Last week ended up pretty good. The plan was for a total of 15 hours and I was about an hour short of that. I moved my Sunday long-ish brick (2.5 hour ride 1 hour run) to Friday instead. This was to free up some family time on Sunday as well as do a swim class that Cadence is offering. The swim class didn't involve much swimming as it was the first class. Next week is a 400 yrd time trail. Hmmm...haven't tried to race a 400 yet, I'll have to think about a goal pace. It appears that I am one of the stronger swimmers there, but I'm in this to work on my form, not fitness.
So Friday I had my morning indoor bike training class at Cadence. I decided that I would ride another 90 minutes after the class and then do an hour run. It went pretty well, atlhough I was definetly tired aftewards. The run was also freezing cold (I think it was single digits...without the wind chill), but I got it done. Forgot my gloves, so I had to tuck the hands into my sweatshirt. No problem. Finished about 10 AM and then worked from home. Spent the day fueling as well. Then up at 5:30 on Saturday to join Guys Bike shop folks for an indoor 3 hour training ride. This was a lot of fun and I really liked it. During the 45 minute drive there I was debating this as it is a long way to drive for a 3 hour ride. Don't know if I will do this again, but it was nice. The person leading the class had a bag with different 10 minute segments in it. Everybody picked one out and that is what we did for the next 10 minutes. It would usually be something like 5% grade zone 2-3 for 8 minutes with 2 minutes recovery. It was never anything hard (we stayed in 2-3 most of the ride), but it was good to pass the time this way. I think I will have to do that for all of my indoor rides.
So flash forward to this week. I have 17:00 on the plan (holy crap this is a part time job)! Thank god next week is a cutback week. The tough part of this week is the Tues/Wed combo. It might not be known, but due to life (work, family, etc), I do almost all of my workouts in the morning during the work week (and weekends for that matter). This means that if the coach says do a 1:30 brick workout and a n hour swim, these are both done in the morning before work. So after working late-ish yesterday (nothing compared to my summer work hours) I got to bed by 10:15 PM and was up at 4:30. Usually I would swim and then do the brick, but I thought I would mix it up today as sometimes that pool can be crowded at 5:00 AM (yes, you read that right). So I did the 75 bike 15 min run first (actually went 16 minutes on the run, for 2 miles exactly) and then I changed and got in the pool. Did 6x500 with 250 warmup and cooldown for 3500 yards total. Took 40 seconds between 500's. This felt good, but with the ride/run before hand the calves started cramping a bit. I really need to get my calf cramping issues figured out. I know part of it is just inflexible ankles that have built up over years of running, but my swim volume is up over 3 hours a week now and I figured these would eventually go away. Grant it, it only happens on harder/longer swims or after a ride/run now, but still. In tri's I almost always get a calf cramp. I wonder if it has anything to do with the wetsuit?!?!
Well I have to get back to work. A 3:30 ride this Saturday. Need to see if I can make this happen outside??? Not looking forward to 3 1/2 hours on an indoor trainer.
later,
Dave
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Another Big Weekend Planned
Well this weekend I'm hoping to get in some higher volume again. Last time I tried this I came down with a cold, but I am hopeful this time works out better. I'm not feeling overtrained or overtired at this point, so I think things will work out. I have signed up for a Tri Swim class through Cadence that starts on Sunday. I'm really just looking for someone to take a look at form and maybe help out with some things and also to get some more structed swim training in. I think the bonus will be that I'm going to try to move around some training so that I go longer on Friday and Saturday and then on Sunday I can just do the swim and maybe a short bike ride. This will hopefully free up some time for family. I know that the higher volume weeks are coming so if this change works out I think it will really help.
My plan for this week is around 15 hours total. This includes a 3 hour ride and a 2.5 hour ride with a one hour run afterwards. On Saturday I'm doing a indoor 3 hour trainer endurance ride at FitLife with the Guys group. It should be interesting and hopefully fun. I had two really good swim sessions so far this week as well. I did a 1 hour straigt swim (just over 2 miles) on Tuesday and today I did 3400 yards with many 300's in there. Also, I did a 1000 yard time trail on Saturday which went well. This was basically I warmup, followed by some hard-ish 50's and then a 1000 yard all out swim. It seems everytime I do these I end up having to share a lane with someone, which makes this harder. But I did it anyway and was able to push pretty hard and felt it was fairly accurate. I think had nobody been near me I could have gone just a little faster. For the 1000 I was able to do 14:30 which came out to about 1:26-1:27 for my per 100 yard avg. This was an improvement over my 1:30 avg I had a couple months back. I'm really starting to gain some confidence with my swimming, both in terms of speed, form and endurance. Maybe I won't be in the bottom 10% at IMLP in the swim!
I was able to hit the weights a couple of time last week and this week as well. Feeling pretty strong, but as the training volume is raising, these will become more maintance sessions and less max strength. I'm pretty close to my goals for leg strength anyway, so this is a good time to start making sure I don't over do it. One thing I have realized is that when I want to go heavy (ie heavy weight for less reps) I am better off doing this on a Hammer strength or machine as opposed to free weights. I have a habit of "tweaking" things when I do free weights with heavy weight.
I also did something other than just an easy, short run this week. I actually did 6x3 minute hill repeats on the treadmill. They were at 5.0% grade and 7.0 mph (8:34 pace) with 2 minutes recovery. It was 8 miles total. I definetly am missing some run fitness, but the foot is okay. It bothered me a little during the run itself, but didn't hurt throughout the day or the next day, which was happening before. So I'll probably try a 10 miler next week and see how it goes.
I'm also going to reserve my race wheels for Mooseman and IMLP this week I think. I used RaceDayWheels.com last time and this worked out well. I'm probably going with Zipp 808 tubulars. Also, speaking of the bike I have the ultegra front derailleur up and running, although i'm "trimming" more than I would like. I need to get the rear derailleur on this weekend and do some general maintenance (clean chain, lube, etc).
I think next week will probably end up being my highest volume week ever. The cool part so far is that the volume is not killing as much as I thought. It's mostly the last of sleep, work, getting sick, etc that is getting to me. I did a 2.5 hour workout on Tuesday and was really not the wiped all day long. It helps, I think that I am moving my bigger meals to earlier in the day (big breakfast...semi big lunch and lighter dinner).
My plan for this week is around 15 hours total. This includes a 3 hour ride and a 2.5 hour ride with a one hour run afterwards. On Saturday I'm doing a indoor 3 hour trainer endurance ride at FitLife with the Guys group. It should be interesting and hopefully fun. I had two really good swim sessions so far this week as well. I did a 1 hour straigt swim (just over 2 miles) on Tuesday and today I did 3400 yards with many 300's in there. Also, I did a 1000 yard time trail on Saturday which went well. This was basically I warmup, followed by some hard-ish 50's and then a 1000 yard all out swim. It seems everytime I do these I end up having to share a lane with someone, which makes this harder. But I did it anyway and was able to push pretty hard and felt it was fairly accurate. I think had nobody been near me I could have gone just a little faster. For the 1000 I was able to do 14:30 which came out to about 1:26-1:27 for my per 100 yard avg. This was an improvement over my 1:30 avg I had a couple months back. I'm really starting to gain some confidence with my swimming, both in terms of speed, form and endurance. Maybe I won't be in the bottom 10% at IMLP in the swim!
I was able to hit the weights a couple of time last week and this week as well. Feeling pretty strong, but as the training volume is raising, these will become more maintance sessions and less max strength. I'm pretty close to my goals for leg strength anyway, so this is a good time to start making sure I don't over do it. One thing I have realized is that when I want to go heavy (ie heavy weight for less reps) I am better off doing this on a Hammer strength or machine as opposed to free weights. I have a habit of "tweaking" things when I do free weights with heavy weight.
I also did something other than just an easy, short run this week. I actually did 6x3 minute hill repeats on the treadmill. They were at 5.0% grade and 7.0 mph (8:34 pace) with 2 minutes recovery. It was 8 miles total. I definetly am missing some run fitness, but the foot is okay. It bothered me a little during the run itself, but didn't hurt throughout the day or the next day, which was happening before. So I'll probably try a 10 miler next week and see how it goes.
I'm also going to reserve my race wheels for Mooseman and IMLP this week I think. I used RaceDayWheels.com last time and this worked out well. I'm probably going with Zipp 808 tubulars. Also, speaking of the bike I have the ultegra front derailleur up and running, although i'm "trimming" more than I would like. I need to get the rear derailleur on this weekend and do some general maintenance (clean chain, lube, etc).
I think next week will probably end up being my highest volume week ever. The cool part so far is that the volume is not killing as much as I thought. It's mostly the last of sleep, work, getting sick, etc that is getting to me. I did a 2.5 hour workout on Tuesday and was really not the wiped all day long. It helps, I think that I am moving my bigger meals to earlier in the day (big breakfast...semi big lunch and lighter dinner).
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Recovery Week and No Excuses
I am in the midst of a recovery week. I had asked some of the coaches at trainingpeaks and also did some research and basically learned that even though I was sick last week and had sort of a cut back week, this does not count as my actual cutback week. So this week is slightly less volume as well. I will though make one of the weekend rides a little longer just to get back the feel of things. But the hours this week will likely be around 8-10 hours total. I did do a pretty hard lifting session for the legs yesterday at the gym though. It felt good and I can definetly tell that I am getting stronger. Squats and Leg presses are both up in terms of the weight I am using. This will hopefully really help out my power. I would love to see 260-270 at my next FT test (my first one was 250 back in December).
I realized an interesting thing about tri-ing yesterday when I got to the gym. I had got into the locker room and was planning on doing a swim. But I realized I forgot my swim bag in the car. No problem, I can just walk the 200 feet back to the car and get it. Or I could just change things up and do something different. So instead of a swim and lift session yesterday, I did a 8 mile run and lift session. As I was running I was thinking that all of the different forms of exercise tri folks do, it is really hard to have an excuse that you can't do something. With marathon training, there is only so much "cross training" you can do, eventually you have to run. But with tri-ing, if you shoulder hurts, you bike, if your foot hurts, you swim, if your back hurts, you stretch and do yoga or some lifting. If you forget your shoes, you swim. Forget your googles, do some lifting, biking, or running. So my point is that it is really hard to find an excuse to not train with tri training. My foot has been not 100% ever since I did the Baltimore marathon, so I have had to really cut back my running, to probably only about 10 miles a week for the last 3 months. But I have still been able to put in up to 10-13 hours a week of training without much problem. I love this sport!
Keep on tri-ing.
Dave
I realized an interesting thing about tri-ing yesterday when I got to the gym. I had got into the locker room and was planning on doing a swim. But I realized I forgot my swim bag in the car. No problem, I can just walk the 200 feet back to the car and get it. Or I could just change things up and do something different. So instead of a swim and lift session yesterday, I did a 8 mile run and lift session. As I was running I was thinking that all of the different forms of exercise tri folks do, it is really hard to have an excuse that you can't do something. With marathon training, there is only so much "cross training" you can do, eventually you have to run. But with tri-ing, if you shoulder hurts, you bike, if your foot hurts, you swim, if your back hurts, you stretch and do yoga or some lifting. If you forget your shoes, you swim. Forget your googles, do some lifting, biking, or running. So my point is that it is really hard to find an excuse to not train with tri training. My foot has been not 100% ever since I did the Baltimore marathon, so I have had to really cut back my running, to probably only about 10 miles a week for the last 3 months. But I have still been able to put in up to 10-13 hours a week of training without much problem. I love this sport!
Keep on tri-ing.
Dave
Monday, January 15, 2007
Getting Sick Sucks!
Well for the second time this year I came down with an illness. On Friday I felt okay after my workout, but I was definetly a little tired overall. Then at work I started just feeling more and more under the weather as the day went on. I ended up staying later than I wanted to and by late afternoon my throat was getting noticibly sore. I could kind of seeing it coming. I like to think that this was not due to overtraining. But I did have 10.5 hours in by Friday, so that definetly contributed. So instead of getting in a great 16 hour week last week going into a recovery week, I got in 10.5 hours in 5 days and did nothing over the weekend. I could have probably ridden a little bit on either or both days, but decided against it and figured I would try (note I said try) to help out around the house.
For the past year or so I have tried to prove to myself that I am not a typical guy when it comes to getting sick. Almost every guy I know is useless when they are sick, and I am definetly in that category. My wife who is pregnant and has been sick a couple of times already is more productive when she is sick than I am when I am rested and healthy. But I have been trying to just say "Suck it up and deal, Dave". But this weekend I didn't do so well. I really should have tried to do at least a little something on Sunday. On Sunday I was taking no medicine for the symptoms and really didn't feel that bad, just a slight sore throat and congestion.
I have always heard that if you have a illness that only bothers you above the neck (head cold), that you can workout, albeit less intense. But the sore throat I had was telling me that my body was still working pretty hard to get rid of it. So I did the Zicam/Airborne and just rested. This mornings ride was definetly still affected by the cold, but it was pretty good.
One question I am wrestling with is how to treat weeks where I take time off due to being sick. Do I treat these at unplanned cutback weeks, meaning that I start a 3 week buildup again after this week? Do I just stick to the laid out plan and if that week was supposed to be a big week and did not end up being big due to being sick, so be it? For example, last week was supposed to be a big week with high volume and this week was supposed to be a cut back week. But since I was sick last week and did less than planned, should I take this week as a cut back week as well? Might shoot off an email to one of the Cadence coaches.
Oh well, enough complaining. I expect I am going to get back on track here this week.
Dave
For the past year or so I have tried to prove to myself that I am not a typical guy when it comes to getting sick. Almost every guy I know is useless when they are sick, and I am definetly in that category. My wife who is pregnant and has been sick a couple of times already is more productive when she is sick than I am when I am rested and healthy. But I have been trying to just say "Suck it up and deal, Dave". But this weekend I didn't do so well. I really should have tried to do at least a little something on Sunday. On Sunday I was taking no medicine for the symptoms and really didn't feel that bad, just a slight sore throat and congestion.
I have always heard that if you have a illness that only bothers you above the neck (head cold), that you can workout, albeit less intense. But the sore throat I had was telling me that my body was still working pretty hard to get rid of it. So I did the Zicam/Airborne and just rested. This mornings ride was definetly still affected by the cold, but it was pretty good.
One question I am wrestling with is how to treat weeks where I take time off due to being sick. Do I treat these at unplanned cutback weeks, meaning that I start a 3 week buildup again after this week? Do I just stick to the laid out plan and if that week was supposed to be a big week and did not end up being big due to being sick, so be it? For example, last week was supposed to be a big week with high volume and this week was supposed to be a cut back week. But since I was sick last week and did less than planned, should I take this week as a cut back week as well? Might shoot off an email to one of the Cadence coaches.
Oh well, enough complaining. I expect I am going to get back on track here this week.
Dave
Friday, January 12, 2007
Tough Week...Even tougher weekend on tap!
I use CyclingPeaks software to upload data from my Power meter (SRM) and this is one of the graphs I check on. It shows my average power by day as well as my duration by day over the past 2 months or so. I'll try to put up some other graphs from the software from time to time. I really need to learn how to best interpret some of these figures. One number that I am most interested in (not shown on this pic/graph) is my watt/lb ratio. This is probably the most important number and is the one that really says how fast you can go. It has nothing to do with the bike, equipment, weather, etc. The more power you produce for your size the faster you will be. Right now I am doing doubly well as my weight is coming down, but my avg power is going up. I am bringing down the weight smartly, only losing up to 2 lbs a week. Any more than that and my energy would take a serious nose dive.
Todays bike workout at Cadence was actully a "recovery" workout. We just did some high cadence work followed by 3 10 minute intervals of zone 3 work with at different cadences. We only had to do 2, but a couple of us added an extra for good measure.
This week has been good so far. I already have in over 10 hours of work and I haven't even gotten to the weekend. I have done 3 swims (~3K per workout) and 3 good bike rides, as well as a lifting and a little bit of Yoga. This weekend is a tough one though as I have a 3 hour ride one day and a 3 hour ride followed by an hour run the other. I might not go the full hour on the run as I don't want to push my foot too much. But if I could get in 2 3 hour rides this would likely be the most biking I have ever done in a one week period. The only bad news is that this might have to happen on an indoor trainer as the weather is not looking great outside. But I do have a couple of movies that I can watch. Maybe I'll even try to reach out to some folks and see if anyone wants to join me.
On a personal note, my wife, Helen has gotten bit by the "Nesting" bug. Anybody how has been pregnant or a spouse of someone who has been pregnant, probably knows about this bug. I have no issues with it and am actually in total agreement about our state of (il)preparedness. So this weekend (starting tonight really) will also involve a lot of furniture moving as well as other getting ready for baby type stuff. We are moving my son from his current bedroom to our current office and moving the office up to the 3rd floor. I'll have to be careful with my back as I have been known to throw it out doing these kinds of things. I also hope to catch at least a little bit of the football games. On Saturday night is also the philly triathlon club kickoff meeting. This should be some fun as well.
So as you can see this will be a busy weekend. But these are the training weekends that get you to the finish line.
Keep on tri-ing!!
Dave
Monday, January 8, 2007
Starting off the week with a bang!
Well this Mondays morning workouts are hopefully the start of a good week. I was still feeling the effects of the stomach virus up through last week. This morning was a 3000 yard swim, straight with no breaks, done in right around 49 minutes (slow for me ~1:40 /100 pace). I then quickly headed to Cadence for the 1 hour class. These workouts are starting to get tougher. We did a couple of 6 minute blocks in different power zones (last one was 4a,4,5...ouch). I also did a little longer cool down to get in 1.5 hours. So a good morning altogether. I tried to add the chart of the workout, but it doesn't quite fit in well. I'll keep working on that.
Hopefully Tuesday night I am going to try another indoor trainer class with a LBS (Local Bike Shop). After a swim this morning, this will make a nice double. It all depends on work though.
My weekend ride on Saturday was tough. It included two really long climbs...one on Harts Lane and one on Old Eagle School Road. I actually think the one on Old Eagle School road was much tougher. This workout ended up taking more out of me than I expected. I think this was partially due to still recoverying from the stomach virus and partially because I did not take any calories with me. I have to remember to take something with me even if I don't plan on being out that one.
Hopefully Tuesday night I am going to try another indoor trainer class with a LBS (Local Bike Shop). After a swim this morning, this will make a nice double. It all depends on work though.
My weekend ride on Saturday was tough. It included two really long climbs...one on Harts Lane and one on Old Eagle School Road. I actually think the one on Old Eagle School road was much tougher. This workout ended up taking more out of me than I expected. I think this was partially due to still recoverying from the stomach virus and partially because I did not take any calories with me. I have to remember to take something with me even if I don't plan on being out that one.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Day 1 of the Blog, but not Day 1 of training
Well I have finally gotten around to setting this up!
I am in the midst of training for the Lake Placid Ironman 2007. This Ironman event occurs 7/22/2007. Check out some other information at Iroman Lake Placid 2007 site. This also has a link to a couple of other blogs. You can also see my specific training plan/workouts here.
Some background:
I am a father of 1+ (one on the way, due 3/1/2007). I have been mostly a runner and have been doing that since a very early age. A couple of years back my wife and I actually vacationed at Lake Placid during the Ironman event. We didn't know it at the time though. We arrived on the day of the race and I actually was doing a run on the treadmill in the workout room of our hotel and they had a Ironman race on closed caption. I didn't realize until the next day that this race was taking place right down the street. The next day I went out and did a run on the course and loved the area. That was probably the first time I started thinking about doing triathlons. Although I never considered doing a full Ironman. But last year I did a 1/2 Ironman and it turned out okay. So after talking with the Wife to make sure that she understood what this involved WE agreed that I should go for it.
I am someone who loves to workout. I don't even know that I can explain the reasons why. I am not necessarily someone who loves to be "by myself". I am not super competitive. I am not obsessed about my weight or appearance (if you have seen me you would know this is true). I think I just really enjoy being fit and the discipline involved. It is funny that some people think this is a way to get away from it all. Like the everyday hustle and bustle, family obligations, chores, work, etc. But for me it is almost the complete opposite. I tend to spend this time thinking about anything and everything. Mostly it is about my wife, son, family and friends. Especially those that are hurting or going through a tough time. But often it is just random stuff, which I am sure you will pick up on as the posts show up.
I am in the midst of training for the Lake Placid Ironman 2007. This Ironman event occurs 7/22/2007. Check out some other information at Iroman Lake Placid 2007 site. This also has a link to a couple of other blogs. You can also see my specific training plan/workouts here.
Some background:
I am a father of 1+ (one on the way, due 3/1/2007). I have been mostly a runner and have been doing that since a very early age. A couple of years back my wife and I actually vacationed at Lake Placid during the Ironman event. We didn't know it at the time though. We arrived on the day of the race and I actually was doing a run on the treadmill in the workout room of our hotel and they had a Ironman race on closed caption. I didn't realize until the next day that this race was taking place right down the street. The next day I went out and did a run on the course and loved the area. That was probably the first time I started thinking about doing triathlons. Although I never considered doing a full Ironman. But last year I did a 1/2 Ironman and it turned out okay. So after talking with the Wife to make sure that she understood what this involved WE agreed that I should go for it.
I am someone who loves to workout. I don't even know that I can explain the reasons why. I am not necessarily someone who loves to be "by myself". I am not super competitive. I am not obsessed about my weight or appearance (if you have seen me you would know this is true). I think I just really enjoy being fit and the discipline involved. It is funny that some people think this is a way to get away from it all. Like the everyday hustle and bustle, family obligations, chores, work, etc. But for me it is almost the complete opposite. I tend to spend this time thinking about anything and everything. Mostly it is about my wife, son, family and friends. Especially those that are hurting or going through a tough time. But often it is just random stuff, which I am sure you will pick up on as the posts show up.
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