So it's been some time since IMFL 2009... recovery has been ok with the exception of two injuries that are still nagging me: (1) my left back / shoulder is still tight, sore, and stinging a bit; (2) a toe on my left foot still feels sprained or something. I'm working on "actively" trying to heal these up...
Which brings me to planning for my next season. Tentative winter plans are to work on my swimming (perhaps with some coaching) and focus on my distance running. When next race season rolls around I hope to do a proper build and ramp up in race distances: a sprint distance, olympic distance, and finally a half-ironman towards the end of summer/fall. (Sprint: swim 0.25mi, bike 10mi, run 3.1mi. Olympic: swim 0.9mi, bike 25mi, run 6.2mi. Half-Ironman: swim 1.2mi, bike 56mi, run 13.1 mi.)
So thanks for checking in, please check back at the start of 2010...
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Race Report
Thanks again everyone for your support and for following along on this journey. It was a tough day for me, but as the triathlete saying goes: “I survived the tide, the ride, and the stride.” ;^)
Below is my race report from the 2009 Florida Ironman Triathlon, followed by a montage of pictures.
PRE-RACE
My race day started at 4:10am. I awoke, took a quick shower and ate breakfast: 4 waffles with syrup, a banana, a glass of soy milk, and a bottle of gatorade. Then made it down to the race site, temps were already pretty comfortable, not really cold at all. Stripped off some of my clothing for the body marking (race number and age) and then made my way into transition to pump my bike tires and put on my wetsuit. Made it down to the beach by about 6:40am. Eventually zipped up my wetsuit, put on my swimcap and goggles and crossed over the timing mat which meant I was officially in the race. Once in the corral with all the other racers, you start to feel the crazy energy about to be unleashed on the course. Music was pumping on the loudspeaker and finally, after much anticipation, the race started.
SWIM [2.4 miles -- 2:08:44]
7:00am
There’s nothing like the frenzy of a mass swim start. Over 2000+ athletes with arms and legs flapping through the water all at once! As usual, I started a bit towards the back of the pack, though still experienced plenty of contact, including getting kicked in the face once; luckily my goggles stayed put. How fun!
Well, needless to say, the swim is the toughest part of the race for me. I am not a very good swimmer, and the conditions race day didn’t help my cause – there were some very significant swells out there and I felt like I was rising and falling so much constantly; it was really hard to sight the buoys (making it hard to swim straight) when you are in the trough of a wave (can’t see over the crest of the next wave) and taking in water, er, yucky salt water at that.
The course was two 1.2 mile “out, over and back-to-shore” loops. It wasn’t easy getting back in the water after that first loop. My stomach was already seasick from the topsy-turvy swells, and then made worse by the salt water taste in my mouth. But I endured the Gulf of Mexico and got to see tons of jellyfish and even a quick glimpse of two small stingrays cruising along the sandy bottom of the water.
SWIM-TO-BIKE TRANSITION [8:50]
After pulling myself from the water, I sauntered up the sandy beach where a bunch of volunteers helped strip my wetsuit off of me. Continuing up the beach led me into the transition area where I grabbed my bike gear bag and headed for the changing area, which was a long barefoot walk. Volunteers helped me with my stuff and after putting on my jersey, cycling shoes, helmet, gloves and sunglasses, I headed out to get my bike. I never stopped to stretch, but probably could have spent a few seconds stretching my quads and hip flexors.
BIKE [112 miles -- 6:17:26]
Wow, was I happy to be on land again. Those first few miles on the bike were like heaven. While riding, I took probably about 15 minutes to get that salt water taste out of my mouth and recover from my seasickness. Then I immediately ate some of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
After about 22 miles of the ride, the course turned a corner where riders met a headwind for about the next 28 miles. Not fun. There are not a lot of hills in Florida, but what the course lacked in hills it made up for with wind. Oh well, we all race the same course, nothing that we could do about it. I passed a ton of people and exchanged pleasantries with several folks as we encouraged each other onwards.
I continued eating a bit more of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, as well as several bites of PowerBars and a couple GU gels – all washed down with Gatorade of course.
The roughest part of the ride for me was around mile 80, which is when I started to feel pain in my left shoulder. Damn, for the next 30 or so miles, I had to modify my bike position to limit the excrutiating pain I felt. I could no longer hold that low aerodynamic position down in the aerobars. Somehow I managed to still pedal hard though. Amazingly, my last 39 miles were ridden at a slightly faster pace than my first 73 miles – probably due to a combination effect of the headwind slowing me down earlier in the course and my just wanting to get back to transition as fast as possible so I could get my shoulder to stop hurting so much.
BIKE-TO-RUN TRANSITION [8:47]
There were a lot of tired out bodies in that changing area. It hadn’t crossed my mind much at that point, but it was only at this point that I realized it had become a pretty warm day. Temps probably topped out in the high 70s F, which for me was really quite too warm – I’d been hoping for about 20 degrees cooler.
Anyway, I quickly switched out of my cycling gear and threw on my socks, running shoes and knee strap. As I was leaving the changing area, I plopped myself down on the ground and spent about a minute or so stretching. Another runner going by me smiled and said “Good idea!” as he then stopped to stretch his quads, all I could muster back to him was, “Well, let’s hope I’ll be able to get back up!”
RUN [26.2 miles -- 5:47:02]
I hit the run course feelin’ just fine, of course, that was about to change within a few miles. I was holding a very comfortable pace of just over 10 minute miles, but after about 8 miles, I succumbed to some pain in the form of an injury. I fought back against the pain, but that’s a battle which doesn’t last long. The pain won and I was reduced to switching between running and walking for the rest of the distance.
I had plenty of company along the way, and used the opportunity to keep pace with some fellow competitors either in a fast walk or a slow jog. One guy I met was finishing his first ironman race; he was racing today having been inspired by his wife who was an accomplished triathlete and who had already finished the race hours earlier. I met a woman from Germany who was courageously doing her second ironman after some setbacks in her training. I saw a guy ahead of me who was a lower leg amputee. And I met another guy who was hobbling with blisters through his 29th ironman. He had done 6 ironman races in each of the last 3 years! And finally, with under two miles to go, I happened across one of the original ironman racers back in 1978 when the first ever ironman was held in Hawaii. After a quick chat and exchanging encouragement with one another, I left him with about a mile to go as I found enough energy left to run that final mile cheered on by music blasting and a sea of spectators. Funny how all the pain washes away in that final mile when you’re pulled forward by the crowd and just so happy to be finished.
OVERALL 140.6 miles -- 14:30:44
POST-RACE THOUGHTS
So in my triathlon career, I’ve now done three triathlons, all Ironman races. I didn’t sign up for this same race next year. Instead I have some other areas of my life that I’d like to focus on, though I’ll still try to maintain and build some triathlon fitness by training and doing some shorter distance races. Lots of lessons learned in my training, and had lots of time during my race to reflect upon things I could have done differently. Injuries are sometimes hard to prevent, but I certainly could have planned my periodization of training better. I’ll mull over these and other factors in my off-season, for now I’m kicking back and enjoying my accomplishment.
Happy trails everyone! Pics below…
Pre-Race...
Waiting on the beach for the start of the race...
The crazy start of the race...
In between laps of the swim...
Headed out for the bike...
Post race...
Below is my race report from the 2009 Florida Ironman Triathlon, followed by a montage of pictures.
PRE-RACE
My race day started at 4:10am. I awoke, took a quick shower and ate breakfast: 4 waffles with syrup, a banana, a glass of soy milk, and a bottle of gatorade. Then made it down to the race site, temps were already pretty comfortable, not really cold at all. Stripped off some of my clothing for the body marking (race number and age) and then made my way into transition to pump my bike tires and put on my wetsuit. Made it down to the beach by about 6:40am. Eventually zipped up my wetsuit, put on my swimcap and goggles and crossed over the timing mat which meant I was officially in the race. Once in the corral with all the other racers, you start to feel the crazy energy about to be unleashed on the course. Music was pumping on the loudspeaker and finally, after much anticipation, the race started.
SWIM [2.4 miles -- 2:08:44]
7:00am
There’s nothing like the frenzy of a mass swim start. Over 2000+ athletes with arms and legs flapping through the water all at once! As usual, I started a bit towards the back of the pack, though still experienced plenty of contact, including getting kicked in the face once; luckily my goggles stayed put. How fun!
Well, needless to say, the swim is the toughest part of the race for me. I am not a very good swimmer, and the conditions race day didn’t help my cause – there were some very significant swells out there and I felt like I was rising and falling so much constantly; it was really hard to sight the buoys (making it hard to swim straight) when you are in the trough of a wave (can’t see over the crest of the next wave) and taking in water, er, yucky salt water at that.
The course was two 1.2 mile “out, over and back-to-shore” loops. It wasn’t easy getting back in the water after that first loop. My stomach was already seasick from the topsy-turvy swells, and then made worse by the salt water taste in my mouth. But I endured the Gulf of Mexico and got to see tons of jellyfish and even a quick glimpse of two small stingrays cruising along the sandy bottom of the water.
SWIM-TO-BIKE TRANSITION [8:50]
After pulling myself from the water, I sauntered up the sandy beach where a bunch of volunteers helped strip my wetsuit off of me. Continuing up the beach led me into the transition area where I grabbed my bike gear bag and headed for the changing area, which was a long barefoot walk. Volunteers helped me with my stuff and after putting on my jersey, cycling shoes, helmet, gloves and sunglasses, I headed out to get my bike. I never stopped to stretch, but probably could have spent a few seconds stretching my quads and hip flexors.
BIKE [112 miles -- 6:17:26]
Wow, was I happy to be on land again. Those first few miles on the bike were like heaven. While riding, I took probably about 15 minutes to get that salt water taste out of my mouth and recover from my seasickness. Then I immediately ate some of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
After about 22 miles of the ride, the course turned a corner where riders met a headwind for about the next 28 miles. Not fun. There are not a lot of hills in Florida, but what the course lacked in hills it made up for with wind. Oh well, we all race the same course, nothing that we could do about it. I passed a ton of people and exchanged pleasantries with several folks as we encouraged each other onwards.
I continued eating a bit more of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, as well as several bites of PowerBars and a couple GU gels – all washed down with Gatorade of course.
The roughest part of the ride for me was around mile 80, which is when I started to feel pain in my left shoulder. Damn, for the next 30 or so miles, I had to modify my bike position to limit the excrutiating pain I felt. I could no longer hold that low aerodynamic position down in the aerobars. Somehow I managed to still pedal hard though. Amazingly, my last 39 miles were ridden at a slightly faster pace than my first 73 miles – probably due to a combination effect of the headwind slowing me down earlier in the course and my just wanting to get back to transition as fast as possible so I could get my shoulder to stop hurting so much.
BIKE-TO-RUN TRANSITION [8:47]
There were a lot of tired out bodies in that changing area. It hadn’t crossed my mind much at that point, but it was only at this point that I realized it had become a pretty warm day. Temps probably topped out in the high 70s F, which for me was really quite too warm – I’d been hoping for about 20 degrees cooler.
Anyway, I quickly switched out of my cycling gear and threw on my socks, running shoes and knee strap. As I was leaving the changing area, I plopped myself down on the ground and spent about a minute or so stretching. Another runner going by me smiled and said “Good idea!” as he then stopped to stretch his quads, all I could muster back to him was, “Well, let’s hope I’ll be able to get back up!”
RUN [26.2 miles -- 5:47:02]
I hit the run course feelin’ just fine, of course, that was about to change within a few miles. I was holding a very comfortable pace of just over 10 minute miles, but after about 8 miles, I succumbed to some pain in the form of an injury. I fought back against the pain, but that’s a battle which doesn’t last long. The pain won and I was reduced to switching between running and walking for the rest of the distance.
I had plenty of company along the way, and used the opportunity to keep pace with some fellow competitors either in a fast walk or a slow jog. One guy I met was finishing his first ironman race; he was racing today having been inspired by his wife who was an accomplished triathlete and who had already finished the race hours earlier. I met a woman from Germany who was courageously doing her second ironman after some setbacks in her training. I saw a guy ahead of me who was a lower leg amputee. And I met another guy who was hobbling with blisters through his 29th ironman. He had done 6 ironman races in each of the last 3 years! And finally, with under two miles to go, I happened across one of the original ironman racers back in 1978 when the first ever ironman was held in Hawaii. After a quick chat and exchanging encouragement with one another, I left him with about a mile to go as I found enough energy left to run that final mile cheered on by music blasting and a sea of spectators. Funny how all the pain washes away in that final mile when you’re pulled forward by the crowd and just so happy to be finished.
OVERALL 140.6 miles -- 14:30:44
POST-RACE THOUGHTS
So in my triathlon career, I’ve now done three triathlons, all Ironman races. I didn’t sign up for this same race next year. Instead I have some other areas of my life that I’d like to focus on, though I’ll still try to maintain and build some triathlon fitness by training and doing some shorter distance races. Lots of lessons learned in my training, and had lots of time during my race to reflect upon things I could have done differently. Injuries are sometimes hard to prevent, but I certainly could have planned my periodization of training better. I’ll mull over these and other factors in my off-season, for now I’m kicking back and enjoying my accomplishment.
Happy trails everyone! Pics below…
Pre-Race...
Waiting on the beach for the start of the race...
The crazy start of the race...
In between laps of the swim...The long run from the swim to the changing area...
Headed out for the bike...
Start of the run...
Post race...
Sunday, November 8, 2009
14:30:44
Hi Folks, sorry, limited intenet connectivity, so will post a proper race report in the next couple days, but want to get a quick note out now.
I finished my third Ironman yesterday in 14:30:44. Suffice it to say that it was a long day, and while I went slower than last year's time, I'm still very happy that I finished and got to experience the ups and downs of another race, including digging deep within myself and meeting some great folks along the way.
Post-race has been ok, body is healing from the effort. Again, I'll post a proper race report within a couple days.
PS - so the closest prediction goes to Vasant M. - I'll be contacting you about your prize.
I finished my third Ironman yesterday in 14:30:44. Suffice it to say that it was a long day, and while I went slower than last year's time, I'm still very happy that I finished and got to experience the ups and downs of another race, including digging deep within myself and meeting some great folks along the way.
Post-race has been ok, body is healing from the effort. Again, I'll post a proper race report within a couple days.
PS - so the closest prediction goes to Vasant M. - I'll be contacting you about your prize.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Predictions & Athlete Tracking
Thanks everyone, below are all the predictions I received…
If you would like to follow along the race, visit one of the below sites and look for coverage of the 2009 Florida Ironman:
http://www.ironman.com/
http://www.ironmanlive.com/
http://ironman.com/events/ironman/florida
There should be a link for a live video feed as well as a link for athlete tracking which should be updated with my splits as I progress through the course.
* Race start is at 7am Central Standard Time *
Nilesh Gandhi – Race # 824
00:05:00 Tom M. [perhaps a DNF (Did Not Finish)?]
12:27:00 Tom D.
12:33:42 Sarita S.
12:38:59 Matt E.
12:40:00 Jeff D.
12:48:00 Prema S.
12:55:14 Tatiana C.
12:59:59 Vin R.
13:03:00 Bjorn L.
13:25:06 Reshma V.
13:26:39 Vasant G.
13:30:00 David C.
13:34:15 Debbie G.
13:41:00 Vasant M.
13:54:07 * 2008 Finish *
14:37:51 * 2007 Finish *
17:00:00 * Official End of Race *
If you would like to follow along the race, visit one of the below sites and look for coverage of the 2009 Florida Ironman:
http://www.ironman.com/
http://www.ironmanlive.com/
http://ironman.com/events/ironman/florida
There should be a link for a live video feed as well as a link for athlete tracking which should be updated with my splits as I progress through the course.
* Race start is at 7am Central Standard Time *
Nilesh Gandhi – Race # 824
00:05:00 Tom M. [perhaps a DNF (Did Not Finish)?]
12:27:00 Tom D.
12:33:42 Sarita S.
12:38:59 Matt E.
12:40:00 Jeff D.
12:48:00 Prema S.
12:55:14 Tatiana C.
12:59:59 Vin R.
13:03:00 Bjorn L.
13:25:06 Reshma V.
13:26:39 Vasant G.
13:30:00 David C.
13:34:15 Debbie G.
13:41:00 Vasant M.
13:54:07 * 2008 Finish *
14:37:51 * 2007 Finish *
17:00:00 * Official End of Race *
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Predict My Finish Time - WIN A PRIZE!
Firstly, thank you to everyone out there who has been following my training ups and downs. It's true what they say that it's really about the journey and not the destination. I've enjoyed sharing my sweat and efforts with you and hope that you've enjoyed hearing about it all... thank you for all your support and encouragement along the way.
Not too much else to say with just a couple days left. So I wanted to extend a "challenge" back to you: can you predict my finish time? Statistical analysis, pure guesses, whatever your method, take a stab at it and the person who comes the closest wins A PRIZE!
Here's a summarized view of my training for the prior two seasons and this year:
Not too much else to say with just a couple days left. So I wanted to extend a "challenge" back to you: can you predict my finish time? Statistical analysis, pure guesses, whatever your method, take a stab at it and the person who comes the closest wins A PRIZE!
Here's a summarized view of my training for the prior two seasons and this year:
2007: 14:37:51
[13 wks: Swim 36,950 yards. Bike 638 miles. Run 114 miles.]
2008: 13:54:07
[22 wks: Swim 26,280 yards. Bike 1,038 miles. Run 147 miles.]
2009: hh:mm:ss !?
[30 wks: Swim 50,000 yards. Bike 3,316 miles. Run 555 miles.]
You can post your prediction (in hh:mm:ss format) as a comment here (make sure to include your name), or send me a private email, or a message on fb. Please do this by 7pm CST on Friday (tomorrow!). (Yes, Panama City Beach, FL is in the Central Time Zone in the US.) Any predictions I receive by that time, I'll re-post in a list Friday night prior to the race.
Panama City Beach, FL
Made it to the race site today: Panama City Beach, FL. Went through registration, picking up my swimcap, race numbers and timing chip, among other materials. Panama City Beach is a nice little town on the 'panhandle' of Florida with lots of friendly locals and miles and miles of white sand beachfront along the Gulf of Mexico.
Also picked up my bike which I had shipped down for ease of transport. And then went out for a 15 mile ride and felt fairly good given that I hadn't ridden my tri-bike in about a week. Tried to go for a run, but that middle toe on my left foot was a little aggravated, so I skipped it.
Kept busy through the rest of the evening with some grocery shopping, cooking and eating, and well, just relaxing. Tomorrow will go for a practice swim, prepare my bike, and then assemble all my gear together for each stage of race day: pre-race, swim, transition 1, bike, transition 2, run, post-race. Tomorrow night will also attend a welcome dinner hosted by the race organizers for all the athletes, usually an entertaining evening...
Ok, will post again soon with a review of my training.
Also picked up my bike which I had shipped down for ease of transport. And then went out for a 15 mile ride and felt fairly good given that I hadn't ridden my tri-bike in about a week. Tried to go for a run, but that middle toe on my left foot was a little aggravated, so I skipped it.
Kept busy through the rest of the evening with some grocery shopping, cooking and eating, and well, just relaxing. Tomorrow will go for a practice swim, prepare my bike, and then assemble all my gear together for each stage of race day: pre-race, swim, transition 1, bike, transition 2, run, post-race. Tomorrow night will also attend a welcome dinner hosted by the race organizers for all the athletes, usually an entertaining evening...
Ok, will post again soon with a review of my training.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
My Physical State
As the countdown to race day continues, I took inventory of my entire body and any nagging little injuries. Here's a rundown of my physical state:
> Left Foot. For the past couple weeks, the ball of my left foot has been sore and the middle toe seems sprained; full heal-to-toe walking is a little painful, but I'm not too worried, since once the blood and adrenaline start flowing when I run, the pain subsides.
> Right Knee. My right knee suffers from ITBS (Iliotibial Band Syndrome), an issue that has haunted me for the past several years. To cope, I've been warming up, stretching, and wearing a strap on my knee when I run. Thankfully, this has kept the injury at bay and has allowed me to continue my training, although occasionally I get a sore feeling on the outside of my knee.
> Left Hamstring. The last of the lower body issues, my left hamstring has felt a bit tight at times, this one is a bit more concerning, especially having to run off the bike. It may be a limiter of my run speed, we'll see.
> Left Shoulder. Finally, my one upper body injury is with my left shoulder. I think this one has been as a result of holding an aerodynamic position on my bike. This is actually the most painful one of all of these, and I've been actively massaging the left shoulder/back area to try and knead out the sore spots ahead of time.
Other than the above, my body feels really good and ready to race! Clearly, training for such a race takes a toll on the body, so I'm content that I made it through some tough training and am still in position to have a very solid race.
More tomorrow from the race site...
> Left Foot. For the past couple weeks, the ball of my left foot has been sore and the middle toe seems sprained; full heal-to-toe walking is a little painful, but I'm not too worried, since once the blood and adrenaline start flowing when I run, the pain subsides.
> Right Knee. My right knee suffers from ITBS (Iliotibial Band Syndrome), an issue that has haunted me for the past several years. To cope, I've been warming up, stretching, and wearing a strap on my knee when I run. Thankfully, this has kept the injury at bay and has allowed me to continue my training, although occasionally I get a sore feeling on the outside of my knee.
> Left Hamstring. The last of the lower body issues, my left hamstring has felt a bit tight at times, this one is a bit more concerning, especially having to run off the bike. It may be a limiter of my run speed, we'll see.
> Left Shoulder. Finally, my one upper body injury is with my left shoulder. I think this one has been as a result of holding an aerodynamic position on my bike. This is actually the most painful one of all of these, and I've been actively massaging the left shoulder/back area to try and knead out the sore spots ahead of time.
Other than the above, my body feels really good and ready to race! Clearly, training for such a race takes a toll on the body, so I'm content that I made it through some tough training and am still in position to have a very solid race.
More tomorrow from the race site...
Monday, November 2, 2009
Race Bib Number 824
No workouts today, but still a pretty busy day that's left me rather tired. I'm thinking back at how workouts are actually energizing, and that I think I'm in withdrawal... but yes, that will all be remedied soon enough... ;^)
Just checked the race day weather forecast for Panama City Beach, FL: high 72F, low 56F - which should make for a very comfortable race day, albeit a tab bit warm (bit I'll take it!). I also checked the race bib number I was assigned this year: 824 - that's a decent number I can stand behind.
Nutrition this week will entail a fair mix of carbohydrates, protein and fat - all three of which will be essential for a solid race day performance, but a little heavier on the carbs.
More and more, I'm getting little waves of excitement for the race coming up. I read over the Athlete's Guide today and got some goosebumps as I mentally stepped through all the logistics of the race. Part of me wants this race to happen NOW! and part of me just wants to conserve every little bit of energy to use on the big day... I guess I'll just have to be patient.
Just checked the race day weather forecast for Panama City Beach, FL: high 72F, low 56F - which should make for a very comfortable race day, albeit a tab bit warm (bit I'll take it!). I also checked the race bib number I was assigned this year: 824 - that's a decent number I can stand behind.
Nutrition this week will entail a fair mix of carbohydrates, protein and fat - all three of which will be essential for a solid race day performance, but a little heavier on the carbs.
More and more, I'm getting little waves of excitement for the race coming up. I read over the Athlete's Guide today and got some goosebumps as I mentally stepped through all the logistics of the race. Part of me wants this race to happen NOW! and part of me just wants to conserve every little bit of energy to use on the big day... I guess I'll just have to be patient.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Taper Week in Review
Weekly Totals: Swim 7600 yards. Bike 48 miles. Run 29 miles.
Week in Review:
(Last Sunday was my last long ride.)
-Monday: Long run of 21 miles. Felt good for the most part. I did three 7-mile loops and it wasn't easy to convine myself to continue on each of those second and third loops. But I'm glad I went this distance, and have just been trying to allow my body to 'absorb' the fitness from the long run. Hopefully that's been happening...
-Thursday: Long swim of 3200 yards. Workout was as follows (in laps): 2-4-8-16-32-2 for a total of 64 (mindnumbing!) laps in the pool. I took 30s to 1minute of rest between each set. (Note: a 2.4 mile swim = 4224 yards, so this workout was about 75% of the distance I'll have to swim in the race.)
-I brought my triathlon bike to the shop earlier this week to get some work done. Since I had just hit the 3,000 mile mark on that bike (an odometer reading I accrued over the last two years), it was time for a new chain, and I figured I should have the cassette (the set of cogs on the rear wheel) cleaned at the same time. So my bike should be squeakly clean and pristine for my race.
-As for my cycling, I did all my riding this week on my road bike on the indoor trainer, and threw in some intervals to keep things interesting. Even watching tv doesn't make the time pass by quickly enough on the indoor bike trainer.
-I realized I took only one full day off (Saturday). Not good for a taper week. I'll make sure to go very easy these next few days leading up to the race.
Now just doing some final packing and assembling of equipment and gear in preparation for travel down to Florida.
** From now until race day, I'll post each day leading up to the race...
** Also, I'll post a "contest post" where I'll review my training and you can guess what my finishing time will be.... the closest guess will win a prize/souvenier from the race.
Week in Review:
(Last Sunday was my last long ride.)
-Monday: Long run of 21 miles. Felt good for the most part. I did three 7-mile loops and it wasn't easy to convine myself to continue on each of those second and third loops. But I'm glad I went this distance, and have just been trying to allow my body to 'absorb' the fitness from the long run. Hopefully that's been happening...
-Thursday: Long swim of 3200 yards. Workout was as follows (in laps): 2-4-8-16-32-2 for a total of 64 (mindnumbing!) laps in the pool. I took 30s to 1minute of rest between each set. (Note: a 2.4 mile swim = 4224 yards, so this workout was about 75% of the distance I'll have to swim in the race.)
-I brought my triathlon bike to the shop earlier this week to get some work done. Since I had just hit the 3,000 mile mark on that bike (an odometer reading I accrued over the last two years), it was time for a new chain, and I figured I should have the cassette (the set of cogs on the rear wheel) cleaned at the same time. So my bike should be squeakly clean and pristine for my race.
-As for my cycling, I did all my riding this week on my road bike on the indoor trainer, and threw in some intervals to keep things interesting. Even watching tv doesn't make the time pass by quickly enough on the indoor bike trainer.
-I realized I took only one full day off (Saturday). Not good for a taper week. I'll make sure to go very easy these next few days leading up to the race.
Now just doing some final packing and assembling of equipment and gear in preparation for travel down to Florida.
** From now until race day, I'll post each day leading up to the race...
** Also, I'll post a "contest post" where I'll review my training and you can guess what my finishing time will be.... the closest guess will win a prize/souvenier from the race.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Final Long Workouts
Weekly Totals:
Swim 7200 yards. Bike 158 miles. Run 32 miles. Time 16h 26m.
Well, with only two weeks left, I'm just getting in my final long workouts before starting my taper to race day. Today I had my last long bike ride, 74 miles followed by a fast-paced 4 mile run. The bike ride was long, slow, windy and hilly - a tough ride all around, but I'm glad I stuck it out and resisted cutting the distance short. As for the run, I decided to run in my lighter racing shoes (just testing the equipment) instead of my heavier training shoes. While I felt slow as molasses slugging along, I actually ran my fastest training run this season; go figure.
Anyway, tomorrow (Monday) I'll do my final long run, and within the next couple days will do one longer duration swim. Then everything after that, leaving about 10 days until the race, will be shorter and lower intensity. And will try to focus on the "other" essential workouts: eating and sleeping/resting!
Swim 7200 yards. Bike 158 miles. Run 32 miles. Time 16h 26m.
Well, with only two weeks left, I'm just getting in my final long workouts before starting my taper to race day. Today I had my last long bike ride, 74 miles followed by a fast-paced 4 mile run. The bike ride was long, slow, windy and hilly - a tough ride all around, but I'm glad I stuck it out and resisted cutting the distance short. As for the run, I decided to run in my lighter racing shoes (just testing the equipment) instead of my heavier training shoes. While I felt slow as molasses slugging along, I actually ran my fastest training run this season; go figure
Anyway, tomorrow (Monday) I'll do my final long run, and within the next couple days will do one longer duration swim. Then everything after that, leaving about 10 days until the race, will be shorter and lower intensity. And will try to focus on the "other" essential workouts: eating and sleeping/resting!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Run Focus
Weekly Totals:
Swim 5450 yards. Bike 100 miles. Run 40 miles. Time 13h 22m.
Swam better this week but still need to get some long swims in over the next week or so to build my endurance and gain confidence. Biking was tough to fit in given the crappy weather, so tried to do some rides on the indoor trainer, but that's just way too monotonous for me, so I fell a bit short on distance. Will try to fit some longer miles in soon this upcoming week. Main focus though was making sure I put in a good week of running. Increased my weekly mileage to 40 miles - definately not the most advisable increase in mileage from the prior couple weeks, but thankfully the legs continue to feel good with putting those miles on. Capped off the week with a 14 mile run today along the river in the sleet and snow, it was a good confidence building run and I ran it evenly paced throughout.
Just three weeks till race day. Have to start assembling my checklists and getting my gear / equipment together...
Swim 5450 yards. Bike 100 miles. Run 40 miles. Time 13h 22m.
Swam better this week but still need to get some long swims in over the next week or so to build my endurance and gain confidence. Biking was tough to fit in given the crappy weather, so tried to do some rides on the indoor trainer, but that's just way too monotonous for me, so I fell a bit short on distance. Will try to fit some longer miles in soon this upcoming week. Main focus though was making sure I put in a good week of running. Increased my weekly mileage to 40 miles - definately not the most advisable increase in mileage from the prior couple weeks, but thankfully the legs continue to feel good with putting those miles on. Capped off the week with a 14 mile run today along the river in the sleet and snow, it was a good confidence building run and I ran it evenly paced throughout.
Just three weeks till race day. Have to start assembling my checklists and getting my gear / equipment together...
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Latest Training Snapshots
Sorry for the slowdown on posting. I promise I've been training, in fact, here's my weekly training snapshot (including the time I'm spending on workouts, which doesn't include getting ready, warm-ups, warm-downs, stretching, showering, eating, maintaining equipment, etc.):
Swim 4300 yards, Bike 178 miles, Run 22 miles, Time 15h 33m
And for anyone keeping a tally, my total cumulative training snapshot (after 26 weeks of training, with just 4 weeks to go until the race):
Swim 29,000 yards, Bike 2,994 miles, Run 451 miles
Definately been light on the swimming (what's new), but trying my best to make it to the pool and put in the time and effort. Same for the run, injuries are keeping at bay, so now just have to increase the mileage slowly including a long run.
Today (Sunday), had a long training day: 74 mile bike ride followed by a 7 mile transition run. It was a bit cool and windy on both the bike and run, and that coupled with being so far into training, has left me both physically fatigued as well as a bit mentally fatigued. It's definately not easy keeping up with training at such a high consistency and intensity for such a long period of time, i.e. for the past 6 months! It's wearing on me for sure. Times like this I know I have to keep focused, stay mentally strong and continue putting in a hard training effort. Not always easy to do when there are so many more comfortable options on how to spend my time. Ah well... I'll just keep on keepin' on...
Four weeks to go!
Swim 4300 yards, Bike 178 miles, Run 22 miles, Time 15h 33m
And for anyone keeping a tally, my total cumulative training snapshot (after 26 weeks of training, with just 4 weeks to go until the race):
Swim 29,000 yards, Bike 2,994 miles, Run 451 miles
Definately been light on the swimming (what's new), but trying my best to make it to the pool and put in the time and effort. Same for the run, injuries are keeping at bay, so now just have to increase the mileage slowly including a long run.
Today (Sunday), had a long training day: 74 mile bike ride followed by a 7 mile transition run. It was a bit cool and windy on both the bike and run, and that coupled with being so far into training, has left me both physically fatigued as well as a bit mentally fatigued. It's definately not easy keeping up with training at such a high consistency and intensity for such a long period of time, i.e. for the past 6 months! It's wearing on me for sure. Times like this I know I have to keep focused, stay mentally strong and continue putting in a hard training effort. Not always easy to do when there are so many more comfortable options on how to spend my time. Ah well... I'll just keep on keepin' on...
Four weeks to go!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
No Need to Panic
Well, let's start off by giving you my weekly totals:
Swim 3700 yards, Bike 130 miles, Run 8 miles
And before you ask, no, that's not a typo... I ran only 8 miles this week due to some discomfort in my left foot. Thankfully the 4 miles that I ran today, went painfree, so hopefully I'll be back in the rhythm of the run this upcoming week. Otherwise, I will have a long road ahead of me. Ugh.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I definately felt a loss of fitness on the bike from the low volume from the prior week. But I think I can regain that back soon. And the swimming is, well, going about as swimmingly as I could hope at this point. I've started to increase the duration of my long stretches to build my endurance, but also throw in some quick sets for "speed". I put that in quotes, cause speed is quite relative, and to pure swimmers, I'm probably moving about as fast as a buoy bobbing up and down in the water ;^)
So just 5 weeks to the race. In this next couple weeks, I'll start to finalize some of my plans for going down to the race, and start getting all my equipment together (long checklist of stuff), and of course, continue getting in some key workouts to prep for the big day.
Swim 3700 yards, Bike 130 miles, Run 8 miles
And before you ask, no, that's not a typo... I ran only 8 miles this week due to some discomfort in my left foot. Thankfully the 4 miles that I ran today, went painfree, so hopefully I'll be back in the rhythm of the run this upcoming week. Otherwise, I will have a long road ahead of me. Ugh.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I definately felt a loss of fitness on the bike from the low volume from the prior week. But I think I can regain that back soon. And the swimming is, well, going about as swimmingly as I could hope at this point. I've started to increase the duration of my long stretches to build my endurance, but also throw in some quick sets for "speed". I put that in quotes, cause speed is quite relative, and to pure swimmers, I'm probably moving about as fast as a buoy bobbing up and down in the water ;^)
So just 5 weeks to the race. In this next couple weeks, I'll start to finalize some of my plans for going down to the race, and start getting all my equipment together (long checklist of stuff), and of course, continue getting in some key workouts to prep for the big day.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Rest-athalon is Over!
That's right, the rest-athalon is over, time to get back to training...
In the prior 7 days, I took 5 rest days, swam once and biked another day. Not good, but that's where I was relative to some injuries and a few other things going on. Now I'm feeling a bit under the weather, so naturally I'm trying to kick out any flu/cold symptoms by stressing/sweating them out of my body...
So yes, today I jumpstarted back into training: I swam, rode, and ran. Felt a little nauseous coming out of the pool early this morning, but that was probably due to a lack of good nutrition the day/night before. The bike ride was rather cold at only 46 F. Rode with shorts on, but opted for a long sleeve jersey and full finger gloves. I hadn't run in a week, so just wanted to take that easy. I don't mind the cold, but the risk of muscle pulls or strains goes up since it takes longer for the muscles to warm up. I make sure to warm up, warm down and stretch quite a bit.
I'm sure I lost a good amount of fitness in this past week or two, but today's workouts went well and last night in a relaxed state, I checked my heart rate: 54 beats per minute, another fair indicator that I'm still in good condition.
Given that I didn't work out much in those prior 7 days, I unfortuntely didn't eat so well either. While I did make some good food choices and cooked at home a bit, plentiful servings of popcorn, chocolate, beer, chips and salsa, greasy take-out, etc. were had. Ah well, only live once... So as part of my jumpstart, I not only ate well today, I counted my calories: 3,035 calories (as of the time of this posting, 11pm). My total workout time for today was: 2 hrs 10 mins. I'm really not sure what to think of that calorie count since I hadn't ever counted before, but no doubt I need all the calories I can get!
In the prior 7 days, I took 5 rest days, swam once and biked another day. Not good, but that's where I was relative to some injuries and a few other things going on. Now I'm feeling a bit under the weather, so naturally I'm trying to kick out any flu/cold symptoms by stressing/sweating them out of my body...
So yes, today I jumpstarted back into training: I swam, rode, and ran. Felt a little nauseous coming out of the pool early this morning, but that was probably due to a lack of good nutrition the day/night before. The bike ride was rather cold at only 46 F. Rode with shorts on, but opted for a long sleeve jersey and full finger gloves. I hadn't run in a week, so just wanted to take that easy. I don't mind the cold, but the risk of muscle pulls or strains goes up since it takes longer for the muscles to warm up. I make sure to warm up, warm down and stretch quite a bit.
I'm sure I lost a good amount of fitness in this past week or two, but today's workouts went well and last night in a relaxed state, I checked my heart rate: 54 beats per minute, another fair indicator that I'm still in good condition.
Given that I didn't work out much in those prior 7 days, I unfortuntely didn't eat so well either. While I did make some good food choices and cooked at home a bit, plentiful servings of popcorn, chocolate, beer, chips and salsa, greasy take-out, etc. were had. Ah well, only live once... So as part of my jumpstart, I not only ate well today, I counted my calories: 3,035 calories (as of the time of this posting, 11pm). My total workout time for today was: 2 hrs 10 mins. I'm really not sure what to think of that calorie count since I hadn't ever counted before, but no doubt I need all the calories I can get!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sunday Weekly Recap
Took some days off this past week to let a couple injuries heal... (Thursday, Friday, and Sunday were all full days off). Body is feeling a bit better and rested. Also spent a little time adjusting the seat height of my bike, so hopefully won't experience any further discomfort in my knee.
Weekly totals: Swim 2400 yards. Bike 48 miles. Run 14 miles.
6 weeks to go to the race!
Weekly totals: Swim 2400 yards. Bike 48 miles. Run 14 miles.
6 weeks to go to the race!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Contending with Ailments
With my slowly increasing training volume, and increasing intensity (e.g. speed), the accumulation of all the effort output is taking a bit of a toll on me. Well, it's natural for the body to feel aches and pains along the way... These ailments can be little nags in the least, or if aggravated, can be full blown sideliners. Let's hope they keep to be the former, and not the latter...
Among the many little nags thus far is a pain I felt in my right knee when riding home from work today. I can't say I was pedaling particularly hard, but was maybe spinning at a fairly high cadence. Every pedal revolution felt as if there was a separation of the kneecap and the rest of the knee joint making it impossible to deliver any force to the downward push of the pedal. Not a good feeling. I eased up off the pedals right away, and quickly adapted a modified way to keep turning the pedals over to make it another 10 miles back home. I didn't test my knee out too much for the rest of the way, but it seemed to be ok towards the end of the ride. I followed the ride with a 7 mile run, the knee was fine and strong, not nearly as tentative as during the ride.
I'll try to make an adjustment on my seat height to see if that makes a difference. In the meantime, I've also started doing leg raises. 300 on each leg tonight. Doing them should hopefully help out by strengthening the muscles in the knee area.
Among the many little nags thus far is a pain I felt in my right knee when riding home from work today. I can't say I was pedaling particularly hard, but was maybe spinning at a fairly high cadence. Every pedal revolution felt as if there was a separation of the kneecap and the rest of the knee joint making it impossible to deliver any force to the downward push of the pedal. Not a good feeling. I eased up off the pedals right away, and quickly adapted a modified way to keep turning the pedals over to make it another 10 miles back home. I didn't test my knee out too much for the rest of the way, but it seemed to be ok towards the end of the ride. I followed the ride with a 7 mile run, the knee was fine and strong, not nearly as tentative as during the ride.
I'll try to make an adjustment on my seat height to see if that makes a difference. In the meantime, I've also started doing leg raises. 300 on each leg tonight. Doing them should hopefully help out by strengthening the muscles in the knee area.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Shortened Ride, Cold Run
Headed out for another early bike ride this morning. Started out at 5:20am, pitch dark out there. Ended up shortening my ride a tad bit and coming back and doing a run. Problem was that once I got home from the ride, I took a bit too long to get out for my run... after about 15 minutes, I had already cooled down from the ride, so my legs were a bit stiff and cold when I went out for the run. Never managed to warm up over 7 miles, but made it through well enough.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Water in Lens, Cramp in Foot
Went for my swim today and started out well enough, but partway through my workout, as I started a set of 5 laps, A little water leaked into the left lens of my goggles. Every time I took a breath on the left side, I got a tiny little splash right in my left eye. Ok, granted it was only a couple drops, but still was a bit annoying. Ordinarily I'd stop and clear the lens out, but I toughed it out and swam the rest of the set irregardless. So that I could deal with, but towards the end of the workout, my left foot cramped. So I finished that lap and called it a day.
Skipped my run, which I just can't do much more often at this point.
By the way, watched a cute little film last weekend called "Saint Ralph", an inspirational story about a young lad that aspsires to win the Boston Marathon. The plotline has an intense theme, but a good bit of humor nestled in there as well. Some similarities to "Run Fatboy, Run".
Skipped my run, which I just can't do much more often at this point.
By the way, watched a cute little film last weekend called "Saint Ralph", an inspirational story about a young lad that aspsires to win the Boston Marathon. The plotline has an intense theme, but a good bit of humor nestled in there as well. Some similarities to "Run Fatboy, Run".
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Long Ride, Transition Run
Had planned on doing a century ride today (100 miles), but changed my plans this morning and rode for 74 miles on the tri-bike. I haven't done a ride longer than 60 miles in over nine weeks, so didn't want to overdo it. Was a good ride, lots of folks out there along the roads. I used today's ride to test the clothing I'll wear for my race. Well, it's the same tri-top and pair of shorts I used last year, but always good to do a sanity check on that kind of stuff.
I followed the ride with a 4 mile run along the river. Yup, getting the legs used to running after a long bike ride. Usually takes my legs a couple miles to switch over to the rhythm of running vs. cycling, so I guess I should run a bit longer to get to that sweet spot of feeling good on the run after a ride.
So, this weeks totals: Swim 4500 yards, Bike 169 miles, Run 21 miles
7 weeks to go!
I followed the ride with a 4 mile run along the river. Yup, getting the legs used to running after a long bike ride. Usually takes my legs a couple miles to switch over to the rhythm of running vs. cycling, so I guess I should run a bit longer to get to that sweet spot of feeling good on the run after a ride.
So, this weeks totals: Swim 4500 yards, Bike 169 miles, Run 21 miles
7 weeks to go!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Swim, No Run
Managed another swim workout today, same as yesterday, 1-3-5-7-5-3-1 lap repeats (the 3, 7, 3 were with the pull buoy). Was scheduled for a run today, but I guess was out a bit late last night, and just wasn't up to it.
Had an odd pain in the bottom of my left foot yesterday and today. Just a bit sore on the ball of my foot. I had no idea where that pain came from, thought maybe it was from my run Friday morning, but wasn't certain. Then when I went to the pool today, I figured it out within the first lap I swam - the pain was from pushing off the wall after doing a flip turn. Apparently my left foot was taking the brunt of the push-off. I tried to remedy that and make the push-off more equal between both my feet. Who would have thought I'd get a foot injury while swimming?!
Anyway, loooong bike ride planned for Sunday, let's see how that goes...
Had an odd pain in the bottom of my left foot yesterday and today. Just a bit sore on the ball of my foot. I had no idea where that pain came from, thought maybe it was from my run Friday morning, but wasn't certain. Then when I went to the pool today, I figured it out within the first lap I swam - the pain was from pushing off the wall after doing a flip turn. Apparently my left foot was taking the brunt of the push-off. I tried to remedy that and make the push-off more equal between both my feet. Who would have thought I'd get a foot injury while swimming?!
Anyway, loooong bike ride planned for Sunday, let's see how that goes...
Friday, September 18, 2009
Hard Run, Good Swim
Had a hard-paced run this morning, and a very successful day in the pool later in the afternoon. Gotta start running faster more often, training the legs to go-go-go! And my form in the pool is getting more consistent, I'm able to hold pace for longer stretches (more laps) - still a ways to go, and hopefully will be able to build some more swimming-specific cardio fitness so that I'm not so out of breath.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Better Boston Bicycling
So picking up from yesterday... I never made it out for my run (not 11 miles, not 7 miles - none). The body was just too fatigued, so I skipped the run, meaning that I skipped working out for the whole day. It's important to recognize when the body needs rest, and then give it that rest. Probably if I didn't I would have ended up injured.
Got home and went for a quick 4 mile transition run. Gotta love this cool weather for training. For whatever reason my body performs much better when the temps cool out a bit.
Today rode to work and was happy to see the following new signs along my commute (hmmm, perhaps Boston is becoming a better place for cyclists after all!):
Got home and went for a quick 4 mile transition run. Gotta love this cool weather for training. For whatever reason my body performs much better when the temps cool out a bit.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
That Was Yesterday
Took yesterday off from work, woke up early and did an impromptu mini triathlon: Swam 1000 yards, Biked 30 miles, Ran 7 miles
Wasn't the first time I had done all three workouts in a day. Generally I'll only do a swim-bike or a bike-run brick, but may more often include all three like this.
Then went on to enjoy thoroughly the rest of the day...
Today will fit in a 7 mile run, maybe extend to 11 miles if the legs feel good, that'll be a decision I'll make at the 7 mile mark.
Wasn't the first time I had done all three workouts in a day. Generally I'll only do a swim-bike or a bike-run brick, but may more often include all three like this.
Then went on to enjoy thoroughly the rest of the day...
Today will fit in a 7 mile run, maybe extend to 11 miles if the legs feel good, that'll be a decision I'll make at the 7 mile mark.
Monday, September 14, 2009
In the Pool to Stay
Well, now that those wounds are more than adequately healed, I finally made it back to the pool. I must admit, I probably extended my hiatus from the pool for longer than I needed to. But anyway, it's time to do the necessary work to put all three disciplines together. Today I swam and rode. I did a comfortable 1000 yard swim to start off with (10 x 100 yard repeats, half with a pull buoy, half without). Felt pretty good actually. Can't explain it, but the time away from the pool seemed to do some good. Odd though, not sure what others' experiences are, but my times without the pull buoy were actually faster than with it. I figured it has something to do with my kicking, but in the past my pull buoy times were always faster... Ah well, why question it as long as I'm getting time in the pool, it's all good... Yup, all in all, not a bad Monday, throw in my standard bike commute to/from work, and another day down in the calendar.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sunday Brick, Sluggish Legs
Did another brick today, 31 miles on the bike followed by a 7 mile run. Boy my legs have been feeling sluggish lately, though my performance has been improving gradually. Need to keep up the biking miles, increase the run miles, and finally get back in the pool after a 3-week hiatus due to the wounds on my arm.
Weekly totals: Swim 0 miles. Bike 167 miles. Run 28 miles.
8 weeks to go!
Weekly totals: Swim 0 miles. Bike 167 miles. Run 28 miles.
8 weeks to go!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Here Comes the Rain Again
After a long stretch of sunny, cool and dry weather, the rain is back. But no worries, that just adds to the fun of training. Did a 38 mile ride yesterday (Friday) in slight drizzle and wet roads, had to be a little careful taking a few turns on the tri-bike, but otherwise it was a nice smooth ride. And earlier today (Saturday), had a drizzly 7 mile run along the river. There were lots of walkers also out there today braving the cool rain for the "Heart Walk" to support the American Heart Association.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Cooler Weather Prevails
Yes, Labor Day has come and gone, the unofficial end of summer. And just like clockwork, the weather is cooling down - which is fine by me. I run way better in the cooler temps, as evidenced by my run today; did 6 miles along the river, went (relatively) fast and was still able to keep my average heart rate well below 150 beats per minutes. Ah, cooler weather prevails...
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Mid-Week Brick
Just another good ole' Wednesday... Commuted to work on the bike, 29 miles round trip, then did a 4 mile transition run when I got home. Once again started the run and felt really handcuffed by the heart rate monitor. I set a range for my heart rate to stay in during my runs, and if I go below or above that range, the monitor beeps at me and I change my speed accordingly to get my heart rate back in range. Well, I just felt like running a bit faster than my heart rate monitor range would allow, so instead of slowing down, I just shut off the beeps and kept running at my pace. I'll be wary of running too fast and injuring myself, otherwise I may continue to kick my pace up a bit more like this.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Early Dark Cool Ride
Was up and out of the house for a bike ride this morning at 5:20am; it was dark, so headlight on, red tail light on, cruising down the streets of back bay. Met up with Ashley at 5:30am and went for about 31 miles. It's become a lot more chilly in the wee hours of the morning, so had to wear a long sleeve jersey. After an hour felt the fingers and toes start to get cold, but nothing like the near-frostbite of last winter's rides. Anyway, glad to get a solid ride in before work.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Interesting Sightings
So, last week's totals were: Swim 0. Bike 133 miles. Run 11 miles. Still staying out of the pool due to my wounds from my crash a couple weeks ago. Too low volume on the run. Really need to up those miles. Pledging myself to do that this week, since there's not too much time left - 9 weeks to go!
Today, Monday (Labor Day for those of us in the US) I fit in a 38 mile bike ride followed by a 4 mile transition run. I hadn't run in five days, so I tried to take it easy to get back into a rhythm. Nothing otherwise significant about my training itself today, but I did have a couple interesting sightings while out there. ... On the bike, I came upon a young woman riding along a main road on a unicycle! I slowed down as I approached her and gave her a "Very cool, very cool." with a smile; continuing to balance, she managed to give back a wave, a smile and a "Thanks!" ... On my run, there was a lot of activity in and around the Charles River - in particular, there was a kayak cruising along with a tiny little dog standing on the bow of the boat. And the dog had a little doggie lifevest on, too funny...
Ok, on with the week...
Today, Monday (Labor Day for those of us in the US) I fit in a 38 mile bike ride followed by a 4 mile transition run. I hadn't run in five days, so I tried to take it easy to get back into a rhythm. Nothing otherwise significant about my training itself today, but I did have a couple interesting sightings while out there. ... On the bike, I came upon a young woman riding along a main road on a unicycle! I slowed down as I approached her and gave her a "Very cool, very cool." with a smile; continuing to balance, she managed to give back a wave, a smile and a "Thanks!" ... On my run, there was a lot of activity in and around the Charles River - in particular, there was a kayak cruising along with a tiny little dog standing on the bow of the boat. And the dog had a little doggie lifevest on, too funny...
Ok, on with the week...
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Rode the Kanc
The Kancamagus Hwy is a long stretch of road in NH that offers access to lots of campgrounds and hikes and such. And it's pretty hilly. I rode 56 miles with exactly 1 mile total of climbing.As I started the ride on Saturday, I made the mistake of starting out climbing immediately, for 6 straight miles. I probably should have given my legs a chance to warm up first, but oh well. Those first few miles included long sections of climbing at a steady 9% grade, a pretty good incline. Needless to say those first miles were slow going; but on the other side of one of the climbs, I got to reap the benefits of it all, and clocked a max speed of 48.8 mph going down a 7% grade stretch. Ha, take that gravity.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Moonlight Bike Ride
Had a great evening ride this Friday night. It was a full moon, and so did a moonlight bike ride with a group of 15 folks. We had front headlamps and rear tail lights on all our bikes, but still some stretches were a bit dicey, what with potholes and car traffic and all. And on the road we took up to the lookout we had to keep our headlamps off, so essentially we were riding up a very dark woodsy path (since the trees were blocking a lot of the moonlight). Anyway, it was all worth it... when we got to the lookout, there was a really nice view. We made a fire and folks had smores. Very fun ride.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Rest... Bike & Run
So I took yet another full calendar rest day yesterday (Tuesday). I shouldn't make a habit of those, but well I guess my body needed it.
In response, today I rode and ran. Rode 38 miles and ran 4 miles. Felt slow on the bike for the first half of the ride, but ended up turning in a good time. For my run, I ran with my heart rate monitor but just couldn't help running a bit faster than my zone 2 heart rate range. As long as I don't get injured, running fast(er) works for me!
In response, today I rode and ran. Rode 38 miles and ran 4 miles. Felt slow on the bike for the first half of the ride, but ended up turning in a good time. For my run, I ran with my heart rate monitor but just couldn't help running a bit faster than my zone 2 heart rate range. As long as I don't get injured, running fast(er) works for me!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
10 weeks to go
So, another catch-up post...
Last week was a tough week. After the prior weekend's crash and day off, I somehow lost a bit of snap in my step. The wounds on my elbow were and are still keeping me out of the pool, but I was still perfectly able to bike and run... but it was just mentally tough getting up and out on those workouts, a classic sign of burn-out. So I slogged through a low volume week of biking (96 miles) and running (14 miles). When in the middle of a spell like that, one can only trust and hope that you'll break out of it and get back into form. When the endorphins don't come naturally, you find ways to stimulate them - singing songs in your head, invoking motivating movie scenes (er, like those in Rocky and The Karate Kid among others), and simple visualization of executing positively on race day.
So this brings me to my latest 10 week update. Tracing back, I started my training 30 weeks in advance of the race; now 20 weeks are down with 10 weeks to go. Here's a snapshot of my training volumes thus far [swim 14,100 yards; bike 2,169 miles; run 346 miles]. Compared to last year, I'm doing quite a lot more. Of course, need to get back in the pool as soon as these wounds heal up. Also need to have a few long rides and runs.
All that said, Monday was a great day back in training. I did my bike commute to and from work (29 miles round trip) and then went on a 7 mile transition run right afterwards. I rode very well and ran suprisingly better than I have thus far.
Last week was a tough week. After the prior weekend's crash and day off, I somehow lost a bit of snap in my step. The wounds on my elbow were and are still keeping me out of the pool, but I was still perfectly able to bike and run... but it was just mentally tough getting up and out on those workouts, a classic sign of burn-out. So I slogged through a low volume week of biking (96 miles) and running (14 miles). When in the middle of a spell like that, one can only trust and hope that you'll break out of it and get back into form. When the endorphins don't come naturally, you find ways to stimulate them - singing songs in your head, invoking motivating movie scenes (er, like those in Rocky and The Karate Kid among others), and simple visualization of executing positively on race day.
So this brings me to my latest 10 week update. Tracing back, I started my training 30 weeks in advance of the race; now 20 weeks are down with 10 weeks to go. Here's a snapshot of my training volumes thus far [swim 14,100 yards; bike 2,169 miles; run 346 miles]. Compared to last year, I'm doing quite a lot more. Of course, need to get back in the pool as soon as these wounds heal up. Also need to have a few long rides and runs.
All that said, Monday was a great day back in training. I did my bike commute to and from work (29 miles round trip) and then went on a 7 mile transition run right afterwards. I rode very well and ran suprisingly better than I have thus far.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friday Catch-Up Post
Sorry for the lull in posts, here's a brief catch-up on the last few days:
-Tuesday biked to/from work, 29 miles round trip
-Wednesday did another midnight run, 4 miles
-Thursday biked to/from work, 29 miles round trip
-Friday (today) I was able to fit in a 38 mile bike ride
By the way, have you all met Bill and Danny? Trust me, I have... ha, ha, of course I'm talking about Hurricanes Bill and Danny. Hurricane Bill drenched me last Saturday in a 'torrential' downpour type of way. While this afternoon, I believe I caught the early part of a steady drizzle throughout my ride from Hurricane Danny. I arrived home soaked again, though it was much cooler out today at 67F. Ah well, it's just some wind and rain, I didn't melt.
...
So I've made some less than stellar nutrition decisions this past week, and I ended up feeling a tad bit sluggish prior to and during my workouts. So this only highlighted the importance of nutrition. Thus far in my training (for the better part of the last 20 weeks), I've been eating very healthily, very purposeful - cooking a lot at home and taking in fats from outside food within a few hours of a planned workout. Been consuming potassium rich bananas before workouts and protein rich foods (as much as a vegetarian can get; lentils, nuts, cottage cheese, etc.) after long hard workouts to help the muscles repair. Make no mistake, I certainly have been enjoying eating, especially many yummy indulgences, but it's the occasional lack of balance in my nutrition that then throws off my performance in training. And one lackluster workout can have a domino effect on a whole week, so bottom line for me: stay disciplined in my nutrition and eating habits.
-Tuesday biked to/from work, 29 miles round trip
-Wednesday did another midnight run, 4 miles
-Thursday biked to/from work, 29 miles round trip
-Friday (today) I was able to fit in a 38 mile bike ride
By the way, have you all met Bill and Danny? Trust me, I have... ha, ha, of course I'm talking about Hurricanes Bill and Danny. Hurricane Bill drenched me last Saturday in a 'torrential' downpour type of way. While this afternoon, I believe I caught the early part of a steady drizzle throughout my ride from Hurricane Danny. I arrived home soaked again, though it was much cooler out today at 67F. Ah well, it's just some wind and rain, I didn't melt.
...
So I've made some less than stellar nutrition decisions this past week, and I ended up feeling a tad bit sluggish prior to and during my workouts. So this only highlighted the importance of nutrition. Thus far in my training (for the better part of the last 20 weeks), I've been eating very healthily, very purposeful - cooking a lot at home and taking in fats from outside food within a few hours of a planned workout. Been consuming potassium rich bananas before workouts and protein rich foods (as much as a vegetarian can get; lentils, nuts, cottage cheese, etc.) after long hard workouts to help the muscles repair. Make no mistake, I certainly have been enjoying eating, especially many yummy indulgences, but it's the occasional lack of balance in my nutrition that then throws off my performance in training. And one lackluster workout can have a domino effect on a whole week, so bottom line for me: stay disciplined in my nutrition and eating habits.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Back In Stride
Got back in stride today (Monday) after the crash on Saturday and taking Sunday off. Did an easy-paced 4 mile run (midnight run!), a little slow with an average heart rate of 144. It had been four days since I ran, so nice to be out there along the river again.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Full Day Off
So after stringing together 35 consecutive days of workouts (22 of which I did multiple workouts in the day), I finally took a full calendar day off today. I had actually planned to take today off earlier in the week, and then of course yesterday's debacle of a ride sealed that plan for sure.
Body is fine from yesterday, but looks like I'll be skipping some swim workouts while my wounds heal (gotta stay out of the pool). In the meantime, I'll add in some runs instead and up my running miles.
Weekly totals:
Swim 4750 yards -- Bike 127 miles -- Run 18 miles
Body is fine from yesterday, but looks like I'll be skipping some swim workouts while my wounds heal (gotta stay out of the pool). In the meantime, I'll add in some runs instead and up my running miles.
Weekly totals:
Swim 4750 yards -- Bike 127 miles -- Run 18 miles
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Crash! Rain! Flat!
I swear this day must have happened just to spice up this blog!
What a day this was... Before I go on, I'll quickly say that yes, I did crash on my bike today. But I'm fine. Just a few scrapes and road rash, the usual deal with such incidents, nothing to be concerned about. Here's the story of my day:
The plan: 56 mile bike ride followed by a 4 mile transition run
Started out on the tri-bike, nice easy start on my way out of the city and into the nice, quiet suburbs... Less than 5 miles into my ride, I approached an intersection (the road had a small divider) where a car from the oncoming direction was in line for a left turn. I saw him. He saw me. Then, with the right of way, as I continued approaching the intersection, he lurched forward as if he was going to continue with his turn and cut me off. Two instinctual reactions ensued. I screamed "Nooooooooooo!" and squeezed the heck out of my brakes... the bike immediately started to fishtail for what felt like an eternity. I couldn't believe I kept the bike upright for so long actually. I remember thinking that I might actually come out of this ok. My feet were clipped into my pedals, and I was probably going too fast for unclipping to have helped. I never thought about unclipping in those split seconds. Probably staying clipped in gave me better control of the bike anyway, just apparently not enough to avoid crashing ;^) So I went down, I mean first I slowed down considerably by braking, and by the time I was on my way down, I guess then my shoes snapped out of the pedals and I was able to 'lay down' the bike as gently as one could while crashing.
What happened to me? I literally bounced up off the pavement and only caught a view of the driver passing through the intersection waving his hand. He didn't stop, even to check to see if I was ok. There was no other significant traffic on the road, no car behind me or such. So I let my bike lay in the street, and just stepped up on the sidewalk to assess the damage to my body: two big scrapes on my left arm/elbow, a nic on my left thumb, and a scrape through my bike shorts on my left thigh. (Later I discovered a small scrape on my abdomen as well.)
Well, ok - nothing too bad, pedestrians came by to offer their help. Two ladies from a local business offered a hose to wash my wounds and then some neosporin and bandaids. They were very kind. My bike ended up mostly unscathed. The left brake lever got scuffed up a bit, no damage to the frame or anything else that I could tell.
So I was ok and my bike was ok. I asked myself whether there was still a bike ride left to salvage out of the day? I decided so. So I got back on the bike and continued riding. The crash could have been much worse for sure, so I felt lucky really. I mean I made no contact with the car, and I didn't have anything broken. I've ridden over 2000 miles in the last 19 weeks, so I guess something like this was bound to happen.
About an hour later, after already riding through some large puddles and small sprinkles, it absolutely poured for a good 15 minutes. It came down like a waterfall. I had to pull over to wipe the stinging sunblock out of my eyes. Oh what fun to ride in the rain. Actually I'm serious, it felt very refreshing. So, ok - my bandaids had long since sweated/fallen off, my scrapes were pulsing a tad bit, but I was far more distracted then by being completely waterlogged from helmet to cleats. I exchange pleasantries with a couple other riders out there along the wet and wild roads. We're all in this together.
Anyway, eventually the clouds drifted and the sun poked its way through. "Wow," I say to myself with about 20 miles left to get home, "what a great day this turned out to be." I navigate the roads and continue cruising at a still pretty decent pace given the crash and the rain. After all that, what else could go wrong!?
Ha ha, yeah... about 8 miles left in my ride, I felt a knifelike slash to my rear tire, all the air gushed out in an instantaneous swoosh. There was an inch long cut right through my tire, must have been a piece of glass. I could have changed the tube, but the tire no longer offered any protection. Luckily I was about a mile away from a bike shop where I could get a new tire. So I started walking...
Let me tell you, cycling shoes are not meant for walking. Well, not more than like 20 steps to get to and from your home to where you can ride. Their soles are very stiff, so it was a click-click-click-click.... experience for a long stretch. Along the way, another postulate rang true. Wet feet + wet shoes - socks = blisters! Ugh, walking in those wet cleats without socks was giving me some major discomfort. Sucks.
Anyway, finally got to the bike shop, and after way too long a wait, got a new tire and tube mounted, then got back in the saddle and spun my way home, satisfied that I finished my initial planned ride. Was seriously contemplating going for that transition run, but then decided against it so as not to exacerbate my new blisters.
This day will not break my spirit, if anything, it only strenthens me.
Thanks for reading.
What a day this was... Before I go on, I'll quickly say that yes, I did crash on my bike today. But I'm fine. Just a few scrapes and road rash, the usual deal with such incidents, nothing to be concerned about. Here's the story of my day:
The plan: 56 mile bike ride followed by a 4 mile transition run
Started out on the tri-bike, nice easy start on my way out of the city and into the nice, quiet suburbs... Less than 5 miles into my ride, I approached an intersection (the road had a small divider) where a car from the oncoming direction was in line for a left turn. I saw him. He saw me. Then, with the right of way, as I continued approaching the intersection, he lurched forward as if he was going to continue with his turn and cut me off. Two instinctual reactions ensued. I screamed "Nooooooooooo!" and squeezed the heck out of my brakes... the bike immediately started to fishtail for what felt like an eternity. I couldn't believe I kept the bike upright for so long actually. I remember thinking that I might actually come out of this ok. My feet were clipped into my pedals, and I was probably going too fast for unclipping to have helped. I never thought about unclipping in those split seconds. Probably staying clipped in gave me better control of the bike anyway, just apparently not enough to avoid crashing ;^) So I went down, I mean first I slowed down considerably by braking, and by the time I was on my way down, I guess then my shoes snapped out of the pedals and I was able to 'lay down' the bike as gently as one could while crashing.
What happened to me? I literally bounced up off the pavement and only caught a view of the driver passing through the intersection waving his hand. He didn't stop, even to check to see if I was ok. There was no other significant traffic on the road, no car behind me or such. So I let my bike lay in the street, and just stepped up on the sidewalk to assess the damage to my body: two big scrapes on my left arm/elbow, a nic on my left thumb, and a scrape through my bike shorts on my left thigh. (Later I discovered a small scrape on my abdomen as well.)
Well, ok - nothing too bad, pedestrians came by to offer their help. Two ladies from a local business offered a hose to wash my wounds and then some neosporin and bandaids. They were very kind. My bike ended up mostly unscathed. The left brake lever got scuffed up a bit, no damage to the frame or anything else that I could tell.
So I was ok and my bike was ok. I asked myself whether there was still a bike ride left to salvage out of the day? I decided so. So I got back on the bike and continued riding. The crash could have been much worse for sure, so I felt lucky really. I mean I made no contact with the car, and I didn't have anything broken. I've ridden over 2000 miles in the last 19 weeks, so I guess something like this was bound to happen.
About an hour later, after already riding through some large puddles and small sprinkles, it absolutely poured for a good 15 minutes. It came down like a waterfall. I had to pull over to wipe the stinging sunblock out of my eyes. Oh what fun to ride in the rain. Actually I'm serious, it felt very refreshing. So, ok - my bandaids had long since sweated/fallen off, my scrapes were pulsing a tad bit, but I was far more distracted then by being completely waterlogged from helmet to cleats. I exchange pleasantries with a couple other riders out there along the wet and wild roads. We're all in this together.
Anyway, eventually the clouds drifted and the sun poked its way through. "Wow," I say to myself with about 20 miles left to get home, "what a great day this turned out to be." I navigate the roads and continue cruising at a still pretty decent pace given the crash and the rain. After all that, what else could go wrong!?
Ha ha, yeah... about 8 miles left in my ride, I felt a knifelike slash to my rear tire, all the air gushed out in an instantaneous swoosh. There was an inch long cut right through my tire, must have been a piece of glass. I could have changed the tube, but the tire no longer offered any protection. Luckily I was about a mile away from a bike shop where I could get a new tire. So I started walking...
Let me tell you, cycling shoes are not meant for walking. Well, not more than like 20 steps to get to and from your home to where you can ride. Their soles are very stiff, so it was a click-click-click-click.... experience for a long stretch. Along the way, another postulate rang true. Wet feet + wet shoes - socks = blisters! Ugh, walking in those wet cleats without socks was giving me some major discomfort. Sucks.
Anyway, finally got to the bike shop, and after way too long a wait, got a new tire and tube mounted, then got back in the saddle and spun my way home, satisfied that I finished my initial planned ride. Was seriously contemplating going for that transition run, but then decided against it so as not to exacerbate my new blisters.
This day will not break my spirit, if anything, it only strenthens me.
Thanks for reading.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Right Back In the Pool
Wednesday's little anxiety episode while swimming didn't last too long. I got right back in the pool first thing Thursday morning, and did my full set of laps/workout, no problems this time. I guess it's akin to getting right back on the horse, in the batter's box, etc.
Then biked to and from work, and once I got back home did a 7 mile transition run. Whenever I do a brick (bike-then-run workout), I try to imitate a race-like transition to practice running with heavy legs right after biking. For me this means making sure I'm running within 10 minutes of returning from my ride.
So Thursday was the first day in which I substantially did all three disciplines (swim, bike, run) in a single day. Granted the workouts were spaced apart, but I did 1250 yards of swimming, 32 miles of biking, and 7 miles of running (all of those workouts were between 25-30% of the overall Ironman distances).
Now on with Friday...
Then biked to and from work, and once I got back home did a 7 mile transition run. Whenever I do a brick (bike-then-run workout), I try to imitate a race-like transition to practice running with heavy legs right after biking. For me this means making sure I'm running within 10 minutes of returning from my ride.
So Thursday was the first day in which I substantially did all three disciplines (swim, bike, run) in a single day. Granted the workouts were spaced apart, but I did 1250 yards of swimming, 32 miles of biking, and 7 miles of running (all of those workouts were between 25-30% of the overall Ironman distances).
Now on with Friday...
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Mind Over Water
Made it to the pool today, seemed like the usual thing, nothing out of the ordinary really. Got in and started doing my planned workout, but partway through it as I was doing a series of consecutive laps, I kinda lost it - some odd feeling of anxiety crept its way into my mind. All of a sudden, the pool became the size of the ocean and depth of the sea. Irrational fears washed over me... Will I be stranded in the middle of the pool? Can I make it back to the edge of the pool?
Up until that point my form was fine and my split times were reasonable, I just simply had to stop. My mind got the best of me. So I did stop. Hung off the side edge of the pool for a little bit and was finally able to regroup, putting the fears out of my mind... Grabbed the pull buoy and on the next even minute of the clock at the pool, continued with my workout and rattled off a longer series of consecutive laps.
I still don't know what happened there. I was in a nice pool with calm waters and a lane all to myself. I can only hope this doesn't happen during my next visit.
Went out for a 7 mile run later in the evening, after the heat subsided slightly; kept my average heart rate below 150.
Up until that point my form was fine and my split times were reasonable, I just simply had to stop. My mind got the best of me. So I did stop. Hung off the side edge of the pool for a little bit and was finally able to regroup, putting the fears out of my mind... Grabbed the pull buoy and on the next even minute of the clock at the pool, continued with my workout and rattled off a longer series of consecutive laps.
I still don't know what happened there. I was in a nice pool with calm waters and a lane all to myself. I can only hope this doesn't happen during my next visit.
Went out for a 7 mile run later in the evening, after the heat subsided slightly; kept my average heart rate below 150.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Early Start, Back in Form
Had a super early start, out the door before 5:30am so darkness was still settled on the city. Met up with Ashley for a great ride and learned a slightly new route, 31 miles in total. Came back and did a 4 mi run (avg HR of only 149). It was still pretty darn hot this morning, but I felt and performed so much better than this weekend, so feeling back in form. Will hit the pool in the evening for a 500 yard dip to work on my swim technique.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Not Fully Recovered
Wow, I was really drained yesterday, and today being another 90F+ day wasn't helping matters... I'm still not fully recovered from yesterday. Ouch. Body was feeling sluggish most of the day. I did actually make it to the pool, but had a lackluster performance. Did the same pyrimid workout (1-3-5-7-5-3-1) as the other day, but considerably slower. Oh well, hoping it's a case of two steps forward, one step back...
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The Heat Is On
Ugh, another hot and humid day. Rode and then ran. Started out early, but really didn't matter, the heat set in pretty quickly (mid-80sF). Suffered during the last hour of the bike and through the entire run. Ah well, what'cha gonna do... Skipped my swim today; of all things, a swim would've made the most sense on a day like today, but I was just too spent. So I ended up a little light on the swimming this week.
Weekly totals:
Swim: 3750 yards
Bike: 134 miles
Run: 28 miles
12 weeks to go...
Weekly totals:
Swim: 3750 yards
Bike: 134 miles
Run: 28 miles
12 weeks to go...
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Rockin' the Big Chainring
Yesterday (Friday), did the following 'pyramid' swim workout: 1-3-5-7-5-3-1 continuous laps; a total of 25 laps for 1250 yards. Did the 3, 7, 3 continuous laps with the pull buoy, the others without. Rest between each series was about 30-45 seconds. Held very consistent splits for each lap throughout the workout, so slowly gaining endurance while keeping my form and speed.
Today (Saturday), rode a mid-distance 38 miles on the tri-bike, the whole ride in the big chainring. (This essentially means that overall it was a bit harder to pedal the bike, especially up hill.) Thankfully, the route I took didn't have any major hills, so I could manage well enough. The main point was to build some more muscle in my legs, instead of using the smaller chainring and spinning a bit easier at certain points throughout the ride (my cadence was between 75-85 rpms instead of 85-100 rpms). It was a very good ride, very hot (80F+) as I went exactly mid-day, but that's all good training I say.
Towards the latter portion of my ride, I was hauling along hugging the white line on the right side, but a car was following me instead of passing since the road was a bit narrow at that stretch. Once we came to a clearing and a traffic light, the driver, a sweet older lady, pulls alongside me, smiles and says 'You were going 30 back there, pretty good.' I smiled back and said 'Thanks!' as she pulled further ahead. Yeah, I was definately rockin' the big chainring. Finished the ride in yet again, the fastest average mph pace I've ever ridden.
Today (Saturday), rode a mid-distance 38 miles on the tri-bike, the whole ride in the big chainring. (This essentially means that overall it was a bit harder to pedal the bike, especially up hill.) Thankfully, the route I took didn't have any major hills, so I could manage well enough. The main point was to build some more muscle in my legs, instead of using the smaller chainring and spinning a bit easier at certain points throughout the ride (my cadence was between 75-85 rpms instead of 85-100 rpms). It was a very good ride, very hot (80F+) as I went exactly mid-day, but that's all good training I say.
Towards the latter portion of my ride, I was hauling along hugging the white line on the right side, but a car was following me instead of passing since the road was a bit narrow at that stretch. Once we came to a clearing and a traffic light, the driver, a sweet older lady, pulls alongside me, smiles and says 'You were going 30 back there, pretty good.' I smiled back and said 'Thanks!' as she pulled further ahead. Yeah, I was definately rockin' the big chainring. Finished the ride in yet again, the fastest average mph pace I've ever ridden.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Putting in the Swims
A bit dull these last couple days I suppose. Just putting in the swim workouts. Yesterday (Thursday) got to the pool a bit late (er, well I guess 6:30am isn't exactly 'late'...), but still fit in a good 1000 yards before heading off to work. Still doing half my swim workouts with a pull buoy, flotation device used to keep your legs up in the water in order to isolate practicing my upper body form/stroke. Later in the day, went for a 3 mile run around Lake Quannapowitt near work in the afternoon.
Today (Friday), will find my way back to the pool. Thus far, I've been doing 100 yard repeats, throwing in an occasional 200 yard stretch as well. Today I'll try to go a bit longer and see how it feels, in terms of cardiovascular swim fitness and ability to hold proper form. There's definitely an order and approach to my getting better with swimming. It's threefold and simply goes like this: form, speed, endurance. Thus far I've been working on my form, which has been considerably different from the past two years. With that refined form (still a work in progress of course), I've improved my speed (good in the early laps, slowed for the later laps). So now I should start mixing in some endurance. Ok, so on with it...
Today (Friday), will find my way back to the pool. Thus far, I've been doing 100 yard repeats, throwing in an occasional 200 yard stretch as well. Today I'll try to go a bit longer and see how it feels, in terms of cardiovascular swim fitness and ability to hold proper form. There's definitely an order and approach to my getting better with swimming. It's threefold and simply goes like this: form, speed, endurance. Thus far I've been working on my form, which has been considerably different from the past two years. With that refined form (still a work in progress of course), I've improved my speed (good in the early laps, slowed for the later laps). So now I should start mixing in some endurance. Ok, so on with it...
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Dragon Boat Racing
So yesterday (Wednesday) threatened rain and thunder showers, but that didn't stop me from commuting to and from work on my bike. Whatever, it's just water, I won't melt. Luckily, I escaped any stretches of rain. Came home and went out for a 7 mile run along the Charles River. Same route as usual, start at the Hatch Shell, head down the Esplanade along Storrow Drive past the Mass Ave bridge, cross the river at the aptly named River Street and come back around along Memorial Drive on the Cambridge side.
So, while I was chugging along on the Cambridge side, I happened upon two dragon boats in the river (one with 10 paddlers, the other with 14) that were very close to shore and about to race each other. One of the crew counted down from 5-4-3-2-1-GO! And all the folks started paddling furiously. It was just at that "GO" moment that I became even with them, so I found myself unwittingly a third wheel in a two boat race. I thought it would be fun to see how my 150 beats per minute heart rate pace fared against these boats/paddlers. I was just a bit faster, and after about two minutes I had pulled forward from both boats about 15-20 yards. So I guess I did a little dragon boat racing last night.
So, while I was chugging along on the Cambridge side, I happened upon two dragon boats in the river (one with 10 paddlers, the other with 14) that were very close to shore and about to race each other. One of the crew counted down from 5-4-3-2-1-GO! And all the folks started paddling furiously. It was just at that "GO" moment that I became even with them, so I found myself unwittingly a third wheel in a two boat race. I thought it would be fun to see how my 150 beats per minute heart rate pace fared against these boats/paddlers. I was just a bit faster, and after about two minutes I had pulled forward from both boats about 15-20 yards. So I guess I did a little dragon boat racing last night.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Good Stuff Run
Got up bright and early again today and headed out for a quick 20 minute spin on the bike. It was supposed to rain this morning (and I did catch some light sprinkles), so I bagged a full bike workout for a quick spin to warm up the legs and then transitioned to a 7 mile run. Ran my fastest 7 mile training split thus far. Not quite yet a breakthrough run, but still good stuff. Later in the evening hit the pool for 500 yards.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Pseudo Rest Day
So from a calendar perspective, I've worked out 23 consecutive days. What, no rest day you ask?
Well, last winter I attended a triathlon night at a local bike shop, and a local pro triathlete (Olympian Jarrod Shoemaker) spoke about taking rest amidst his tough training schedule. And he made a good point. If you take a whole calendar day off, you could actually end up taking two "days" off. Instead, he said that you can continue working out on consecutive days, but by spacing out workouts on one morning and then the evening of the next day, you actually get a full 24 hour stretch of rest in between, effectively a rest day.
So this is what I did between Sunday and Monday (today). My workout on Sunday ended in the afternoon, and I waited until this evening to go for a swim. So there, I rested :^)
Well, last winter I attended a triathlon night at a local bike shop, and a local pro triathlete (Olympian Jarrod Shoemaker) spoke about taking rest amidst his tough training schedule. And he made a good point. If you take a whole calendar day off, you could actually end up taking two "days" off. Instead, he said that you can continue working out on consecutive days, but by spacing out workouts on one morning and then the evening of the next day, you actually get a full 24 hour stretch of rest in between, effectively a rest day.
So this is what I did between Sunday and Monday (today). My workout on Sunday ended in the afternoon, and I waited until this evening to go for a swim. So there, I rested :^)
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Yet Another Sunday Brick
Headed out on the tri-bike today since I've gotta make sure I put some miles on that bike in prep for the race. Felt pretty crummy for the first 20 minutes, kept trying to convince myself to just make it to a few landmarks along the route. Once I would hit a landmark, I'd convince myself to keep going to the next one. After about an hour, my legs started to feel better, and my pace picked up. I think it takes me about an hour to properly warm up on the bike.
In any case, I rode a total of about 40 miles, the full intended ride that I planned. And actually, it was a great ride. I arrived back home having ridden the fastest average time I've ever ridden on a solo ride. I'm very happy about that.
Followed the ride up with a 4 mile run, but partway through I felt a tiny pain in my right shoulder. It persisted for a couple minutes enough to make me slow to a walk for a bit. After I massaged it, the pain subsided and I was able to resume my run.
Skipped the swim today.
Weekly totals:
Swim: 3200 yards
Bike: 158 miles
Run: 25 miles
13 weeks to go until the race...
In any case, I rode a total of about 40 miles, the full intended ride that I planned. And actually, it was a great ride. I arrived back home having ridden the fastest average time I've ever ridden on a solo ride. I'm very happy about that.
Followed the ride up with a 4 mile run, but partway through I felt a tiny pain in my right shoulder. It persisted for a couple minutes enough to make me slow to a walk for a bit. After I massaged it, the pain subsided and I was able to resume my run.
Skipped the swim today.
Weekly totals:
Swim: 3200 yards
Bike: 158 miles
Run: 25 miles
13 weeks to go until the race...
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Daybreak, Bike, Run
Peaceful Saturday morning, riding up Beacon Street with a clear view of the moon. And a view of the river at daybreak from the Mass Ave bridge.
Rode this morning with Parth, my total was 54 miles.
Followed the ride with a 4 mile run.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Daily Summary
Woke up today and ate a half bowl of leftover rice and lentils. Out early and rode the bike to the pool, caught a nice morning view of the moon. Swam 1200 yards, felt good, first laps was able to hold form, subsequent laps became more of a struggle. Biked back home. Ate a bowl of total raisin bran, followed by 2 waffles, a handful of almonds and some yogurt. Once at work, had a PBJ as a mid-morning snack. Went to a mexican place for lunch with colleagues. Had a very large burrito (see pic although it doesn't do it justice).
Towards the end of the day, stepped out for a ~3mi run around Lake Quannapowitt, my first run around the lake since I've been working at this office. Not sure why I haven't run it before, maybe I'm spoiled by having the Charles River so close to run along near home. Anyway, there are some nice serene parts along the lake (see pics, hard to see but there's a person sail-boarding in the distance).
Had a post-run snack of another PBJ and a handful of tasty cashews. Overall was a nice Friday.
Towards the end of the day, stepped out for a ~3mi run around Lake Quannapowitt, my first run around the lake since I've been working at this office. Not sure why I haven't run it before, maybe I'm spoiled by having the Charles River so close to run along near home. Anyway, there are some nice serene parts along the lake (see pics, hard to see but there's a person sail-boarding in the distance).
Had a post-run snack of another PBJ and a handful of tasty cashews. Overall was a nice Friday.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Cycling legs vs Running legs
Today my cycling legs were feeling pretty sluggish on my commute to work. Made it out and back ok (and even remembered to bring my shoes ;^) but definately feeling the wear of all these workouts. Immediately switched into my running stuff and headed out for a 4 miler after my ride home and interestingly ran it faster than any other training run thus far, and with an average hr of only 152, right in the heart of my zone2. It could be that I'm sacrificing my cycling legs for stronger running legs. Well, nonetheless - it's an improvement, so I'm happy about that.
Swim and Walk
Yesterday (Wednesday) was another passing workout day; hit the pool earlier in the day and then had a nice long walk in the evening. It was the 18th consecutive calendar day that I've worked out. On one hand I feel like I might need a complete day of rest (both physically and mentally), but on the other hand I know I need to continue putting in the training. Hopefully this feeling will pass...
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
A Day in My (Cycling) Shoes
Well, it was bound to happen. I rode in to work as normal, got to my desk and unpacked my backpack. First took out my laptop, docked it in the docking station and powered it up. Then pulled out my clothes for the day before I headed over to the shower, and well - uh oh - apparently I forgot to pack regular shoes to wear. Oops. So I ended up just wearing my cycling shoes around the office. No big deal really, most of the office is carpeted, and no client meetings or anything like that today, but definately gave a few colleagues a good chuckle over it ;^)
Monday, August 3, 2009
Swim+ and Pilates
Swam a quick 800 yards in the pool today and felt really positive about my swim technique... I did 8 x 100 yard repeats with anywhere between 15-45 seconds of rest in between each repeat. I think I've brought my 100 yard time down by about 8 seconds already! Very happy about that...
After my swim, I met up for lunch with good buddy and former b-school classmate Rich. Amidst our catching up, he mentioned playing ice hockey, which of course got me thinking about my playing again sometime too (I played hockey for 7 years in my younger days). Well, maybe I'll consider it after my race, for now I'll put that idea on ice (pun intended)...
This evening I had in store another mix-it-up workout: pilates. Alyce offered me to join the class she goes to, so I said 'why not'. It was a decent workout, main focus was on the "core" (abdominal muscles, etc.). Enjoyed the class and followed it with an easy-paced 3mi run home.
After my swim, I met up for lunch with good buddy and former b-school classmate Rich. Amidst our catching up, he mentioned playing ice hockey, which of course got me thinking about my playing again sometime too (I played hockey for 7 years in my younger days). Well, maybe I'll consider it after my race, for now I'll put that idea on ice (pun intended)...
This evening I had in store another mix-it-up workout: pilates. Alyce offered me to join the class she goes to, so I said 'why not'. It was a decent workout, main focus was on the "core" (abdominal muscles, etc.). Enjoyed the class and followed it with an easy-paced 3mi run home.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Sunday Brick
So yet again I had a workout plan for the day, but altered (i.e. shortened) it based on how my body was feeling. Still I got in a decent brick workout: 20 miles on the tri-bike followed by a 7 mile run. Now 14 weeks to go until the race...
Midnight Frisbee
Just past midnight last night, I got out of the Loews Boston Common movie theater having watched "Funny People" with my cousin. Pretty funny flick, as was "The Hangover" which I saw last weekend. Anyway, I crossed the street to walk through the Boston Common and totally randomly, I'm asked by a couple folks to join them in tossing around a frisbee; they had an LED lit frisbee since it was dark. So that was a fun, random little 15 minutes. Made me think back to having played Ultimate Frisbee years ago.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Early Ride and Swim
Started this morning's ride at 6am... there was one lone scull (crew boat) in the middle of the river at daybreak, here's the view:
Rode with Ashley and Taylor. Originally the plan was to ride to Walden Pond, go for a swim and then ride back - but I changed the plan at the last minute. We'll try to do that another time, but right now I need to stick to the comfort and controlled environment of the pool in order to work on my technique a bit more. So came back from the ride and then headed over to the pool and did 1100 yards. Technique is hard to keep consistent, so trying to isolate specific aspects with drills. Fitness in the pool feels fine though, I'm not really winded or out of breath while swimming. Gonna keep at it...
Rode with Ashley and Taylor. Originally the plan was to ride to Walden Pond, go for a swim and then ride back - but I changed the plan at the last minute. We'll try to do that another time, but right now I need to stick to the comfort and controlled environment of the pool in order to work on my technique a bit more. So came back from the ride and then headed over to the pool and did 1100 yards. Technique is hard to keep consistent, so trying to isolate specific aspects with drills. Fitness in the pool feels fine though, I'm not really winded or out of breath while swimming. Gonna keep at it...
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Swim, Walk. Bike, Kayak.
Went for my second pool swim on Wednesday. Arrived bright and early and waited a couple mins for the doors to open at the pool. Did 800 yards. Focusing on form rather than just trying to put in distance. Geesh, swimming is so technique oriented. You can swim for miles and miles inefficiently, or at half the effort efficiently. Since I haven't swum regularly since my race last November, I'm trying to correct a lot of the inefficiencies/bad form I had before. It's not easy, but I'm remembering a few tips I've received in the past and I think those are making a difference so far. Just building up that muscle memory now. Doing drills to solidify certain aspects of the stroke so I can hopefully put it all together and not have to think about every movement so consiously, and just swim more naturally.
Later in the day yesterday I was scheduled for a long run, but I passed on it, and ended up just walking about 4 miles. The heat and humidity have got me feeling a bit woosy, and I didn't feel like pushing the matter. Walking was fine enough.
On tap for Thursday/today: bike to/from work then some kayaking...
Later in the day yesterday I was scheduled for a long run, but I passed on it, and ended up just walking about 4 miles. The heat and humidity have got me feeling a bit woosy, and I didn't feel like pushing the matter. Walking was fine enough.
On tap for Thursday/today: bike to/from work then some kayaking...
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Flat, Flat, Flat, Flat
So I've flatted a few times on the road bike recently. One time a month or so ago, and then three times within the last 10 days. I blame the three most recent ones on two bad tires meeting a bunnyhop, gravel and a shard of glass. Ugh. So I need to update my tires... hopefully no more equipment failures!
Rode my tri bike this afternoon and it was ridiculously hot (85F+) and humid. Two sides of the coin by riding fast: the faster you go, the hotter you get, but also the more the breeze cools you. ... Between my botched morning commute (during which I flatted and just ended up going back and working from home) and my afternoon ride, I put in about 31 steamy miles today. I'll take the low 60s and rain of weeks ago over this weather!
Rode my tri bike this afternoon and it was ridiculously hot (85F+) and humid. Two sides of the coin by riding fast: the faster you go, the hotter you get, but also the more the breeze cools you. ... Between my botched morning commute (during which I flatted and just ended up going back and working from home) and my afternoon ride, I put in about 31 steamy miles today. I'll take the low 60s and rain of weeks ago over this weather!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Back in the Pool !
Yup, with just 15 weeks left until the race, I figured it'd be a good idea right about now to get back in the pool. So... up at 5am, out the door at 5:30am, ran 2 miles to the pool, registered for membership, in the water by 6:20am (no lollygagging around; swam a mere 500 yards for my first time back, but hey I'm just gettin' started!), outta the pool, quick de-chlorinating shower, put my running stuff back on to run back home 2 miles, stretch, proper shower, bowl of cereal and some cottage cheese, and now off to work at 8am. Not a bad Monday morning so far!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
AC Milan vs. Inter Milan
Went down to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA this afternoon with friends Vin, Mark and Jonathan to see AC Milan vs. Inter Milan (two rival Italian soccer/futbol teams). For those in Italy, it's somewhat akin to the Yankees vs. the Red Sox. Anyway, it was a great game and Inter Milan won, 2-0.
So seeing the game today reminded me of how my playing soccer (since the age of 12) has had a significant impact on my fitness. I feel fortunate that I was introduced to the sport and will try to write more about all that later...
So seeing the game today reminded me of how my playing soccer (since the age of 12) has had a significant impact on my fitness. I feel fortunate that I was introduced to the sport and will try to write more about all that later...
Training and Random Sporting
12:00 noon
Given my increase in training volume lately, I awoke a little less enthused for my intended bike ride this morning. So I passed on it. Been trying to listen to my body, and letting it dictate to what extent I can train or should rest. Got out for a just a run instead, 7 mi. A mile in I kicked myself for not bringing either my hat or sunglasses for protection against the sun, it was hot and humid(!!) and so the shirt came off pretty quickly. About halfway through, someone on a bike pedaled up to me and asked: "Pardon me, what is that strap on your chest helpful for?" My quick response: "It's a heart rate sensor that relays a signal to my watch, and it's racing!"
...
So, last night I drove my car. And while that's not newsworthy on it's own (although I don't drive much these days), it was a particular point while driving that's of interest. Heh, heh - I know I've been training a lot when I'm driving up a hill and sense my legs involuntarily flex beneath me, as though I might have to pedal up the hill. And then tapping on the gas pedal, I somehow feel like I'm cheating the hill with this gas-powered propulsion. Wacky thought I know.
Yup, it's official - Lance placed 3rd in this year's TdF; already looking forward to his next year of racing under Team Radio Shack.
Also, congrats to Jim Rice (Red Sox left fielder in the 70s & 80s), today he gets inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. I remember him knocking a few outta Fenway many a time back in the day. Good guy, good ball player.
Given my increase in training volume lately, I awoke a little less enthused for my intended bike ride this morning. So I passed on it. Been trying to listen to my body, and letting it dictate to what extent I can train or should rest. Got out for a just a run instead, 7 mi. A mile in I kicked myself for not bringing either my hat or sunglasses for protection against the sun, it was hot and humid(!!) and so the shirt came off pretty quickly. About halfway through, someone on a bike pedaled up to me and asked: "Pardon me, what is that strap on your chest helpful for?" My quick response: "It's a heart rate sensor that relays a signal to my watch, and it's racing!"
...
So, last night I drove my car. And while that's not newsworthy on it's own (although I don't drive much these days), it was a particular point while driving that's of interest. Heh, heh - I know I've been training a lot when I'm driving up a hill and sense my legs involuntarily flex beneath me, as though I might have to pedal up the hill. And then tapping on the gas pedal, I somehow feel like I'm cheating the hill with this gas-powered propulsion. Wacky thought I know.
Yup, it's official - Lance placed 3rd in this year's TdF; already looking forward to his next year of racing under Team Radio Shack.
Also, congrats to Jim Rice (Red Sox left fielder in the 70s & 80s), today he gets inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. I remember him knocking a few outta Fenway many a time back in the day. Good guy, good ball player.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Saturday Ride
Another great bike ride today, 35 miles total for me. Rode with Alyce and Neal. That's a pic of us post-ride, and then we went for some ice cream... much needed refreshment after a rather hot afternoon ride (hot for me since I prefer cool 60s F over the 85 F of today).
Was considering a run, but my left hamstring has been a bit tenuous, so I'm skipping the run today. Better to let the hamstring heal fully than to take a risk of outright straining it. I've already run more miles this week than last week, so I'm ok with that.
Re: the TdF today: Lance did great covering any moves Frank Schleck made going up Mont Ventoux. Pretty impressive all around comeback by Lance. The guy was 3.5 years removed from competition, and at 37 is racing at the top echelon of the sport, placing 3rd overall after tomorrow's ceremonial ride into Paris. Not to mention all the work that he does with the LAF (Lance Armstrong Foundation) in raising awareness and research funds for the global fight against cancer. Gotta respect his talent and dedication, both on the bike and with his activism.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Quick Brick
Waited out the rainy weather today for an afternoon workout. Fitting in a quick brick session: plan is for a very easy-paced 22mi bike ride followed by a 7mi run.
Big stage tomorrow in the Tour de France (TdF). 104 miles, where the last 14 miles climb steeply to a mountain-top finish up Mont Ventoux. All the makings for an epic finish. This stage will essentially determine the overall placing of the top riders. Will Lance Armstrong get a top-3 podium finish in Paris?
Big stage tomorrow in the Tour de France (TdF). 104 miles, where the last 14 miles climb steeply to a mountain-top finish up Mont Ventoux. All the makings for an epic finish. This stage will essentially determine the overall placing of the top riders. Will Lance Armstrong get a top-3 podium finish in Paris?
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Tough Getting Out Today
It was tough getting out today for a run. I skipped my 13mi run home from work and instead opted for a short 4 miler after I got home. And it was raining when I stepped outside. Normally, I'd relish a run in the cool summer rain, but today's run seemed laborious. Yup, it's not all glamorous, some days are strictly utility. Thankfully, I know this will pass, and that rush of endorphins and fun will return soon.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Training Works
Last week I rode 182 miles and ran 25 miles. Not so coincidentally, I'm feeling pretty good on the bike these days, training works - what a concept! Got home from my biking commute in record time, and decided to do a brick workout, so went out for a 4 mile run. It's a pretty busy week, but trying to keep at it. Maybe will run every day this week, trying to build up my volume on the run similar to what I've been doing on the bike. Of course, also hoping not to overdo it - which can lead to overtraining, fatigue, and at worst, injury. Gotta be a bit aggressive with training, but at the same time conservative.
Afternoon Snack
3:30pm
Well, for the most part I eat healthily, but I do have my indulgences. Here's my yummy afternoon snack (ice cream sundae) at a work get-together. Something tells me I'm gonna have a peppy bike ride home today...
Well, for the most part I eat healthily, but I do have my indulgences. Here's my yummy afternoon snack (ice cream sundae) at a work get-together. Something tells me I'm gonna have a peppy bike ride home today...
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Perfect Running Weather
In my last couple posts, I described my runs as "easy", but I really meant "easy-paced". For most of my runs, I've worn my heart rate monitor and try to stay in my zone2 range (60-70% of my max HR). Keeping my intensity in this range usually amounts to a reasonable, easy paced outing. Of course, I still warm up and stretch before and after my workouts...
Tuesday was perfect running weather, mid 60s F with a light drizzle, so did a 7 mi run. Legs are pretty much recovered now from the long Sunday ride. Now back on the bike tomorrow for a commute ride to / from work.
Tuesday was perfect running weather, mid 60s F with a light drizzle, so did a 7 mi run. Legs are pretty much recovered now from the long Sunday ride. Now back on the bike tomorrow for a commute ride to / from work.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Uneventful Monday
Yup, just another relatively uneventful Monday. Waited until the evening to pound out an easy 4 mi run. Legs felt a tad bit sluggish, but cardiovascularly felt very good. Normally my average heart rate is around 155, today's run had an avg HR of 144. Let's see how the next few days go. Hoping to get back on the bike by Wednesday.
Late Sunday Run
Came back home after the Climb to the Clouds and started eating to recoup. Later took a nap for a couple hours and then met up with my cousin Malay for an easy 3mi run along the Charles River. Couldn't believe how great my legs felt!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Climb to the Clouds
Note: Technical difficulties with my phone today. I tried posting at various points along the route, but after a couple posts, didn't realize that my phone encountered a "syncronization error" and none of my subsequent post attempts made it. Thus, here's my ride report:
The Climb to the Clouds bike ride was held today. It's a ride organized by a local cycling group; the ride attracts as many as 800 cyclists. My final total mileage was 102 mi.
After a quick registration, talking to some other riders, and prepping the bike, my colleague Bjorn arrived and we set-off with a group of 6 others.
Around mile 45, here's me ascending the 1 mile, 9% grade hill. I had feared this climb for the past week or so, given that my easiest gear is a 39x23. Despite this tough gearing (while others were using 39x25+, or had a triple), I was very pleased with how I rode it, sitting in the saddle for most of the way up. This brought us to the Wachusett Mountain visitor center.
After the major climb, normally the route continues up to the peak of Mt Wachusett, however this year they had to cancel that portion due to road contruction. Bummer, but trust me there was no shortage of climbing.
The Climb to the Clouds bike ride was held today. It's a ride organized by a local cycling group; the ride attracts as many as 800 cyclists. My final total mileage was 102 mi.
I arrived at 6am to the ride kick-off site in Concord, MA in order to register for the ride. The sun was just on it's way up... the weather turned out to be clear skies and temps in the 80s F.
After a quick registration, talking to some other riders, and prepping the bike, my colleague Bjorn arrived and we set-off with a group of 6 others.
Just 9 miles into the ride, I flatted (rear wheel). Ugh. But no worries, I quickly pulled out my spare tube and inflator and fixed the flat. Fortunately, just in time for us to connect up with another group of 12 riders. Time for some fun peloton riding! Really enjoyed buzzing down the backroads in the group, alternating pulling at the front with drafting in the pack. There was some discussion about direction however... but we got on track.
Took several breaks (probably too many and for too long)... and over the course of the ride, ate lots of bananas, plums, powerbars, and my own PBJs.
Around mile 45, here's me ascending the 1 mile, 9% grade hill. I had feared this climb for the past week or so, given that my easiest gear is a 39x23. Despite this tough gearing (while others were using 39x25+, or had a triple), I was very pleased with how I rode it, sitting in the saddle for most of the way up. This brought us to the Wachusett Mountain visitor center.After the major climb, normally the route continues up to the peak of Mt Wachusett, however this year they had to cancel that portion due to road contruction. Bummer, but trust me there was no shortage of climbing.The rest of ride we encountered undulating climbs and descents. My max speed was 45 mph going down a long hill. Finally finished with the legs feeling great! This could very well have been a transformative ride, putting my body through some very positive physiological changes.
Anyway, I'm very happy with the ride and for the many good people I met along the way. It was a great day!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Support Your LBS
Visited a couple bike shops today. I do buy stuff on-line, but I also like to support the local bike shops (lbs) as well. Bought some bike tools and other general equipment.
Since tomorrow is a l-o-n-g and hilly ride, I'm taking today as a full rest day, letting a little ache in my left calf heal, as well as the blister from the other day that formed on the big toe of my left foot. Hope the weather holds for tomorrow's ride. I'll try to post a couple times from the road...
Starting next week, I'll post a more full view of my weekly training.
Since tomorrow is a l-o-n-g and hilly ride, I'm taking today as a full rest day, letting a little ache in my left calf heal, as well as the blister from the other day that formed on the big toe of my left foot. Hope the weather holds for tomorrow's ride. I'll try to post a couple times from the road...
Starting next week, I'll post a more full view of my weekly training.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Easy Spin Today
Was an easy spin today to/from work because of plans to do a major ride this Sunday: the Climb to the Clouds, a 100 mi bike ride with over 6000 feet of climbing. The ride is organized by the Charles River Wheelmen (CRW). I'm excited about the ride, though a little fearful of a 1 mile stretch of climbing at a 9% gradient; that could be a bit tough! Stay tuned on Sunday for updates from along the route.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Hazy Hot Humid Headwind
Cut short my run home today (took a shuttle part way home). Ended up running ~6.5mi. Good thing I shortened it, not only was it hazy, hot and humid this evening, but I also ran into a headwind, and then ended up getting a blister, ugh. Biking to/from work tomorrow, it'll be hot (86 degrees F)!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Felt Like a Brick Today
Actually, what I mean is that I felt like doing a brick workout this morning. A brick workout is when you do two disciplines of workouts one after another, replicating the scenario in an actual triatlon. A brick can be swim-then-bike, or more commonly, bike-then-run.
Up and out at dawn, I intended to do about a 38mi ride, but about 8 miles out, I decided to cut the ride short and add a run in. The ride total was only 22 miles, and I added a couple ascents up Summit Ave in Brookline to practice my climbing. Once home, I switched up my gear and headed out for a 7 mi run along the Charles. Legs felt really good after about a mile or so of loosening up. I was back home before 9am.
Later after work, stopped off at Ben & Jerry's for some yummy Coffee ice cream, then met up with friends Alyce and Neal for another run - a nice, conversational 4mi loop along the Jamaicaway trails and ponds. Dinner capped off our evening. Another great day of training and fun with friends.
Up and out at dawn, I intended to do about a 38mi ride, but about 8 miles out, I decided to cut the ride short and add a run in. The ride total was only 22 miles, and I added a couple ascents up Summit Ave in Brookline to practice my climbing. Once home, I switched up my gear and headed out for a 7 mi run along the Charles. Legs felt really good after about a mile or so of loosening up. I was back home before 9am.
Later after work, stopped off at Ben & Jerry's for some yummy Coffee ice cream, then met up with friends Alyce and Neal for another run - a nice, conversational 4mi loop along the Jamaicaway trails and ponds. Dinner capped off our evening. Another great day of training and fun with friends.
Sparkly Bike
Yesterday was another nice day here in Boston. But so many days earlier this year, from the winter months of early 2009 to just last week, had taken their toll on my road bike. All the wet weather, riding through icy slush and rain, etc. have brought road dirt and grime onto my bike, especially causing friction and wear on my bike's drivetrain. Finally yesterday (Tuesday), the bike got a tune-up like never before. This is supposed to be part of regular maintenance mind you. But with the help of bike afficionado Bjorn yesterday after work, my bike has a new sparkly, shiny look, and is spinning as smooth as butter...sweet.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Shady, Cool Grass
Usually the weekends are good opportunities to get a lot of training volume in. But yesterday (Sunday), I chose to rest instead. Earlier in the prior week I did my 13mi commute/run home and ended up straining my knee (ITBS, more on that later). I hadn't run for nearly a week when I did that run, and so I went too far too soon without ramping back up to that distance; bad idea. Anyway, instead of trying to push through the pain of a run, I opted to take all of Sunday off... Fortunately, I was able to kick back and hang out in the park with a friend for a while. It was so nice laying out in the shady, cool grass. And I think that one extra day of rest did the trick. I was able to put in a nice 4mi run today (Monday) with no pain whatsoever in the knee. Thank goodness.
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