn and where to go, and there were plenty of volunteers (both civilians and police officers) to help direct you in the right direction.
There were some hills, but only two really stand out in my memory. The first really bad hill came at the worst time - right after a 180 degree turn. We headed down the hill, then had to slow to turn around at the bottom of it and go right back up it. Now, obviously, the main strategy for hills is to build up as much speed as you can on the downhill and then use the momentum going up the next hill so you don't have to work as hard. This doesn't work when you have to brake to turn at the bottom, but I made it back up the hill and pressed on.
The second killer hill came in around the ten mile mark or so (guesstimating here, not exactly sure what the mileage was). This time there were no gimmicks or tricks with turns - it was just a really steep, really long hill. As soon as you managed to climb it, you had another 180 degree turn to go right back down it. I will admit that the downhill here was fun, but also pretty scary. I reached a top speed of 39.8 MPH going down this hill, and more than once felt like I was going entirely too fast for comfort. I wish I could have gotten another 0.2 MPH, but I also think that extra little bit of speed would've ended with me laying the bike down. Not a good thing at that speed.
I was able to stay in the aero position for long periods of time on this ride, something I've been unable to do before now. I really like the aero position. I'm hunched down low over the handlebars and can get quite a bit more power to the pedals. I know I'll be using this position alot.
I finished the bike portion in 54 minutes 59 seconds with an average pace of 13.6 MPH. Heading into T2 after the bike portion I was feeling good. Tired, of course, but overall pretty good. Two thirds of this thing were down, and all I had left was a 3.1 mile run. I knew I could walk some of it if I needed to, and that there was no danger of either drowning or crashing, both of which would have likely ended my race. I hopped off my bike a bit before the dismount line and struggled to get my right foot unclipped, almost falling in the process, but I managed to get my foot disengaged from the pedal and planted firmly on the ground just in time.
I walked my bike back to my rack, using the grey shopping back to quickly identify where I needed to go. I quickly re-racked my bike, then removed my helmet and gloves and switched my biking shoes for my running shoes and headed towards the run out. T2 took me 2 minutes 39 seconds to complete.
The run was pretty typical for me. It's my least favorite event, and I ended up walking some of it, but I ran more than I walked, which was the goal. Nothing really special to say about the run; it was a run. I finished the run in 42 minutes 30 seconds, with an average pace of 13 minutes and 43 seconds per mile.
The next thing I knew I was across the finish line and a volunteer was hanging my medal around my neck. I felt elated that I'd finally accomplished my goal, and relieved that I was finally finished for the day. My first stop after finishing was at the Tri KC tent to get a cookie, then I sat down at a table and waited for my wife to find me. We found each other pretty easily (hooray for cell phones!) and both sat for a few minutes, talking about the race and taking it all in. After we sat for a few minutes, I went back to the transition area, packed up my stuff and took my bike to the car and headed for home.
This past Sunday, I participated in the Kansas City Triathlon. It was my first outdoor triathlon, and I spent the entire week before the race obsessively checking the weather, hoping that we wouldn't have a repeat of the Matt Mason tri last August and end up with another rain-out. The rain came down in torrents on Saturday, and Sunday dawned cloudy, but the weather did not actually do anything on Sunday.
They offered both a Sprint and Olympic distance at this race. I chose to do the Sprint distance, the shorter of the two. The Sprint consists of 500 meters of swimming, 12.4 miles of biking and 3.1 miles of running.
I got out of bed at 3:30 am to make sure I had enough time to get to the lake. The transition area was set to open at 5:00, and I wanted to leave by 4:15 to get down there. I'd packed most of my stuff in my car the previous night, so all I had to do this morning was get dressed, air up my tires and put my bike rack and bike on the car. We ended up leaving right on time, and got down there and parked almost right at 5:00.
The first thing I did was take my bike off my car and went looking for chip pick-up. After getting my timing chip, I found my way to the entrance to the transition area. Upon finding it, I got my body marked by the volunteers there (my race number, 523, on my left arm and my age on my left calf) and entered transition.
Everyone in transition had an assigned rack based on the race number. Every rack had a range of race numbers, and where you placed your bike on that rack was a first-come-first-served system. I found the rack that contained my number and was lucky enough to get the spot right next to the center aisle (a very enviable position as it limits the distance you have to travel in transition and makes spotting your rack that much easier).
I'd brought a shopping bag with me to help me keep my stuff organized once the race started, and was planning on using it mainly as a place to stash my wet suit after the swim finished. I ended up being very glad I had it with me; it made finding my bike that much easier as all I had to look for on the ground was a grey rectangular bag.
I placed the bag and my towel behind my bike, put both pairs of shoes and my camelback in front of my bike, and placed my helmet directly beneath my bike. My helmet contained all the miscellaneous items I would need for the ride - my sunglasses, my cycling cap, my gloves and my spibelt which contained my cell phone.
Below are two photos of my transition area before the race started. I apologize for how dark they are; I took them before the sun rose and didn't think to take any more once it was light outside. Not shown here is my shirt - I ended up draping it over the aerobars before the swim.
After getting the transition area set up, I had a bit of downtime before the swim warm-ups started. I walked around and looked at some of the vendor tents, then got into my wet suit. I got into the water and did some warming up after they opened the beach, mainly to get accustomed to the water temperature, which was at a chilly 64 degrees.
 |
| After warm-ups, ready to start the swim |
As the Olympic triathletes took off, most of the Sprint racers gathered on the beach to await our turn to start. Watching them was very sobering. The water was very choppy and many of them were calling over the kayakers or the people in the pontoon boats and being pulled from the water as they were unable to complete the swim. Getting pulled out like this is a big deal - by asking to be pulled out (or just getting pulled out without asking), you're disqualified from the rest of the race. No bike, no run, no finisher medal. You're just done for the day, and seeing some of these athletes tapping out made me a bit nervous.
.
In no time at all my wave was next to start. We were called up to the corral and entered the water, moving out about five to ten feet from shore. I went in barefoot (I'd worn swim shoes in the warm up) and the cold water quickly infiltrated the ankles of my wet suit. As I stood there in the cold water for the fifteen to twenty seconds it took for the race director to blow the horn and send us on our way (if felt more like fifteen or twenty minutes), I was very nervous. I'd just seen a bunch of people get pulled from the water, and didn't really know what to expect since I'd never done an open water swim before. Thankfully, before I could think it over too much, the air horn sounded and off we went.
 |
| My wave (I'm the one in the black wet suit and green swim cap) |
A few seconds later I'd recovered enough to resume mostly forward movement, but the effects of that one bad breath were telling. I couldn't confidently do freestyle. Every time I put my face under and tried to take a normal stroke, I felt like I was choking again. I resigned myself to doing breaststroke, a little bit of backstroke (which usually ended pretty quickly after waves splashed my upturned face), and a weird hybrid of the two where I was on my side, doing a breaststroke kick and pulling with my lower arm.
Overall, my swim was not what I wanted. I expected this to be my best event. After all, I swam competitively for almost a decade, and for four of those years my main event was the 500 yard freestyle (the swim here was roughly 550 yards). This should be a walk in the park, old hat, easy as pie. Never have I been so wrong.
The open water really got to me. I know that happened when I sucked in that water: I tried to take a breath at the exact instant a wave was in my face. Obviously this is never a problem in a pool, so I didn't think too much about it until it happened. Had I been more practiced at bi-lateral breathing, I would likely have been breathing on my left side at the beginning of the race (the side away from the wind). However, for my entire swimming career, I've always breathed on my right side, and undoing all those years of habit is just plain hard and exceedingly uncomfortable (it's akin to attempting to write with you non-dominant hand). But, now I have something I know I need to work on in training.
The swim ended up taking 16:31. Had I been in a pool, I could have completed this in about 10 minutes at my current level of fitness. When I exited the lake and looked at my watch, I wasn't really pleased with my time, but I was very pleased that the swim was behind me and that I was out of that cold water. I headed up the beach to transition just as fast as I could, stripping the wet suit off my upper body as I did so.
Once I reached the transition area, I found my bike easily, thanks to having that nice end spot on the race. I had to sit down to get the wet suit the rest of the way off, then threw it into the shopping bag and quickly toweled off, concentrating on my feet, trying to remove any sand and mud that might still be on them so that wouldn't be a factor once I got my socks and shoes on. I got my socks on as quickly as I could with wet feet, then got my shoes slipped on and threw my shirt on. After my shirt was on, I donned my sunglasses, biking cap, gloves and helmet, then took my bike off the rack and walked towards the bike out area. All told, I spent 6 minutes 59 seconds in T1, which is a little bit too long. This is an area to work on for next time.
 |
| Exiting T1 |
The bike portion actually went pretty well. I've said before that swimming is my best event, but biking is my favorite. I really enjoyed the ride at this race. I went a bit past the bike mount line and got my right shoe clipped in and then took off, getting my left shoe clipped in fairly easily, which is not always a given. The bike course was very well marked in terms of where to turn and where to go, and there were plenty of volunteers (both civilians and police officers) to help direct you in the right direction.
There were some hills, but only two really stand out in my memory. The first really bad hill came at the worst time - right after a 180 degree turn. We headed down the hill, then had to slow to turn around at the bottom of it and go right back up it. Now, obviously, the main strategy for hills is to build up as much speed as you can on the downhill and then use the momentum going up the next hill so you don't have to work as hard. This doesn't work when you have to brake to turn at the bottom, but I made it back up the hill and pressed on.
The second killer hill came in around the ten mile mark or so (guesstimating here, not exactly sure what the mileage was). This time there were no gimmicks or tricks with turns - it was just a really steep, really long hill. As soon as you managed to climb it, you had another 180 degree turn to go right back down it. I will admit that the downhill here was fun, but also pretty scary. I reached a top speed of 39.8 MPH going down this hill, and more than once felt like I was going entirely too fast for comfort. I wish I could have gotten another 0.2 MPH, but I also think that extra little bit of speed would've ended with me laying the bike down. Not a good thing at that speed.
I was able to stay in the aero position for long periods of time on this ride, something I've been unable to do before now. I really like the aero position. I'm hunched down low over the handlebars and can get quite a bit more power to the pedals. I know I'll be using this position alot.
I finished the bike portion in 54 minutes 59 seconds with an average pace of 13.6 MPH. Heading into T2 after the bike portion I was feeling good. Tired, of course, but overall pretty good. Two thirds of this thing were down, and all I had left was a 3.1 mile run. I knew I could walk some of it if I needed to, and that there was no danger of either drowning or crashing, both of which would have likely ended my race. I hopped off my bike a bit before the dismount line and struggled to get my right foot unclipped, almost falling in the process, but I managed to get my foot disengaged from the pedal and planted firmly on the ground just in time.
I walked my bike back to my rack, using the grey shopping back to quickly identify where I needed to go. I quickly re-racked my bike, then removed my helmet and gloves and switched my biking shoes for my running shoes and headed towards the run out. T2 took me 2 minutes 39 seconds to complete.
The run was pretty typical for me. It's my least favorite event, and I ended up walking some of it, but I ran more than I walked, which was the goal. Nothing really special to say about the run; it was a run. I finished the run in 42 minutes 30 seconds, with an average pace of 13 minutes and 43 seconds per mile.
 |
| Heading towards the finish line |
 |
| Almost there! |
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| Finished! |
Overall, the race was great. I had a really good time doing it, and never once thought "I don't know if I can make it," The race itself was very well organized and executed. From talking to some of the other triathletes, I understand that this is one of the tougher tris in the K.C. area, mainly due to the cold, choppy water and some of the hills on the bike leg. Everyone I talked to agreed that the swim this year was the roughest they've experienced at any tri in the area for the past half decade, so I don't feel so bad about my swim time now as I did right after I finished. I should have realized it would be a rough swim beforehand based on how many people were pulled out of the water, but I didn't think about it that way then.
Still, a great first tri for me. If I can do one of the toughest tris in the area for my first tri, I'm confident that I can do my next tri without issue.
I'm now proud to call myself a triathlete.
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Country Music Half Marathon
This weekend Melissa and I ran the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville, TN (there is also a full marathon, but so far I'm only half crazy). The race was 13.1 miles of hills. I thought KC was hilly, but Nashville is crazy hilly. As soon as you finish climbing one hill, another one starts going up. There are some downhills, but I'm convinved we did more climbing than descending. I haven't looked at the race's elevation chart, so I don't know if that's actually true or not, but it sure seemed that way.
Myself and Deedra
Myself and Melissa
Overall, the race went well. It was supposed to be really rainy, and I was very worried we'd have s repeat of my first tri last August, which was cancelled due to lightning. It did rain overnight, but when we got up and out of the hotel it was dry, and it stayed that way.
The downside to overnight rain was the humidity. Being from KC I'm no stranger to humidity, but I haven't had much chance to train in it, and it made for a sweaty, sticky run. It's been a long time (since last August, at least) that I've been in this kind of humidity. When we got off the shuttle back at the hotel, I quite enjoyed the high heat and humidity (I love the heat), but it made racing much more difficult.
I started the race keeping up with the 2:30 pace group, which, in retrospect, was quite ambitious for me. I haven't been able to train much recently because of long work hours and general laziness on my part, and I could tell at the race. I kept up with the pace group for 1.25 miles, then had to stop and walk.
For the next mile and a half or so, I had random run/walk intervals, but finally found something comfortable in mile 3. At 2.9 miles, I started running, intending to run 1/10 of a mile and walk 1/10 at mile three. When I hit mile 3 though I was feeling pretty good and told myself "Just go to 3.1 before you walk, then you'll only have 10 miles left." Yeah. "Only" 10 miles left.
I did manage to run to 3.1, then I walked to 3.25, then ran to 3.5, walked to 3.6, ran to 3.8, walked to 3.9, then ran to 4.1. I kept up with those intervals until mile 8. They helped the miles go by faster and easier, which was the goal.
At mile 8, my walk breaks started extending and my runs started becoming shorter. The longest I ever ran in training was 6 miles, so after the extra 2 miles my body was like "Dude! You are the stupidest stupid person ever to grace the planet with their stupidity! What are you doing?" Unfortunately, I listened to my body and let the walk breaks extend.
At mile 11.5, I finally decided I was done running for the day until the finish line. I started running a bit at 11.5, but couldn't keep it up for more than 0.02 miles. I had a small blister on a toe on my left foot, both feet generally just hurt, and my right knee ached something fierce (not an uncommon problem for me - my knees have always given me problems), so I decided I was going to walk until I got near to the finish line and then run across it.
This actually ended up being a great decision. At around mile 11.75, another member of Team RWB pulled up mext to me and we started talking. We were both in our Team RWB shirts, making it easier to identify each other. She was from LA, and did 10 half marathons last year. She was super excited that this was my first half marathon, and we had a good conversation over the last mile in. I told her that if she wanted to run on ahead, she didn't have to wait for me, but she said she wanted to cross the line with me since it was my first one.
I really enjoyed talking to Deedra (might not be the right spelling) for the last mile. It was kind of unusual for me - I'm not a people person and usually find conversations with strangers very uncomfortable, but this was relaxed and easy, likely because we're both half marathoners and belong to Team RWB.
For anyone that doesn't know, Team RWB (Red White Blue) is an orgainization dedicated to helping American veterans. I've always been pretty patriotic (I tried to serve in the Navy but was declined due to my asthma), and my cousin, who was also the best man in my wedding, had been deployed to Iraq twice, so when I found out about Team RWB it was almost a guarantee I would join. If you're interested, check out www.teamrwb.org
Almost right at mile 13, Melissa caught up with Deedra and I. Her joining us there worked out wonderfully. Once she got there, all three of us started running because the finish line was right around the corner, and we all crossed the finish line holding hands. It was a great feeling crossing with both of them.
Overall, the race was a great experience. I would have liked a faster time, but given the lack of training I'm not disappointed. I had a really good time doing it, and it's given me a baseline for the half ironman in October. This race, more than anything, has me charged up to start training again. While the running is my least favorite part of triathlon, I still enjoyed the race today. I'm very much looking forward to my next race on May 17th.
Myself, Melissa & Deedra after the finish
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Workouts - April 5th-11th
I didn't do much for the first three days this week. Life just kind of interfered on Monday and Wednesday, and Tuesday is typically a rest day as that's typically my day with my little brother.
I did get to the pool on Thursday. I swam 2,150 yards in 51:11. I started with 5 sets of 100 yards on a 2:15 interval, rested for a little over a minute, then did another set of 5 100s on a 2:15. After another short rest, I started a set of 2 250 yard swims on a 5:30 interval, then followed that by a 500 yard swim.
I had intended to do 200 yards of cool-down, but after about 80 or 85 yards my right calf cramped up bad. The cramp happened in the deep end of the pool, so I was not able to just immediately stand up and put some weight on it. After treading water for 30 seconds or so, I finished out the rest of the 20 or 25 yards of the first 100 of my cool down and promptly stood up to work the cramp out. I was contemplating finishing out the last 100 yards, but my left calf started cramping up while I was standing in the shallow end and at that point I decided I was just done for the night.
Overall the swim went well. Even with the cramp at the end, I got over a mile in. I was happy with the way I responded, epsecially since it'd been awhile since I swam.
On Saturday morning I headed down to the downtown airport for a biking workout (less traffic to deal with there as opposed to the streets around my house). I did two laps of the airport, which worked out to 7.4 miles in 29 minutes and 39 seconds.
This was my first bike ride outside this year. Overall, I feel it went well. I was a bit disappointed that my overall speed was only at 15 MPH, as I was hoping for something around 16 or 17 MPH, but since this is my first ride outside I can't complain. I am faster than last year. Last year my max average speed was 13 MPH, and it typically hovered around 12.5 MPH.
There were a few things that I was actually fairly nervous about before this ride. The first thing that had me worried was how I was going to get started riding. I recently had my bike fit to me, and one of the things that changed was the height of my seat. I'm happy with the new seat position as it gives me more power, but those of you that know me know that I'm not exactly tall. Last year, I was able to straddle my seat and have my left foot on the ground. This year, with the seat raised, that's not possible, and I was worried about how I was going to get clipped into my pedals and actually start riding. I took some advice from a biking friend and instead of straddling the seat, I straddled the center post and clipped my right shoe into the pedal. I then pushed off and started going, standing on the pedal to raise myself up enough to get seated, then just started pedaling without clipping my left shoe in. I managed to clip myself into the left pedal while riding. It worked well. I took a short break between the two laps and was thus able to practice this twice, and it worked well both times.
The pedals I have on the bike now are nice. Over the winter I upgraded from Shimanos to Crank Brothers Eggbeaters. The Eggbeaters are technically mountain bike pedals, but they work very well on my road bike. They are super easy to clip into and out of. Today was my first time I used them on the actual road, and I was very impressed with them. I'll be using these for awhile.
The other thing I was nervous about was using the new aero bars. I knew from reading I'd done that controlling the bike was more difficult while on the aero bars, and I was worried about falling, especially while I was getting into and out of the aero position. This ended up not being an issue. The bike was certainly a bit harder to control from the aero position, but that makes sense since you're essentialy controlling the bike with your elbows instead of your hands. But it wasn't too bad. There was some weaving, but I think that was expected, and I never even came close to laying the bike down, even when I was switching positions.
I really liked being in the aero position, and I attribute that position to the increase in MPH from last year. I think I'm going to be spending alot of time in this position as it was pretty comfortable and allowed me to get some really good power from the pedals.
One other point of interest to talk about regarding this ride: my new tires. I upgraded my tire to Vitorria Rubino IIIs recently and had not ridden them yet. I really liked them. They rode well, and I could tell a bit of difference from my old stock tires.
Overall my week wasn't terribly productive workout-wise, but I was happy with the work I did get in. This week has me reenergized in terms of wanting to work out, so hopefully this next week will be a little bit better.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Getting Back at It
I know it's been awhile since I've posted here. I've been on a pretty steady diet of 50 hour weeks at work since last October, so when I was working out, by the time I got home from work and finished my work out, it was time for dinner, and by the time I finished dinner I would forget to write up a post about my workout.
Thankfully the overtime has cooled some - we're now on an alternating 40 hour week/50 hour week schedule, which is actually quite nice. I get off "early" one week, but get the extra money from ten hours of time-and-a-half pay the next week, so it's a medium I'm currently happy with.
That being said, I doubt I'm going to try to update here daily anymore. Part of my problem with updating earlier this year was that I didn't want to make a 25-word post that basically said "I worked out for 45 minutes on the trainer tonight, and it went well." I always found writing those posts an annoying waste of time, and assumed anyone reading them felt the same. So, I think I'm going to try to post on Sundays with one big post that sums up the week's efforts.
Of course, if I do have something to say outside of my workouts, like race write-ups or equipment reviews, I'll write those when I can and throw them up here outside of the once-a-week format. Now that it's finally getting warmer outside, I can start biking outside again, something I'm very much looking forward to. Not only do I have new pedals on my bike since the last time I rode it outside, I've got new tires and a set of clip-on aerobars that have yet to be tested on the road. Expect posts about all these things (except maybe the tires; we'll see if I can tell any difference and go from there).
As far as this past week goes, I was very lax with my training. I biked on the trainer for 45 minutes on Monday and got a very good workout in there, had Tuesday as a rest day (Tuesday are typically rest days for me), then ran six miles on Wednesday. I did nothing beyond that. I'd planned on swimming on Thursday, but decided mowing the lawn was more important (and it turns out, I was glad I mowed it Thursday; it rained on Friday, my back-up mow day). Friday is also typically a rest day for me, and Saturday I'd planned to bike 11 miles and run 7 1/2 miles, but the fairly cold temps coupled with the need to be done fairly early to run some errands and meet up for a friend's birthday celebration eventually convinced me to be lazy and play baseball on the Playstation instead. Sunday is usually a swimming day, but with Easter family plans I didn't even attempt to get to the pool. I don't even know if the Community Center was open on Easter or not; I knew I wasn't going to try so I didn't even bother to find out.
It was a bad week for training, but those are going to happen. Life has a way of interfering with our plans, so all I can do is accept it and do better next week.
Thankfully the overtime has cooled some - we're now on an alternating 40 hour week/50 hour week schedule, which is actually quite nice. I get off "early" one week, but get the extra money from ten hours of time-and-a-half pay the next week, so it's a medium I'm currently happy with.
That being said, I doubt I'm going to try to update here daily anymore. Part of my problem with updating earlier this year was that I didn't want to make a 25-word post that basically said "I worked out for 45 minutes on the trainer tonight, and it went well." I always found writing those posts an annoying waste of time, and assumed anyone reading them felt the same. So, I think I'm going to try to post on Sundays with one big post that sums up the week's efforts.
Of course, if I do have something to say outside of my workouts, like race write-ups or equipment reviews, I'll write those when I can and throw them up here outside of the once-a-week format. Now that it's finally getting warmer outside, I can start biking outside again, something I'm very much looking forward to. Not only do I have new pedals on my bike since the last time I rode it outside, I've got new tires and a set of clip-on aerobars that have yet to be tested on the road. Expect posts about all these things (except maybe the tires; we'll see if I can tell any difference and go from there).
As far as this past week goes, I was very lax with my training. I biked on the trainer for 45 minutes on Monday and got a very good workout in there, had Tuesday as a rest day (Tuesday are typically rest days for me), then ran six miles on Wednesday. I did nothing beyond that. I'd planned on swimming on Thursday, but decided mowing the lawn was more important (and it turns out, I was glad I mowed it Thursday; it rained on Friday, my back-up mow day). Friday is also typically a rest day for me, and Saturday I'd planned to bike 11 miles and run 7 1/2 miles, but the fairly cold temps coupled with the need to be done fairly early to run some errands and meet up for a friend's birthday celebration eventually convinced me to be lazy and play baseball on the Playstation instead. Sunday is usually a swimming day, but with Easter family plans I didn't even attempt to get to the pool. I don't even know if the Community Center was open on Easter or not; I knew I wasn't going to try so I didn't even bother to find out.
It was a bad week for training, but those are going to happen. Life has a way of interfering with our plans, so all I can do is accept it and do better next week.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Thursday Night Workout
I got a really good workout in tonight. I started with 50 minutes on the bike trainer followed immediately by 15 minutes (1.4 miles) on the treadmill.
I was very happy with the workouts tonight. I was a bit apprehensive about the run. As I mentioned earlier this week, I took all of last week off because I was feeling a bit ill, so it's been over a week since I last ran. Since I was doing it after the longest ride of the year, I didn't know how long I was going to be able to last, but I surprised myself by not only being able to go all 15 minutes, but by being able to keep a pace of 5.7 mph the entire time. 5.7 mph is a pretty good clip for me on the treadmill, but I was able to keep the pace the entire time tonight and actually felt like I could keep going when I was done.
It felt great to get back into the full swing of things tonight. The aerobars on the bike are working out nicely, but I still feel I need a fitting to get the most use out of them. Overall though I'm quite happy with them thus far. I'll write a proper review on them after I use them on the actual road a few times.
Monday, February 9, 2015
Monday Night Workout
I got a good workout in tonight. I did 1,200 yards in the pool, then did some strength training and then went home and did 35 minutes on the bike trainer.
The swim went very well. I got 1,200 yards done in 24:56. Yesterday I did 1,100 yards in 25:05, so today went a bit better than yesterday. Today, however, I went back to distance swimming, which is my bread and butter in the water and did 1,000 yards non-stop. I'm not sure this is the longest I've ever gone in one stretch before, but it's certainly the longest I've gone since high school. I felt like I could've kept going, so that's good.
I don't have much to say about the strength training. I used the machines at the Community Center for the first time and rather liked them.
The biking was the most fun portion tonight. A week and a half ago I ordered a set of clip-on aerobars for my bike. They arrived last Saturday and I installed them then, but aside from playing with them a bit to get a decent fit this was my first workout with them.
I went with the Profile Design T3+ Carbon aerobars (picturs below). After using them tonight I really like them. They let me get down into a more aerodynamic position and they let me rest my arms a bit. That was a fairly large issue tonight as my arms were quite tired from the swim and weights, so being able to rest them was nice. I think the option to rest my arms will come in very handy during the half Ironman in October.
I feel I need a proper fitting from an actual bike fitter for the aerobars, however. I liked being able to rest my arms, I felt like my knees were in my chest while riding. While this very well might be normal for aerobars, I feel it isn't and want to get fitted to make sure my bike is set up correctly. All things considered, however, I'm very happy with them.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Swimming Workout 2/8/15
I swam 1,100 yards in 25 minutes and 15 seconds today, then played 18 holes of golf.
The workout was slightly disappointing, but I'm not too upset. I took all last week off from working out as I was feeling very burnt out between the workouts and the overtime at work. I was also feeling a bit under the weather, so I felt that taking a week off was the right decision.
Today's workout was intended to be done as 100 yard sets on a two minute interval. I managed to do the first one on a two minute interval, but after that had to drop back to a 2:15 interval. I was a bit upset that I had to dial it back a bit, but after the week off I can't complain.
I still think the decision to take the week off was the right one. I feel reengergized and no longer feel slightly sick, which is all to the good. I'm actively looking forward to this week's workouts instead of looking forward to my rest days.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
This Weeks Workouts
Sorry for the lack of posting here lately. I've been working alot of hours at work, and while I've always found time for my workouts, I haven't always made time to post about it here.
This week is a rest week, so the workouts are much easier than I'm used to these days. Monday night was a 15 minute run. I did this on the treadmill, as it's hard to find that short of a route in my neighborhood.
Tuesday was, as normal, a rest day, and Wednesday had me doing 25 minutes on the trainer. That went pretty well, but, like most training rides, was pretty boring to talk about.
Tonight was another 15 minutes on the treadmilll. I was able to up the speed for all 15 minutes tonight and I'm finding out I can go faster for farther then I ever thought possible.
I'm not sure what workouts this weekend will bring. Certainly my scheduled time in the pool on Sunday, and I was planning on a long run for Saturday, but it turns out I'll be at work for six hours and I have plans in the evening, so we'll see if I have time to squeeze in a run on Saturday or not. I'm finding myself looking forward to my workouts because I like the way I feel afterwards. I can't wait to see how this all pays off during my first race.
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Thursday and Friday Night Workouts & Thoughts on Swimming
I forgot to post on Thursday evening and didn't have time last night, so let's get caught up with what I've been doing.
Thursday evening after work I ran thirty minutes on the treadmill and went 2.683 miles. It was a good workout and I felt good at the end of it. Out of breath and really sweaty, but good.
Friday night I swam 1,350 yards in 29:59. My training plan called for half an hour in the pool, so I managed to hit that right on the head. I purposely gave myself less rest this time around than I'm accustomed to this workout. My longest rest was around 1:10.
My first set consisted of 5 x 100 on a 2:00 interval, followed by a little over a minute of rest. Then I did 5 x 50 on a 1:00, followed by another minute or so of rest, then swam 400 yards. After another minute or so of rest I finished out with 2 x 100 on a 2:00.
The workout was very satisfying. I was a bit apprehensive about it. Not nervous exactly, but defintely a bit worried about the low rest periods. I was afraid I'd have no rest between the last few 100s of my set, but that wasn't the case. I always had at least 5-6 seconds to recover and catch my breath before starting again. I know that doesn't seem like a lot of time, but in the competitive swimming workd that's almost an eternity. It was enough time for me to stand up and get some breath back before starting the next 100, and I was very happy I was able to do these on a 2:00 interval. When I first got back in the water back in July, there was no way this would have been possible.
I was very happy with the swim workout. It was hard, which is ideal, but not quite so hard I felt I couldn't do it. I'm going to keep the low rest midset going forward. Hopefully it will help make me faster again. I know that with the distances I'll be swimming at races, especially the half-Ironman in October, speed is definitely not the name of the game, but I can never help thinking "In high school I was finishing 100s easily in 1:20-1:30 without being too winded", and that's what I want to get back to. That goal is likely slightly unrealistic as I'm no longer swimming for two hours a day five days a week, but I'd like to get my average time down from 1:50ish to 1:35 to 1:40. At that point, doing 100s on a 2:00 interval wouldn't be nearly as bad as it was Friday.
It always amazes me how much swimming helps clear my head. For the last two days of this week work has been crazy and I'd been fairly stressed about it and most of my thoughts were consumed with work, but swimming always helps me clear my head.
When I'm biking or running, my brain doesn't really disengage. I'm thinking about what I'm doing and usually trying to convince myself to keep going. (I'm especially bad at this when I run, telling myself to make it just one more minute, or one more quarter mile, just to repeat the exact same mantra once that minute or quarter mile is done).
When I'm swimming, however, I don't have to think that way. I think because I swam for so many years, I subconsciously know I can do the yardage, and that frees my head up to work through all the cobwebs that have accumulated. All I know is that when I went into the pool on Friday, I was in a bad mood and my head was spinning from thinking about everything that needed doing at work, but when I was done all that stuff was neatly packed away in a box and I was no longer stessing about next week. I can't explain why swimming works this way for me, but I'll take it.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Wednesday Night Run
I got 25 minutes in on the treadmill tonight. I'd planned on doing two miles outside, but once I got home I really didn't feel like getting bundled up to go outside so I decided to just jump on the treadmill instead.
The run went well. I got in 2.22 miles in 25 minutes. As usual, the first three to six minutes were the hardest. Once I got past the first part, it got easier. Near the end, again as usual on the treadmill, I felt like I could keep going. I upped the speed for the last three minutes, and actually felt better running faster than I had for the rest of the run.
I almost didn't work out at all today. Since Monday I've been feeling a bit run-down. I'm not sure if I'm just tired, or if I have a bit of the flu, or if I'm overtraining a bit, but I've been feeling very tired this week. I'm glad I worked out because I felt better afterwards, but I had a hard time convincing myself to do it. Hopefully I can get caught up on sleep this weekend and be back to normal next week.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Swim Workout 1/19/15
I got 1,100 yards in today in 24:57. I did 10 sets of 100 yards on a 2:15 interval, then rested about 40 seconds then did 2 50s on a 1:00 interval.
I was very pleased with the workout. I pushed myself hard tonight and stuck to my sets. I can tell I'm getting better in the pool.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Running Workout 1/18/15
I did 2.66 miles in 31:33 today. I chose to run around the neighborhood today instead of up in Kearney.
Despite being almost half the distance of yesterday's run, today's was quite a bit harder, for a few of reasons. Firstly, the area around my house has much steeper hills than Kearney. It's not that Kearney is flat, but the hills there are rolling as opposed to the steep hills around my house. Secondly, I've never ran two days in a row before, and I think my body was still trying to recover from the five miles I put it through yesterday. I was also overdressed - I had on a light-weight sweatshirt and would've been fine in just the tee shirt I had on underneath it. I probably would've been a bit cold at first, but I think I would've been happier in just the tee shirt.
Overall I was happy with my run today. I was wanting to walk less than a mile into it but pushed myself to keep going, and I'm happy I did. Today was also the first time I didn't even look at my watch to see how far I'd gone until I got to the end of my run. I usually track my mileage more than I should, but I avoided the temptation today and it worked out well. I just ran, and it felt good.
Overall, though, I'm glad tomorrow is not another running day. I'm looking forward to swimming and cycling and giving my running muscles a bit of a rest. I won't be running again until Wednesday, and I'm looking forward to the short break.
Today also marks the three week mark in my training plan. I've yet to skip a workout, and for the past two weeks I've added Saturday runs to my plan, meaning I've worked out six days a week for those weeks. I'm already starting to see a slight reduction to the size of my belly, which is one of my main goals. All I have to do is keep following my plan and I think everything is going to work out great.
Despite being almost half the distance of yesterday's run, today's was quite a bit harder, for a few of reasons. Firstly, the area around my house has much steeper hills than Kearney. It's not that Kearney is flat, but the hills there are rolling as opposed to the steep hills around my house. Secondly, I've never ran two days in a row before, and I think my body was still trying to recover from the five miles I put it through yesterday. I was also overdressed - I had on a light-weight sweatshirt and would've been fine in just the tee shirt I had on underneath it. I probably would've been a bit cold at first, but I think I would've been happier in just the tee shirt.
Overall I was happy with my run today. I was wanting to walk less than a mile into it but pushed myself to keep going, and I'm happy I did. Today was also the first time I didn't even look at my watch to see how far I'd gone until I got to the end of my run. I usually track my mileage more than I should, but I avoided the temptation today and it worked out well. I just ran, and it felt good.
Overall, though, I'm glad tomorrow is not another running day. I'm looking forward to swimming and cycling and giving my running muscles a bit of a rest. I won't be running again until Wednesday, and I'm looking forward to the short break.
Today also marks the three week mark in my training plan. I've yet to skip a workout, and for the past two weeks I've added Saturday runs to my plan, meaning I've worked out six days a week for those weeks. I'm already starting to see a slight reduction to the size of my belly, which is one of my main goals. All I have to do is keep following my plan and I think everything is going to work out great.
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Saturday Morning Run 1/17/15
We went up to Kearny today and ran on the trail near the high school. I got in 5 miles and ran all of them. I finished in 58:22 with an average pace of 11:40 minutes per mile.
To say I'm a little bit surprised I ran all five miles is a bit of an understatement. About 2.25 miles in I didn't know if I'd be able to run all five, but I pushed through and managed to keep going. What was even more suprising to me was the pace I ran it at. When I ran two miles earlier this week, my pace was 12 minutes per mile, so to have a faster pace at this much longer distance surprised me considerably. I was expecting a 12:30 or 13:00 minutes per mile pace.
Five miles is by far the most I've ever ran at one time in my entire life. My previous record was the two miles I did earlier this week, so to get all five miles in without stopping to walk was a big accomplishment for me.
The trail up at Kearny was nice. I'd never ran it before, and I liked it. There were some rolling hills, but nothing super-steep like here around our house. I'll definitely go up there again.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Biking Workout 1/16/15
Not much to say about tonight's workout. 45 good, hard minutes on the trainer. Got a really good sweat worked up and got a good workout in.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Swimming Workout 1/15/15
Got 1,150 yards done in 24:58 tonight. I did 3 sets of 300 yards on a 6:30 interval, then rested for almost two minutes, then finished out with 5 sets of 50 yards on a 1:00 interval.
The workout tonight was good. I've been trying to increase the distance of my longer sets at least once a week, building up to 2,200 yards eventually (roughly the distance I'll need to swim in the half Ironman in October). 300 yards is certainly not the longest I've ever swam, but it's a good start in my bid to rebuild endurance in the pool.
I can tell I'm slowly getting better. The long distances are getting easier and the short distances are getting faster. The last time I did 5 sets of 50 yards on a 1:00 interval, I wasn't able to get the last set done with any rest. Today, I had about two seconds of rest before the last set. It's not much, but it's better than no rest, which means I'm making progress.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Running Workout 1/14/15
After work tonight I got outside and ran 2 miles. I actually ran all 2 miles and didn't stop to walk once, which is a big achievement for me. I've done that on the treadmill before, but never outside, so getting it done was a big deal for me. I average a 12 minute per mile pace and finished in 24:02.
The first .3-.5 miles were the hardest. Once I got over that hump (and got my body warmed up) I just kept rolling. There were a few times I was really wanting to walk, mainly close to the top of the few big hills I climb, but I pushed through it and hit the downhill part before I knew it, where I was able to catch my breath.
The progress I've made in the past two and a half weeks amazes me. Three weeks ago I would never have even contemplated running two miles all at once. In fact, back then, my plan was to slowly ramp up my intervals, starting with running .3 miles and walking .1, then every week adding a tenth or two of a mile to my run portions. The thought of doing more than half a mile at a time seemed impossible and scary, yet today I ran 2 miles. It just goes to show what a little bit of working out can do.
I'm also amazed by how much better I can feel after a workout. After dealing with some stupid people at work today and annoying slowdowns in traffic on the way home, I wasn't exactly in a good mood when I walked in the door. After running, I was in a good mood again.
Tonight's run was a good one. I'm planning on 5 miles this Saturday, and I'm actually looking forward to it, something I never thought I would do.
The first .3-.5 miles were the hardest. Once I got over that hump (and got my body warmed up) I just kept rolling. There were a few times I was really wanting to walk, mainly close to the top of the few big hills I climb, but I pushed through it and hit the downhill part before I knew it, where I was able to catch my breath.
The progress I've made in the past two and a half weeks amazes me. Three weeks ago I would never have even contemplated running two miles all at once. In fact, back then, my plan was to slowly ramp up my intervals, starting with running .3 miles and walking .1, then every week adding a tenth or two of a mile to my run portions. The thought of doing more than half a mile at a time seemed impossible and scary, yet today I ran 2 miles. It just goes to show what a little bit of working out can do.
I'm also amazed by how much better I can feel after a workout. After dealing with some stupid people at work today and annoying slowdowns in traffic on the way home, I wasn't exactly in a good mood when I walked in the door. After running, I was in a good mood again.
Tonight's run was a good one. I'm planning on 5 miles this Saturday, and I'm actually looking forward to it, something I never thought I would do.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Monday Night Swimming & Biking Workout
After work today I got to the pool and got 800 yards done in 19 1/2 minutes. I did them on a 2:30 interval. Once that was done, I went home and got in a half hour on the bike trainer.
The swim went pretty well. Like planned, I took it a bit easy in the pool after my shoulder started hurting during my workout last Friday. There was no pain today, which is great. I think I just freaked out a bit when it started hurting last Friday. The pool was especially crowded tonight, though. For the first time since I started going to the community center, I had to circle swim. It wasn't a big deal, just not something I'm used to at the community center.
The trainer ride went OK. I got tired easily tonight, likely due to doing it after a swim. It's been months since I've done that particular workout, so I'm not quite used to it yet.
Overall tonight was a good night for working out. I wish the biking portion had gone a bit better, but there's always the next one to get after it.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Bike Workout 1/11/15
I did 45 minutes on the trainer this afternoon, focusing on low resistance with high RPM. I prefer that kind of workout as it saves wear and tear on my knees and still gets a massive sweat worked up. I think almost all of my trainer rides will be low resistance/high RPM, as that seems to work well for me.
It was a great workout. I got my heart rate elevated and I really enjoyed the ride. I need a new rear tube, as mine keeps going flat, but that won't be hard to fix in the near future.
I almost didn't work out today as I've been feeling slightly sick all day. I don't have the flu or anything, but I had friends over late last night and made the mistake of having two cups of coffee after 9 PM. The end result was that I couldn't fall asleep until around 3 AM this morning, so I've been very tired and lethargic all day, and it's left me feeling a bit sick. It felt like a hangover minus the headache, but after working out I feel great, likely because I got my blood flowing and finally woke myself up. In the end, I'm very very glad I worked out, which is usually how I feel after I work out. I've been slowly learning that I always feel better after working out, which is why I forced myself to start today. It ended up being a good thing.
My legs felt great today. I was a bit curious to see how they'd feel after yesterday's four mile run, but no ill effects thus far. I've ran 4 miles a few times before, but I've never actually ran as much of it as I did yesterday. Typically I'd take breaks around .4 or .5 miles, instead of after every mile like yesterday, and I've always noticed that my legs were a bit sore the next day, so I'm glad that's not the case today. It's a good indication of progress being made.
And speaking of how my body feels, my right shoulder has felt fine all weekend. I think I was just a bit paranoid when I felt it hurting in the pool on Friday. I'm not a hypochondriac by any means, but I am very paranoid of old injuries flaring back up. Since it's happened to me before, I have a hard time telling my brain that everything is fine and that nothing is actually really wrong in the heat of the moment. We'll see how the swim tomorrow goes, but I think everything is going to be OK with my shoulder.
It was a great workout. I got my heart rate elevated and I really enjoyed the ride. I need a new rear tube, as mine keeps going flat, but that won't be hard to fix in the near future.
I almost didn't work out today as I've been feeling slightly sick all day. I don't have the flu or anything, but I had friends over late last night and made the mistake of having two cups of coffee after 9 PM. The end result was that I couldn't fall asleep until around 3 AM this morning, so I've been very tired and lethargic all day, and it's left me feeling a bit sick. It felt like a hangover minus the headache, but after working out I feel great, likely because I got my blood flowing and finally woke myself up. In the end, I'm very very glad I worked out, which is usually how I feel after I work out. I've been slowly learning that I always feel better after working out, which is why I forced myself to start today. It ended up being a good thing.
My legs felt great today. I was a bit curious to see how they'd feel after yesterday's four mile run, but no ill effects thus far. I've ran 4 miles a few times before, but I've never actually ran as much of it as I did yesterday. Typically I'd take breaks around .4 or .5 miles, instead of after every mile like yesterday, and I've always noticed that my legs were a bit sore the next day, so I'm glad that's not the case today. It's a good indication of progress being made.
And speaking of how my body feels, my right shoulder has felt fine all weekend. I think I was just a bit paranoid when I felt it hurting in the pool on Friday. I'm not a hypochondriac by any means, but I am very paranoid of old injuries flaring back up. Since it's happened to me before, I have a hard time telling my brain that everything is fine and that nothing is actually really wrong in the heat of the moment. We'll see how the swim tomorrow goes, but I think everything is going to be OK with my shoulder.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Running Workout 1/10/15
Got an outside run in for the first time this week and it went great. It wasn't part of my training plan (today was planned as a rest day), but my training plan is built around a Sprint triathlon, which ends with a 5K (3.1 mile) run. I have a half-marathon to do in April, so I knew going in I'd be adding some running mileage to my training plan.
I took last Saturday as a rest day and it almost drove me nuts not doing anything. Tuesday is also a rest day, and two rest days felt like too many, especially since one of them was on a weekend.
I got 4 miles in today, and ran 3.7 of it. I was doing intervals of 1 mile running followed by .1 mile walking, and it worked well. I won't say the last .7 miles (my last running interval) was exactly fun, because that part really kicked my butt, but I was happy I got all the running mileage I wanted done. Overall, I finished the 4 miles in 49:28, which equates to an average pace of 12:22 minutes per mile.
This is the best running workout I've ever done, and I'm happy to have done it outside. Running outside is much harder than me than running on a treadmill, so being able to run 1 mile nonstop multiple times is a huge victory for me.
More and more I'm seeing the benefits of consistent training in all three disciplines. I have no doubt that the training in each discipline is helping me in the other two. Running and biking feed off each other by strengthening my legs and getting my lungs accustomed to the exertion, and swimming especially helps the other two as it improves my breath control and breathing in general. I don't know if anyone one discipline is helping me any more than another, but I'm certain that if I was only running, or biking, I wouldn't be making strides this large this quickly.
There were multiple times this week I really felt like skipping my workout (last night in particular, as I was at work later than normal), but I kept forcing myself to keep doing. I read once that "It takes 4 weeks to notice a change in your body, 8 weeks for close friends to notice it, and 12 weeks for the world at large to notice it". I'm not sure of the veracity of that statement, as I found it on the internet, but I'm choosing to believe it. Tomorrow's workout will mark 2 full weeks of working out almost every day, and I want to give it the 4 weeks to see if I do see a change in my body.
It's not that I haven't already started noticing changes; everyone that's been reading this knows that I've been impressed and happy with the progress I've been making with my workouts. But I have yet to notice a real change in the mirror, and while that's not the main goal, it is a very important secondary goal to me. I got into triathlon mainly to do a triathlon (and eventually an Ironman, so I can go around saying "Yeah, I'm an Ironman, just like Tony Stark"), but also to help me lose my gut. I'm not really self-conscious about my weight in general, but I don't like my gut. My weight isn't a big factor to me; if I weighed what I do now but didn't have a gut, I'd be happy. But I do want to lose my rather expanded middle section, and I'm hoping I'll start to see progress on that front over the next few weeks.
To that end, I've been trying to slowly modify my eating habits. I'm trying to snack less, and when I do snack I try to go for fairly healthy alternatives like green apples and sunflower seeds as opposed to chocolate and potato chips. I've also been drinking more water and less beer. I'll never cut beer out completely (I like it too much for that), but I'm down to one or two a week with dinner instead of 3 or 4. I'll still occasionally have one when we go out for dinner (especially on special occasions), but I've even cut back on that. Hopefully soon I'll see the improvement I'm looking for.
I took last Saturday as a rest day and it almost drove me nuts not doing anything. Tuesday is also a rest day, and two rest days felt like too many, especially since one of them was on a weekend.
I got 4 miles in today, and ran 3.7 of it. I was doing intervals of 1 mile running followed by .1 mile walking, and it worked well. I won't say the last .7 miles (my last running interval) was exactly fun, because that part really kicked my butt, but I was happy I got all the running mileage I wanted done. Overall, I finished the 4 miles in 49:28, which equates to an average pace of 12:22 minutes per mile.
This is the best running workout I've ever done, and I'm happy to have done it outside. Running outside is much harder than me than running on a treadmill, so being able to run 1 mile nonstop multiple times is a huge victory for me.
More and more I'm seeing the benefits of consistent training in all three disciplines. I have no doubt that the training in each discipline is helping me in the other two. Running and biking feed off each other by strengthening my legs and getting my lungs accustomed to the exertion, and swimming especially helps the other two as it improves my breath control and breathing in general. I don't know if anyone one discipline is helping me any more than another, but I'm certain that if I was only running, or biking, I wouldn't be making strides this large this quickly.
There were multiple times this week I really felt like skipping my workout (last night in particular, as I was at work later than normal), but I kept forcing myself to keep doing. I read once that "It takes 4 weeks to notice a change in your body, 8 weeks for close friends to notice it, and 12 weeks for the world at large to notice it". I'm not sure of the veracity of that statement, as I found it on the internet, but I'm choosing to believe it. Tomorrow's workout will mark 2 full weeks of working out almost every day, and I want to give it the 4 weeks to see if I do see a change in my body.
It's not that I haven't already started noticing changes; everyone that's been reading this knows that I've been impressed and happy with the progress I've been making with my workouts. But I have yet to notice a real change in the mirror, and while that's not the main goal, it is a very important secondary goal to me. I got into triathlon mainly to do a triathlon (and eventually an Ironman, so I can go around saying "Yeah, I'm an Ironman, just like Tony Stark"), but also to help me lose my gut. I'm not really self-conscious about my weight in general, but I don't like my gut. My weight isn't a big factor to me; if I weighed what I do now but didn't have a gut, I'd be happy. But I do want to lose my rather expanded middle section, and I'm hoping I'll start to see progress on that front over the next few weeks.
To that end, I've been trying to slowly modify my eating habits. I'm trying to snack less, and when I do snack I try to go for fairly healthy alternatives like green apples and sunflower seeds as opposed to chocolate and potato chips. I've also been drinking more water and less beer. I'll never cut beer out completely (I like it too much for that), but I'm down to one or two a week with dinner instead of 3 or 4. I'll still occasionally have one when we go out for dinner (especially on special occasions), but I've even cut back on that. Hopefully soon I'll see the improvement I'm looking for.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Swim Workout 1/9/15
Did 1,500 yards in 35:13 today in the pool. It was a great workout, but man, did it kick my butt.
My first set was (5) 200s on a 4:15 interval. After that was done, I took close to 2 minutes of rest, then did (5) 50s on a 1:00 interval. I rested another 2 minutes, then did a 100, followed by a 150 after 20 seconds of rets to round out to 1,500 yards. I had initially intended to finish out with (2) 100s, but ended up deciding I'd rather add 50 yards to the end of my last set to get to 1,500 yards.
I think my intervals may have been a bit fast for my current fitness level. I only got roughly 10 seconds of rest on my last two 200s, and I literally got no rest at all going into my last 50. But it was good. The fast pace/low rest is a good way to get better, but I think next Monday will be a slow pace/long rest day just to help me recover from tonight's workout.
Tonight was by far the most taxing workout I've had since I started this journey. I can't say I'm entirely surprised that my most taxing workout came in the pool. I've swam for so long that my subconscious knows exactly what it's doing, even if I don't realize it. I instinctively know just how hard to push myself without making myself so tired I can't continue. I haven't got that nice little instinct for running or cycling yet, so I tend to hold back a bit in both those disciplines because I'm deathly afraid of injuring myself to the point that I can't compete in my races.
That being said, I may have overdone it a bit tonight. My arms, especially my right shoulder, are quite sore. My shoulder is the most troubling - my senior year in high school I developed tendinitis in that shoulder and had to do nothing but kick workouts for 3-4 weeks, and I'm honestly worried about that flaring up again due to the repetitive motion inherent in swimming. We'll see how I feel after this weekend, but even if it feels fine I'm expecting Monday night's swim to be much easier to help ease my mind regarding this.
My first set was (5) 200s on a 4:15 interval. After that was done, I took close to 2 minutes of rest, then did (5) 50s on a 1:00 interval. I rested another 2 minutes, then did a 100, followed by a 150 after 20 seconds of rets to round out to 1,500 yards. I had initially intended to finish out with (2) 100s, but ended up deciding I'd rather add 50 yards to the end of my last set to get to 1,500 yards.
I think my intervals may have been a bit fast for my current fitness level. I only got roughly 10 seconds of rest on my last two 200s, and I literally got no rest at all going into my last 50. But it was good. The fast pace/low rest is a good way to get better, but I think next Monday will be a slow pace/long rest day just to help me recover from tonight's workout.
Tonight was by far the most taxing workout I've had since I started this journey. I can't say I'm entirely surprised that my most taxing workout came in the pool. I've swam for so long that my subconscious knows exactly what it's doing, even if I don't realize it. I instinctively know just how hard to push myself without making myself so tired I can't continue. I haven't got that nice little instinct for running or cycling yet, so I tend to hold back a bit in both those disciplines because I'm deathly afraid of injuring myself to the point that I can't compete in my races.
That being said, I may have overdone it a bit tonight. My arms, especially my right shoulder, are quite sore. My shoulder is the most troubling - my senior year in high school I developed tendinitis in that shoulder and had to do nothing but kick workouts for 3-4 weeks, and I'm honestly worried about that flaring up again due to the repetitive motion inherent in swimming. We'll see how I feel after this weekend, but even if it feels fine I'm expecting Monday night's swim to be much easier to help ease my mind regarding this.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Treadmill Run 1/8/15
I did another 25 minutes on the treadmill tonight and got 2.214 miles in, slightly more than last Monday. I upped my speed by .2 MPH for the last 2 minutes. Next time I do a treadmill run, I'm expecting to up it for the last three minutes, and just keep increasing it by one minute each successive run.
Tonight's run was much easier than Monday night's, likely because I knew I could run for all 25 minutes because I'd already done it. To tell the truth, I could've keep going for more than 25 minutes, but I'm sticking to my training plan pretty religiously, and that called for just 25 minutes tonight. It's funny; three weeks ago, I would never have thought it was "just" 25 minutes of running. This is why I'm sticking to the training plan: I've done it this far and I'm already seeing huge gains.
Tonight was also strength night for me. My training plan doesn't call for any weight training, but I wanted to add some in. Some extra upper body strength will certainly come in handy during the swim portion of a race. Since I'm making the strength training up as I go, I'm starting out pretty lite - only two days a week (Sunday and Thursday). I bench press about 75 pounds in 5 sets of 10. I'm not entirely certain how much my bar weighs, but I've got 30 pounds of weights on it. I then curl about fifteen pounds, sticking with 5 sets of 10. Again, I'm not sure how much my dumbbell weighs, but I've got 10 pounds of weights on it.
Tomorrow is a swim day. With 35 minutes of swimming called for, it's the longest swim to date. I'm looking forward to it. I think cycling is probably my favorite discipline, but swimming is by far the one I'm best at, and I like the fact that it's so low-impact. Not entirely sure what my sets tomorrow will consist of, but I'm leaning towards (5) 200s on a 4:15, followed by (5) 50s on a 1:00, then a few 100s on a 2:15 or 2:30 to round out to 35 minutes. We'll see if that's what I end up doing or not.
Tonight's run was much easier than Monday night's, likely because I knew I could run for all 25 minutes because I'd already done it. To tell the truth, I could've keep going for more than 25 minutes, but I'm sticking to my training plan pretty religiously, and that called for just 25 minutes tonight. It's funny; three weeks ago, I would never have thought it was "just" 25 minutes of running. This is why I'm sticking to the training plan: I've done it this far and I'm already seeing huge gains.
Tonight was also strength night for me. My training plan doesn't call for any weight training, but I wanted to add some in. Some extra upper body strength will certainly come in handy during the swim portion of a race. Since I'm making the strength training up as I go, I'm starting out pretty lite - only two days a week (Sunday and Thursday). I bench press about 75 pounds in 5 sets of 10. I'm not entirely certain how much my bar weighs, but I've got 30 pounds of weights on it. I then curl about fifteen pounds, sticking with 5 sets of 10. Again, I'm not sure how much my dumbbell weighs, but I've got 10 pounds of weights on it.
Tomorrow is a swim day. With 35 minutes of swimming called for, it's the longest swim to date. I'm looking forward to it. I think cycling is probably my favorite discipline, but swimming is by far the one I'm best at, and I like the fact that it's so low-impact. Not entirely sure what my sets tomorrow will consist of, but I'm leaning towards (5) 200s on a 4:15, followed by (5) 50s on a 1:00, then a few 100s on a 2:15 or 2:30 to round out to 35 minutes. We'll see if that's what I end up doing or not.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Bike Workout 1/7/14
I got thirty minutes in on the bike trainer today. Not too much to say about this one. It was quite a bit easier than my last trainer ride because it was fifteen minutes shorter, but I still got a good workout in. I concentrated more on high RPMs today than previously.
The new pedals continue to impress. At this point I've pretty much said everything I have to say about them and won't likely mention them again.
Beyond that, not much to say today. Pretty plain jane workout this evening.
The new pedals continue to impress. At this point I've pretty much said everything I have to say about them and won't likely mention them again.
Beyond that, not much to say today. Pretty plain jane workout this evening.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Swim & Run Workout 1/5/15
After work today I went directly to the pool and did my swimming workout. I got 900 yards done in 19:57. I broke my workout up into four sets of 200 yards on a 4:30 interval, followed by one 100 yard set to finish up to 20 minutes. The swim went fairly well; I was happy to be swimming 200s again (the 200 yard free was one of my main races in high school), and was glad to see I could probably drop the interval down to 4:15 the next time I do these.
As soon as I was done swimming, I came home and ran for 25 minutes on the treadmill, covering 2.20 miles. I decided on the treadmill instead of an outside run not because of the temperature (because I can bundle up enough to make that a non-issue) but because of the condition of the sidewalks in our area. On the way into the community center to swim, I slipped once or twice on patches of black ice in the parking lot and was unwilling to risk that happening while I was running, so I opted for the treadmill tonight.
The treadmill run went great. 25 minutes is the longest I have ever run at one time in my entire life. During the first five minutes I was very much wanting to stop and walk, but I kept telling myself "At least get to a mile". Once I got to the mile I had less than 15 minutes left, so I convinced myself to just keep on trucking and I'm glad I did. Tonight proved to me that I am getting better at this stuff, and that I am getting back into shape.
I doubt I'll ever be as in-shape as I was in high school, but I can get fairly close. Tonight was the first really big sign of progress for me. I've seen other small signs along the way. like not falling over on my bike all the time, or managing to actually work out consistently instead of for just a few days, but tonight really showed me I can actually do this.
Today was a good day.
As soon as I was done swimming, I came home and ran for 25 minutes on the treadmill, covering 2.20 miles. I decided on the treadmill instead of an outside run not because of the temperature (because I can bundle up enough to make that a non-issue) but because of the condition of the sidewalks in our area. On the way into the community center to swim, I slipped once or twice on patches of black ice in the parking lot and was unwilling to risk that happening while I was running, so I opted for the treadmill tonight.
The treadmill run went great. 25 minutes is the longest I have ever run at one time in my entire life. During the first five minutes I was very much wanting to stop and walk, but I kept telling myself "At least get to a mile". Once I got to the mile I had less than 15 minutes left, so I convinced myself to just keep on trucking and I'm glad I did. Tonight proved to me that I am getting better at this stuff, and that I am getting back into shape.
I doubt I'll ever be as in-shape as I was in high school, but I can get fairly close. Tonight was the first really big sign of progress for me. I've seen other small signs along the way. like not falling over on my bike all the time, or managing to actually work out consistently instead of for just a few days, but tonight really showed me I can actually do this.
Today was a good day.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Bike Workout 1/4/15
Did 45 minutes on the trainer today. Got a good sweat worked up.
The new pedals continue to impress. I'm quite glad I switched. Today though my feet started hurting around the 30-35 minute mark. It's not totally new; it happend on long outdoor rides with my old pedals, probably about the same time frame. Somewhere between the 40 amd 45 minute mark I realized they were no longer hurting, so hooefully if it happens during a race I can back off a bit and get them feeling normal. I'm not worried about any Sprint tris; those will be done and over well before my feet should start hurting. If this continues, however, the Half-Ironman in October should prove interesting.
Garmin Vivofit Review
The Vivofit is worn around your wrist and doubles as a watch. It has one single button that cycles between the different displays: time, date, steps taken, number of steps left to meet your goal, miles walked and calories burned. If you have been inactive for an hour or more, a red bar appears on the top of the display, acting as a reminder to get up and walk around.
I've used multiple Fitbits in the past, including the Flex and the Force (prior to the recall and subsequent release of an upgraded version; I have not used the Force that's currently on the market). The Flex was a small band that used four lights to tell you how close to your goal you were, but that was the only display; if you wanted to know exactly how many steps you'd taken, you had to sync with your phone. The Force was a bit larger and doubled as a watch, much like the Vivofit. You could scroll through different screens to see different stats, just like the Vivofit.
The main difference between the Fitbit Force and the Garmin Vivofit is that the Force had a rechargable battery. Every two or three days it required recharging. Because of this, the display was not constantly on. If you wanted to check the time, you had to press a button to activate the display. The Vivofit comes with a replacable watch battery that Garmin claims is good for about one year. The display of the Vivofit is constanly on, so all you have to do to check the time is glance at your wrist, just like with a normal watch.
Comparing the Force and Vivofit products, I'm a bigger fan of the Garmin. I tried the Force but was eventually forced to return it when it was recalled. The battery charging port on the Force was on the back of the device, so it made contact with the skin, and the chemicals used in the charging port gave me a rash (which is why it was recalled). Fitbit, to thier credit, gave a full refund to everyone who sent the Force back, so props to them for running their company well.
Even if I had not had to return the Force, however, I would still prefer the Vivofit to it, simply because I don't have to charge it or activate the display to check the time. I also like the fact that it tells me when I've been inactive for awhile. More than once i's got me up and walking simply to remove the red bar from the display.
When compared with the Fitbit Flex, the Vivofit is the clear winner for me. As stated, the Flex has no display beyond four lights, which I didn't care much for. The lack of a display on the Flex also brought up another issue for me; the fact that I had to wear it and a watch. The only jewellery I ever wear is a watch and wedding ring. I didn't much care for the additon of another band on my wrist, but obvioulsy this is a highly personal gripe with the Fitbit, and most people won't be bothered by it. The Vivofit simply replaced my normal watch, so there's no extra jewellery to worry about.
The Vivofit also tracks sleep. Simply by pressing and holding the one button on the unit, you can place it into "Sleep" mode. It then tracks how long you sleep (based on a second button press in the morning to end sleep mode) and how well you slept, based on how much you moved during the night.
Another good thing about the Vivofit is that it uploads to the Garmin Connect app. This app is the same one that my Garmin GPS watch uploads to after I get a workout done. Having everything all in one place instead of spread over two apps is nice.
My only gripe with the Vivofit is that the display is not really backlit in any way, which means if I'm somewhere dark (say, a movie theater), I can't check the time. This also makes it a bit of a hassle if I forget to put it into sleep mode before I turn the lights out. The display on the Force could easily be read in the darkness, but not so with the Vivofit. Overall though, this is a minor complaint and won't keep me from using the unit.
If anyone is looking for a fitness tracker, I would advise they look into the Vivofit. There are alot of options available on the market these days, but the Garmin Vivofit is a good one.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Matt Mason "Cowboy Up" Memorial Triathlon 2015
I finally got around to signing up for this race again today. While this race isn't one of my A races this year, I'm very much looking forward to it. The only other race this year I'm anticipating more than this one is the Border Wars Half Ironman in October.
The Matt Mason tri was the very first tri I ever signed up for. In fact, it was this specific race that really got me into triathlon in the first place. For a number of years I'd always thought "Doing a triathlon would be fun", but I never did anything about it because I didn't own a bike and had no idea which race to do. Then I found this race.
The Matt Mason Tri is a memorial for Matt Mason, a Navy SEAL who was killed in action in Afghanistan on August 6th, 2011 (the Chinook helicopter he was in was shot down by a RPG). Those of you that know me know that I'm fairly patriotic, and that of all the U.S. Armed Forces, the Navy is by far my favorite. From 8th grade through my senior year, my only plan after high school was to join the Navy and get my dolphins (servicemen who serve on submarines have "earned their dolphins", as they are the only branch of the Navy that wears a dolphin pin on the uniform) and be a career Navy NCO on a submarine. Then, on the day I went to sign up just before graduation, I found out that my asthma is an automatic disqualifying factor. I couldn't even get a desk job with the Navy.
As this race is a memorial for a fallen Navy SEAL, it obviously has a very heavy patriotic theme, This appeals to me very much. When I stumbled across this race in the middle of last year, I knew it was something I wanted to do, so I signed up for it and began training. This race is the reason I'm doing triathlon today.
Unfortunately, the 2014 race was cancelled the day of because of inclement weather, so I have yet to actually do this race. For that reason, I'm really looking forward to it. I can't wait to do it. The finish line is lined with American flags, and there are volunteers handing flags to all the racers shortly before the finish line. It should prove to be a quite moving tribute for a fallen hero.
The Matt Mason tri was the very first tri I ever signed up for. In fact, it was this specific race that really got me into triathlon in the first place. For a number of years I'd always thought "Doing a triathlon would be fun", but I never did anything about it because I didn't own a bike and had no idea which race to do. Then I found this race.
The Matt Mason Tri is a memorial for Matt Mason, a Navy SEAL who was killed in action in Afghanistan on August 6th, 2011 (the Chinook helicopter he was in was shot down by a RPG). Those of you that know me know that I'm fairly patriotic, and that of all the U.S. Armed Forces, the Navy is by far my favorite. From 8th grade through my senior year, my only plan after high school was to join the Navy and get my dolphins (servicemen who serve on submarines have "earned their dolphins", as they are the only branch of the Navy that wears a dolphin pin on the uniform) and be a career Navy NCO on a submarine. Then, on the day I went to sign up just before graduation, I found out that my asthma is an automatic disqualifying factor. I couldn't even get a desk job with the Navy.
As this race is a memorial for a fallen Navy SEAL, it obviously has a very heavy patriotic theme, This appeals to me very much. When I stumbled across this race in the middle of last year, I knew it was something I wanted to do, so I signed up for it and began training. This race is the reason I'm doing triathlon today.
Unfortunately, the 2014 race was cancelled the day of because of inclement weather, so I have yet to actually do this race. For that reason, I'm really looking forward to it. I can't wait to do it. The finish line is lined with American flags, and there are volunteers handing flags to all the racers shortly before the finish line. It should prove to be a quite moving tribute for a fallen hero.
Friday Morning Swim 1/2/15
I got back in the pool today for a good swim. My training plan called for 30 minutes of swimming, and I hit that almost exactly by swimming 1,000 yards in 29:58.
I was hoping to get a few hundred more yards in, but at the 500 yard mark decided to change my workout up a bit. The first 500 yards were done in 100 yard increments on a 2:15 interval. After the fifth 100, I gave myself 3 minutes rest and then began a set of ten 50s on a 1:30 interval. After the fifth 50 I gave myself 2 minutes rest and then finished the set out.
I decided to change the workout midway because I know from experience that doing the same thing over and over again (all 100s, or all 500s, for example) is not the best way to improve. Adding variety to my swim workouts helps, so I changed my plan of twelve 100s on a 2:15 interval to five 100s and ten 50s.
Overall I was very pleased with the workout, and I'm not even unhappy I didn't hit the yardage I'd planned on. It was a great workout. For the first time since I started training for triathlon, I got out of the pool feeling faintly like I was going to throw up, which for me is a good sign. That feeling is how I judge if I've worked myself hard enough in the pool or not. I had it almost daily when I was swimming in high school, so I know when I get that feeling that I've done well in the water. My high school swim workouts were the most grueling I've ever done, so to get that feeling again today was a bit of a victory, even if I didn't hit my planned yardage, because it let me know I really worked myself.
As I was doing the workout I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't getting all the yardage I wanted in, but now that it's done and I've had time to reflect I'm not disappointed at all. It was a good workout, and that's what matters most.
I was hoping to get a few hundred more yards in, but at the 500 yard mark decided to change my workout up a bit. The first 500 yards were done in 100 yard increments on a 2:15 interval. After the fifth 100, I gave myself 3 minutes rest and then began a set of ten 50s on a 1:30 interval. After the fifth 50 I gave myself 2 minutes rest and then finished the set out.
I decided to change the workout midway because I know from experience that doing the same thing over and over again (all 100s, or all 500s, for example) is not the best way to improve. Adding variety to my swim workouts helps, so I changed my plan of twelve 100s on a 2:15 interval to five 100s and ten 50s.
Overall I was very pleased with the workout, and I'm not even unhappy I didn't hit the yardage I'd planned on. It was a great workout. For the first time since I started training for triathlon, I got out of the pool feeling faintly like I was going to throw up, which for me is a good sign. That feeling is how I judge if I've worked myself hard enough in the pool or not. I had it almost daily when I was swimming in high school, so I know when I get that feeling that I've done well in the water. My high school swim workouts were the most grueling I've ever done, so to get that feeling again today was a bit of a victory, even if I didn't hit my planned yardage, because it let me know I really worked myself.
As I was doing the workout I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't getting all the yardage I wanted in, but now that it's done and I've had time to reflect I'm not disappointed at all. It was a good workout, and that's what matters most.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Run Workout 1/1/15
Got out and ran 2 miles in the cold today. It was a good run, better than my last run. I ran more and improved my time, which is always the goal.
This time around I got the 2 miles done in 24 minutes and 31 seconds, as opposed to 26 minutes and 7 seconds last Monday. My average speed went from 4.6 mph to 4.9 mph and my average pace went from 12 minutes and 47 seconds per mile to 12 minutes and 12 seconds per mile.
Overall I'm very happy with the run. I again did intervals, with the base being .3 miles ran followed by a .1 mile walk. I mixed it up some today though; once during the first mile and once during the second mile I stretched the runs from .3 to .4, which obviously helped me lower my time and pace.
I was happy with how I felt during the run. The .4 mile segments were taxing, but not overly so. Next week I'll likely up all my intervals to .4 miles. My next run is Monday, and I'm looking forward to it.
This time around I got the 2 miles done in 24 minutes and 31 seconds, as opposed to 26 minutes and 7 seconds last Monday. My average speed went from 4.6 mph to 4.9 mph and my average pace went from 12 minutes and 47 seconds per mile to 12 minutes and 12 seconds per mile.
Overall I'm very happy with the run. I again did intervals, with the base being .3 miles ran followed by a .1 mile walk. I mixed it up some today though; once during the first mile and once during the second mile I stretched the runs from .3 to .4, which obviously helped me lower my time and pace.
I was happy with how I felt during the run. The .4 mile segments were taxing, but not overly so. Next week I'll likely up all my intervals to .4 miles. My next run is Monday, and I'm looking forward to it.
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