So training has been going well. I am down to less than I weighed to run the marathon last year. I am feeling good and dare I say that my heels may be getting better?
The cumulative affect of the training is starting to get to me just a bit. Maybe pushing it in the mini was not such a great plan because my legs are just shot this week. I have still been getting in my miles, it just seems to take a toll on me.
Some of these workouts I am just not sure how I am going to be able to finish. Today I started a bike ride. My legs were pretty sore when I started out. At 10 min I was supposed to insert 5 X 5 min of zone 4 efforts. I was just not sure how that was going to go. Once I got warmed up it seemed to go OK. Every time that I have one of those workouts it just helps to build confidence. I am glad to have that workout over!
Tomorrow is Oaks day and I have to get up early to swim and run. Not going to let Derby week affect my schedule!
Thanks to everyone that has been so encouraging to me. Now that the weather is so nice get out there and do something. I will leave you with a race report that I typed up for another forum. This is from this year's mini.
"Previous PR was 2:11
Main goal was to run a good race, gain some confidence and not get injured. Next goal was to PR. Stretch goal was 2:05 and all of the above.
I have not done many runs greater than 1:30 in my training plan so far so I knew that this was going to be hard at the end. I historically go out too easy and try to make up for it at the end. Today I wanted to go out hard and see how I reacted, and how long I could keep up that pace.
Miles 1-7 were excellent. Held a 9 min mile pace. Felt very strong. Set a pace that I did not know if I could maintain for very long or not. I had chants of "sub-2" in my head.
Miles 8-9 Started to get into a rough patch and slowed a bit.
Miles 10-11 Feeling a little more energetic, but my right hip flexor started to bother me. I could have pushed through, but this is not the place in my training for that. I actually walked a bit to help stretch it out.
Miles 12-13.1 Just tried to hold some kind of pace together to finish. Also missed the 12 mile marker and that really screwed with my head.
After the hip flexor deal I could have pushed a little harder, but I just cruised kinda easily into the finish knowing that I could comfortably make my goal and did not really press harder risking injury. This would be a horrible time to get jacked up.
Final time (by my watch) was 2:04:23. A 6 minute PR for me."
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
First 10 weeks done
OK, the first 10 weeks of my training plan are done and in the books. The first 10 are the base miles. Now I start the build phase where I add on a little more time and intensity to the training. I am actually pretty excited to try something new now. Only 20 weeks to go.
I had a great week this week fitting everything in, coming off of a great race last weekend where I actually got 3rd place in my age group in a tri, and had the fastest bike split of my age group.
Nice run today as well. 9 miles finishing the last 1.5 in the rain.
I am still feeling healthy, still dropping weight and still having heel pain. I would feel wonderful if not for my sore heals after every run.
Back in the pool tomorrow morning and a run tomorrow night. Can't wait!
I had a great week this week fitting everything in, coming off of a great race last weekend where I actually got 3rd place in my age group in a tri, and had the fastest bike split of my age group.
Nice run today as well. 9 miles finishing the last 1.5 in the rain.
I am still feeling healthy, still dropping weight and still having heel pain. I would feel wonderful if not for my sore heals after every run.
Back in the pool tomorrow morning and a run tomorrow night. Can't wait!
Tri at the Y
The following is a cut and paste from the cycling forum where I typed up a race report:
So this was my first race of this season. I have been doing nothing but slow zone 2 miles, but a lot of them.
Got to the race about 2 hours early and checked in, got marked and put all of my stuff away. Went and rode the bike course twice while eating a power bar and sipping some water.
It was a time trial start on the bike (winter routine) and I was up fairly close to the front. As soon as I got the go ahead I just dropped the hammer. In the words of Roy "Tin Cup" McElvoy...I got out the big dog and let him eat. I was passing tons of people and looked down and was doing 25.6 mph. For a brief second I though about scaling some back and decided Hell NO!
The course was out about .5 out and 3 short loops (each close to 2.5 miles) then back to the transition area. There was one smallish climb that you had to do 3 times and you had to almost come to a complete stop and turn around in the road 6 times. I hit the climb the first time in my 53 and just stood up and cranked it out. The next 2 times actually shifted into my 39 and went up it.
Once I hit the 3rd lap I started to really wonder if i had gone out too hard because I was starting to fade, but I just relaxed into my pain cave and held on and pushed it all of the way to the finish.
I got off of the bike completely spent. I honestly though that I might actually have to walk a bit of the run. I can say that I left everything out on that bike course. I changed shoes quickly and to my surprise ran quickly out of the transition area and started my 2 mile run. The run was a simple out and back that was slightly uphill on the first mile then obviously slightly downhill on the second mile. At about mile 1.8 you had to go over a floodwall. That was not exactly comfortable, but I did it anyways.
The swim was non-eventful. Very hard to pass anyone the way it was set up. Oh, well...I did not have any juice left to pass anyway.
For such a short race I was really spent at the end.
Last year 50:51. Bike 24:45 Run 18:35 Swim 6:23.
This year 47:21. Bike 22:36 Run 17:53 Swim 5:00.
I was THIRD in my age group! Fastest bike split in my AG (with an av speed of 21.2). This was out of 12 people in my age group.
As I posted on FB; I may as well just quit now, I can't imagine putting together a better race than this.
So this was my first race of this season. I have been doing nothing but slow zone 2 miles, but a lot of them.
Got to the race about 2 hours early and checked in, got marked and put all of my stuff away. Went and rode the bike course twice while eating a power bar and sipping some water.
It was a time trial start on the bike (winter routine) and I was up fairly close to the front. As soon as I got the go ahead I just dropped the hammer. In the words of Roy "Tin Cup" McElvoy...I got out the big dog and let him eat. I was passing tons of people and looked down and was doing 25.6 mph. For a brief second I though about scaling some back and decided Hell NO!
The course was out about .5 out and 3 short loops (each close to 2.5 miles) then back to the transition area. There was one smallish climb that you had to do 3 times and you had to almost come to a complete stop and turn around in the road 6 times. I hit the climb the first time in my 53 and just stood up and cranked it out. The next 2 times actually shifted into my 39 and went up it.
Once I hit the 3rd lap I started to really wonder if i had gone out too hard because I was starting to fade, but I just relaxed into my pain cave and held on and pushed it all of the way to the finish.
I got off of the bike completely spent. I honestly though that I might actually have to walk a bit of the run. I can say that I left everything out on that bike course. I changed shoes quickly and to my surprise ran quickly out of the transition area and started my 2 mile run. The run was a simple out and back that was slightly uphill on the first mile then obviously slightly downhill on the second mile. At about mile 1.8 you had to go over a floodwall. That was not exactly comfortable, but I did it anyways.
The swim was non-eventful. Very hard to pass anyone the way it was set up. Oh, well...I did not have any juice left to pass anyway.
For such a short race I was really spent at the end.
Last year 50:51. Bike 24:45 Run 18:35 Swim 6:23.
This year 47:21. Bike 22:36 Run 17:53 Swim 5:00.
I was THIRD in my age group! Fastest bike split in my AG (with an av speed of 21.2). This was out of 12 people in my age group.
As I posted on FB; I may as well just quit now, I can't imagine putting together a better race than this.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Papa John's 10 miler
Ok, so I did not register for any of the triple crown race series this year. Just registered for the mini. Since Jen broke her foot I have been running with her numbers though. I did the 10 miler, the last race of the triple crown today. I had not done a double digit run yet so even though I have been running quite a lot I figured that this was a good chance to get in a longer run prior to the mini.
So I set out to make this just another long run. Plan was to keep the HR below 155 and just take it easy, and not get caught up in the race day emotions. I did just fine. Av HR was 151 and max was 167 (on the hills in the park). I felt completely comfortable the whole time, even on the overpass on Central at mile 9. Ran onto the field into Papa John's Stadium with strong legs that could have gone plenty more.
A good week for me, did miss one shorter run due to work, but still logged 26 miles last week.
Have a friend coming over shortly to look at my bike fit and I am excited to hear what he has to say. Looking forward to suggestions to find more power/better aerodynamics on the bike.
Can't believe that the first 10 weeks is almost up! Thanks for reading, and congrats to all my buddies that finished the triple crown of running today. You guys rock!
So I set out to make this just another long run. Plan was to keep the HR below 155 and just take it easy, and not get caught up in the race day emotions. I did just fine. Av HR was 151 and max was 167 (on the hills in the park). I felt completely comfortable the whole time, even on the overpass on Central at mile 9. Ran onto the field into Papa John's Stadium with strong legs that could have gone plenty more.
A good week for me, did miss one shorter run due to work, but still logged 26 miles last week.
Have a friend coming over shortly to look at my bike fit and I am excited to hear what he has to say. Looking forward to suggestions to find more power/better aerodynamics on the bike.
Can't believe that the first 10 weeks is almost up! Thanks for reading, and congrats to all my buddies that finished the triple crown of running today. You guys rock!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Good week seven
So I had a pretty good week 7. Now into a stepback week with week 8. Then two more build weeks and I am done with the first 10 weeks.
Sat I had a great bike ride. Spent 2:26 or so on the bike for 42 miles. Very little climbing until the last 30 min until I had to go up Paoli Pike to get home. That was a lot of fun with 2 hours or so of riding already in my legs. Went pretty good though.
Monday I did my long run and felt pretty good despite lack of sleep. It was somewhere around 8 miles or so. an hour, 21 min.
When I first started this I felt like I was going so slow to try and keep my HR down. I was wondering if I was ever going to get any faster. Yesterdays long run I was very, very comfortable with a HR of about 143. I was running much easier and faster than a couple months ago. Back then it seemed as if I were just plodding along with a HR of 155. I just could not keep the HR down then. Now it seems like I am fighting to keep it up more often than not! This is good progress.
The only bad thing is my feel/heels that I have to keep icing every night, other than that I am feeling pretty dang solid.
Heading out for a 2500 M continuous swim now. Take care and thanks for reading.
Sat I had a great bike ride. Spent 2:26 or so on the bike for 42 miles. Very little climbing until the last 30 min until I had to go up Paoli Pike to get home. That was a lot of fun with 2 hours or so of riding already in my legs. Went pretty good though.
Monday I did my long run and felt pretty good despite lack of sleep. It was somewhere around 8 miles or so. an hour, 21 min.
When I first started this I felt like I was going so slow to try and keep my HR down. I was wondering if I was ever going to get any faster. Yesterdays long run I was very, very comfortable with a HR of about 143. I was running much easier and faster than a couple months ago. Back then it seemed as if I were just plodding along with a HR of 155. I just could not keep the HR down then. Now it seems like I am fighting to keep it up more often than not! This is good progress.
The only bad thing is my feel/heels that I have to keep icing every night, other than that I am feeling pretty dang solid.
Heading out for a 2500 M continuous swim now. Take care and thanks for reading.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Much better
Felt much better today. 2900 in the pool this morning at a pretty good tempo. This afternoon I went to a St Patty's day run down in Jeffersonville and ran with my next door neighbor Diana. It was only 2 miles so I did 40 min before the race started then I ran the 2 miles. Finished strong and felt great.
I think that I just needed to get my legs moving yesterday and have a good stretch.
I get to get back on the bike tomorrow so I am happy about that. May even get the good bike off the trainer and take it out on the road.
Thanks to everyone that texted, replied, facebooked, faxed, emailed, whatever the kids are doing these days, about my post yesterday. Helps me to know that people are actually reading and supporting.
I think that I just needed to get my legs moving yesterday and have a good stretch.
I get to get back on the bike tomorrow so I am happy about that. May even get the good bike off the trainer and take it out on the road.
Thanks to everyone that texted, replied, facebooked, faxed, emailed, whatever the kids are doing these days, about my post yesterday. Helps me to know that people are actually reading and supporting.
Monday, March 14, 2011
ugh
Last week being week 6 I may have overdone it. I skipped a workout due to work and was OK with that. I had been up all night and no sleep. Just did not have it in me. So I decided to make it up by running a race Sat. I took Sunday off and was going to do my long run tonight. I spent 25 minutes on the treadmill and just could not get into it. Stopped 35 min early. Knees were hurting, legs felt dead. I just did not want to push myself into getting hurt going into a build week (week 7) so I opted to ice down my feet and do some stretching.
I felt great last week too. Sure hope that I bounce back tomorrow. I feel fairly certain that I will. My main concern was that I would push it too hard today and still be suffering tomorrow, snowballing into a crappy week. I know that I am probably doing the right thing but I feel pretty lousy sitting on the couch when I know that I should still be finishing my run right now.
Oh well, weather is getting warmer. Soon I will get the good bike off the trainer and take it back outside where a bike belongs. My winter bike has really been getting hammered. Rain, snow, sleet, mud. It really needs a good cleaning and lubing.
Feet are still bothering me a bit, but not too bad. As long as I ice and stretch it is manageable. I hope I can keep it contained for about 20 more weeks until I start my taper.
Thanks for reading.
I felt great last week too. Sure hope that I bounce back tomorrow. I feel fairly certain that I will. My main concern was that I would push it too hard today and still be suffering tomorrow, snowballing into a crappy week. I know that I am probably doing the right thing but I feel pretty lousy sitting on the couch when I know that I should still be finishing my run right now.
Oh well, weather is getting warmer. Soon I will get the good bike off the trainer and take it back outside where a bike belongs. My winter bike has really been getting hammered. Rain, snow, sleet, mud. It really needs a good cleaning and lubing.
Feet are still bothering me a bit, but not too bad. As long as I ice and stretch it is manageable. I hope I can keep it contained for about 20 more weeks until I start my taper.
Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Almost 1/6 of the way there
So almost done with week 5. Getting into a pretty good groove. It goes like this...
Monday - off.
Tues - pool in the morning, run in the afternoon.
Wens - Bike/run brick
Thurs - pool in the morning bike in the afternoon.
Fri - run
Sat - long ride
Sun - long run.
This pattern will repeat over and over until the race. I just add time and intensity to the workouts. Still feeling fairly good right now. The biggest problem is squeezing in my workouts between work requirements and kids duty. ( Yes, I actually do work from time to time).
Right now it is all zone 2 stuff (easy, base building miles). The second 10 weeks is when I start to add more intensity. I am anxious to start that. It is kind of a grind to have to keep my HR below a certain number all of the time. I look forward to "stretching it out" some more.
Another challenge is that my wife fell and broke her foot. That means that she is spending more time sitting with her foot up and I am doing more things around the house and with the kids. Like I needed one more thing to distract from training;)
I actually do really well in the morning and afternoon, but the evening hours are hard for me. On occasion I have to run/ride in the evening once the kids are in bed and that is a real drain. That is when I want to settle down, watch some TV and unwind. It takes a lot of self discipline to do those workouts.
I am icing my feet/heels right now because I seem to have developed some plantar fascitis. It stems from the achilles tendon area being too tight. At times it is hard to even walk after I have been sitting for a while. So I ice my feet ever night, especially when I run that day. I have to stretch quite often, nightly and several times a day. I can handle some discomfort walking around...I just hope that I can continue to run if I baby my feet. I still have a long way to go.
I am not down to my goal weight yet, but pretty close. I am at roughly the same weight as when I ran the full marathon last year.
Just over 25 weeks to go! Thanks for reading.
Monday - off.
Tues - pool in the morning, run in the afternoon.
Wens - Bike/run brick
Thurs - pool in the morning bike in the afternoon.
Fri - run
Sat - long ride
Sun - long run.
This pattern will repeat over and over until the race. I just add time and intensity to the workouts. Still feeling fairly good right now. The biggest problem is squeezing in my workouts between work requirements and kids duty. ( Yes, I actually do work from time to time).
Right now it is all zone 2 stuff (easy, base building miles). The second 10 weeks is when I start to add more intensity. I am anxious to start that. It is kind of a grind to have to keep my HR below a certain number all of the time. I look forward to "stretching it out" some more.
Another challenge is that my wife fell and broke her foot. That means that she is spending more time sitting with her foot up and I am doing more things around the house and with the kids. Like I needed one more thing to distract from training;)
I actually do really well in the morning and afternoon, but the evening hours are hard for me. On occasion I have to run/ride in the evening once the kids are in bed and that is a real drain. That is when I want to settle down, watch some TV and unwind. It takes a lot of self discipline to do those workouts.
I am icing my feet/heels right now because I seem to have developed some plantar fascitis. It stems from the achilles tendon area being too tight. At times it is hard to even walk after I have been sitting for a while. So I ice my feet ever night, especially when I run that day. I have to stretch quite often, nightly and several times a day. I can handle some discomfort walking around...I just hope that I can continue to run if I baby my feet. I still have a long way to go.
I am not down to my goal weight yet, but pretty close. I am at roughly the same weight as when I ran the full marathon last year.
Just over 25 weeks to go! Thanks for reading.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Yay! I have started.
So the first week in my training plan is over with only one small hiccup. Had to work on Sunday which was supposed to be my long run. Monday is supposed to be my off day. So I just used Sunday as my off day and did my long run on Monday. Got all of the workouts in though.
I am feeling pretty dang good these days. My runs are pretty effortless for an hour. I am not liking the bike as much these days because I really despise the trainer. So I either freeze outside or get bored to death on the trainer. I can guarantee that I am in much better shape right now than I have ever been in Feb!
The heart rate training has taken some time to get used to. I seem to spend a lot of time trying to slow down and stay in a lower zone when I am running. Same with climbing on the bike. A big problem on the bike though is when I am going downhill or going on a flat with a tailwind. I really have to work hard to stay in the HR zone. It is a lot different than I am used to.
All in all, I am feeling good, had a good first week and am looking forward to starting my second week tomorrow. Spring is right around the corner and I am excited, but nervous. Only 29 weeks until the ironman!
I am feeling pretty dang good these days. My runs are pretty effortless for an hour. I am not liking the bike as much these days because I really despise the trainer. So I either freeze outside or get bored to death on the trainer. I can guarantee that I am in much better shape right now than I have ever been in Feb!
The heart rate training has taken some time to get used to. I seem to spend a lot of time trying to slow down and stay in a lower zone when I am running. Same with climbing on the bike. A big problem on the bike though is when I am going downhill or going on a flat with a tailwind. I really have to work hard to stay in the HR zone. It is a lot different than I am used to.
All in all, I am feeling good, had a good first week and am looking forward to starting my second week tomorrow. Spring is right around the corner and I am excited, but nervous. Only 29 weeks until the ironman!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
New HR monitor
Good session this am. Kinda a breakthrough of sorts.
This training plan is all about time in a particular zone. The whole first 10 weeks is all zone 2. I have never trained with HR zones before.
I was worried that zone 2 would be pretty easy once I got out on the bike, but I was mistaken. My zone was between 126 and 146. I found out quickly that in past training I coast too much. I also found out that it is super easy to peg your HR and get out of your zone quickly on climbs. So I found that in the past I work too hard on the climbs and not hard enough on the downhills.
It was pretty easy to cruise along on the flats and maintain a nice easy 135 BPM. Once it turned uphill I had to make conscious effort to dial it back and spin a little more. Once I crested the hill it was very easy to watch the HR plummet to one teens. I had to work pretty hard to keep it above 126.
The result was a much more even keel training session. The av speed was slow, just super slow but i am not supposed to worry about that. My training plan says it is about hours in the zone, not miles done.
I was more sore when I got off the bike than I expected. Felt more like a spin class than a training ride. I spent much more time climbing since I was going slower, trying to control my HR.
I think that this was one of the smartest rides that I have ever done on a bike.
So today was 1:12 of ride time. 17 miles. av HR was 137 max of 157. calories 933 time in zone was 54:40.
This training plan is all about time in a particular zone. The whole first 10 weeks is all zone 2. I have never trained with HR zones before.
I was worried that zone 2 would be pretty easy once I got out on the bike, but I was mistaken. My zone was between 126 and 146. I found out quickly that in past training I coast too much. I also found out that it is super easy to peg your HR and get out of your zone quickly on climbs. So I found that in the past I work too hard on the climbs and not hard enough on the downhills.
It was pretty easy to cruise along on the flats and maintain a nice easy 135 BPM. Once it turned uphill I had to make conscious effort to dial it back and spin a little more. Once I crested the hill it was very easy to watch the HR plummet to one teens. I had to work pretty hard to keep it above 126.
The result was a much more even keel training session. The av speed was slow, just super slow but i am not supposed to worry about that. My training plan says it is about hours in the zone, not miles done.
I was more sore when I got off the bike than I expected. Felt more like a spin class than a training ride. I spent much more time climbing since I was going slower, trying to control my HR.
I think that this was one of the smartest rides that I have ever done on a bike.
So today was 1:12 of ride time. 17 miles. av HR was 137 max of 157. calories 933 time in zone was 54:40.
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