Speed Kills.

my training blog my training calendar my training reports Planned training log

Saint Charles,IL

inspire me (6)

Tuesday - July 8

Swim

38m 05s
2300.00 yards
01m 40s /100 yards

Continuous swim. Tried to pretend I was in the lake. Very unrealistic, as I was indoors, in a pool. No sun, no sea weed, no fish and no eColi.

So the distance is an estimate, based on my prior swims and effort level.

Run

28m
2.39 miles
11m 43s /Mi

WOW. It's hot and THICK outside.

10:47 AM: We have resolved the baggyman issue. Things are tough all over and baggyman apparently hit a rough spot and found himself unable to pay for his portion of the house @ CdA. I only wish he would have just told me that via PM.

Meanwhile, the BT community has joined forces to pitch in little by little to pay me back! If I collect any extra money I'll donate it to dumpster's ALS fundraising efforts under the name of "BEGINNER TRIATHLETE". There is a Paypal account set up. PM me if you'd like to chip in.

Huge Huge Huge thanks to everyone.

Health data: Hours slept: 7.75

inspire me (16)

Monday - July 7

Sport

Chiropractic
20m

I did not require an adjustment today to even out my arms and legs. Hoooray! Progress.

Knees actually feel pretty good after a somewhat long weekend of riding and running.

Ice baths = AWESOME. Seriously.

Recovery Day!

Holy Crap. I need it.

Wow. Am toasted. And I'd like to not go to work this morning. Instead, I'd like to lounge around in bed all day. Somehow, I doubt I'll still get paid if I do that. Dang.

Searched the archives for a suitable photo for today... and this is what I bring you:

College. Ummmmm, I'm thwacking my room-mate on the butt with an (empty?) pizza box. As you will certainly notice, I've managed NOT to compromise my drink. THAT takes talent. And balance. And such. It probably also takes core strength. Yes. That's right. Core strength.

In unrelated news: It's the 7th. It's *our* 7th. It's our 21st 7th-iversary. Love you, schweets.

Baggyman owes me $252.59. He finked out on the CdA house. Read my posts in "Iron Distance" and "Arizona" and "Tri-Talk". (All the same)

Health data: Hours slept: 8.5

inspire me (12)

Sunday - July 6

Bike

5h 17m 01s
78.94 miles
14.94 Mi/hr

1.95 loops of IMWI.

I have a Garmin file for this... ~~I'll upload it later.~~ DONE! Am still at Chris' house... just got back and showered. Man, it was a real character builder out there.

Windy. Hot. Windy. Windy. Hot. Hilly. Windy. Hot. And Hilly.

Windy + hot + flat = OK.
Windy + cool + hilly = Meh
Cool + flat + windy = OK
Cool + hilly + no wind = OK
Blah, blah, blah... you get it...

HOT + WINDY + HILLY is just nasty.

First loop with Chris. It was moderately windy when we set out. It just got worse for the second loop. Windier. And warmer.

It was quite the epic slog, lasting some 5+ hours. Chris pulled the car around and met me in an area right by some road construction. I was already a 17 minute over achiever and I was looking to ditch the bike.

Nutrition all wonky today.

Made 3 2 hour bottles of Perpetuem. Drank the first one and more than half of the second one. By the time I was supposed to start slurping down the third one, I started to gag. All I wanted was some COLD Gatorade and something to actually EAT.

Stopped at the gas station and got myself a cold Gatorade, a banana, and a RedBull.

Chugged the Gatorade in record time, jammed the banana down the gullet, and took off, with the RedBull in the jersey pocket. Drank that about 30 minutes later.

Perpeteum is just sorta nasty when warm. *Sigh* I can use it for a HIM, definitely... don't think I can stomach it for an IM. Just sayin'.

inspire me (5)

Saturday - July 5

Run

55m 15s
4.76 miles
11m 37s /Mi

Better, I think. Thanks to dumpster for the electrical tape.

I still haven't seen the splits. Will look at them now...

The miles were 10:08 and 10:24... not great, but much better than last time's 11:26. I feel better about this run. The key is to not let Garmin get into my head. Ignore Garmin. Go by feel. Check results after the fact.

Duly noted.

Strength

Corework

Did a little more today, because I finked out on it on Thursday.

4 x 20 hip lifts off edge of stairs
4 x 30 fitness ball situps
3 x 30 leg up situps. (w/6 lb weights)
4 x :30 Superman
2 x :30 RA/LL
2 x :30 LA/RL
4 x :30 Both legs
2 x 20 "Around the World" on balance plate

Just sitting here watching the TOUR with my dumpster. Saw Circ du Soliel last night for Mother's Day with my Mom and sister and BIL Jim. Wow. That was quite the spectacle. I gotta wonder how those people honed those skills... or even found out they had those skills... exceptional flexibility, trapeze, tight rope, rotating cage walking...? Who knew? Maybe I've got hidden talents I've yet to discover. Stay tuned.

10:12 AM: Today I have another run. I see from my training plan that our approach to running is going to be changing... and I think that's for the better. I get mentally whacked when I see I have to meet a time goal. I fret about it for days, wonder if I can do it, and ultimately throw my water bottle onto the asphalt and curse Oprah when I don't make it happen...This, of course, begs the question: Why doesn't it happen? I don't know for sure, but there's probably some sports psychologist out there that does. Likely something to do with a self-fulfilling prophecy, or self sabotage. Whilst running. As if running wasn't hard enough on the body all by itself, I go and make it hard on the mind, too... so it appears that next week we are going to try intervals where I run "fast". And then run slow. And then run faster, and then run slower. I don't suspect my times will suffer, as that's all I'm doing anyway... faster/slower/faster/slower... I am not yet experienced enough to dial it into a specific pace. I'm actually quite happy I've found my second speed. Last year I was just slow. This year at least I have the option of being faster. So, thereyougo.

Some photos from yesterday:

We spent 2+ hours loitering in a local bar because my sister got the time wrong... said the show started at 2 when it actually started at 4. Wanted us there no later than 1:30... We ate nachos and had a couple of beers while we waited.

Here we are outside the big tents.

inspire me (5)

Friday - July 4

Swim

1h 05m 21s
3200.00 yards
02m 02s /100 yards

Master's schwimmin in the outdoor pool!

200 warm up
200 side kick
100 drill
5 x 100 pull w/paddles
8 x 25 fast/easy (alternate)
Broken Mile:
275 easy (75%)
250 med (80%)
225 fast (95%)
200 easy
175 med
150 fast
125 easy
100 med
75 fast
50 fast
25 fast

2 x 100 sprint kick/cruise/sprint
200 cool down
-------------
3200

Happy Independence Day to everyone... especially those serving our Country... at home, and overseas.

inspire me (21)

Thursday - July 3

Run

1h 01m 51s
5.26 miles
11m 46s /Mi

15' zone 1 + 20' @ 9:20/mile pace + 3 X (400 meters in 2:02 + walk 3') + 10' zone 1 (check cadence: aim for 30 strides in 20'')

Epic Fail.

I was somewhat on track through the 15' of Z1... and was doing a good job of NOT LOOKING at my Garmin until about 9 minutes into the 20' part... and I happened to glance down and saw 10:17 as my pace. I was KILLING MYSELF at this point and I was going 10:17???!?!?!?!?!? I started to get angry. I cursed OPRAH who ran 10:14's in the MCM some years ago, and I acted like NORMANN STADLER by throwing my waterbottle at the ground... and then kicking it.

It was then that I mentally checked out. Didn't care. Kept inching forward, sort of, but couldn't really keep my head in the game to try for 9:20/miles.

It was here I also realized FOR CERTAIN that the course @ Rockman was short. VERY short. Probably 400 m short. There's NO WAY IN THE WORLD I was able to run that fast on that hilly of a course. Seriously. Even if it was 400 m short, it's still a PR for me, but it's not a 27:XX:XX PR... it's more like a 29:XX:XX PR. I know it. I accept it.

*Sigh*

This was mental training today. I wanted to stop and just walk. I kept on slogging, though. Hooray for me.

Wildlife encounters:

1 deer
2 foxes

Sport

Massage
1h 15m

A very problem focused massage this evening. Felt great and I got a pretty good stretch out of it. Would have liked more upper back and shoulder work...

9:31 AM: I just slept for 11 hours. I took today off work because I have some vacation time and I wanted to make this a REALLY long weekend!

I also need to catch up around the house in general. I think that's going to be the hardest part of IM training... letting things around the house just "go"... there just isn't time to do EVERYTHING. And I'm not even training now like I'll be training then. I will probably need to hire a maid to preserve my sanity....

I have a run and some corework on the sked for today. Am trying to put the run off as long as possible, so as to maximize my recovery time between workouts. Rode yesterday in the wee hours of the AM... will run today soonish. Maybe noonish or 1.

Since I'm not at the office and I don't have a photo flipper picture to share... I'll scan in something from the archives. Let me see what I've got...

OK so here we go:

My friends Suzi, Rachael, Michelle and me @ the Bon Jovi "Slippery When Wet" tour. You can see we are all wearing our BON JOVI shirts (except for Rachael... maybe she didn't buy one?) So this was NOT our first Bon Jovi show. And look, this was back when Bon Jovi had a tour BUS. Not a PLANE. Spring, 1987.

It's alot less dangerous now... when people just hold up their cell phones... I could have lit the entire Rosemont Horizon on fire, using hairspray as an accelerant! Not sure what the deal was with the bandanna around my neck. I look like someone's Labrador Retriever. (!?)

Health data: Hours slept: 11

inspire me (17)

Wednesday - July 2

Bike

2h 16m 51s
37.65 miles
16.51 Mi/hr

Rode with my old pals Katie and Pete, and another guy from HBFC, Ed.

Started out innocently enough, as a Z1-2ish ride, but right around the hour mark, K & P started to hammer out some intervals. I took off with them, but didn't hammer as hard as I could have, due to my need to keep this in Z2 ish.

Ultimately, I let them go, as their goals for this workout were very different from mine. Met up with Ed about an hour and 40 minutes into it and we decided to turn around and go back. Katie and Pete were nowhere to be found.

VERY WINDY AGAIN! I'm getting sick of all this wind. Blowing. Blowing. Blowing. Today it blew 3 bugs into my mouth. I ate them all. Ugh.

4:51 AM: I'm up early for a 2 hour bike ride before the storms roll in. Help! I'm tired.

7:50 AM: So now here it is, not even 8 am and I've got 2 hours and 16 minutes worth of riding in the bag. Heh. Of course, I'll be comatose by 3 PM...

12:24 PM: It better FCUKING rain so I didn't get up at the ass crack of doom for nothing! I want storms! I want thunder! Lightening! Definitely un-ride-able conditions. Bring it!

4:21 PM: Holy Moly. OK. It's raining. And WINDY. And lightening! And apparently the stop lights are out all the way through 2 of the towns I pass through on my drive home from work. Nice. Well, I asked for it.