Wednesday, September 30, 2009

NEW BIKE

I'll start with a boring training update and get to the NEW BIKE.

Yesterday was a run day - 6 miles total. 3 miles, 25 squats, 2 miles, 50 squats, 1 mile, 100 squats for time. I am actually quite proud of this workout. First, I got a cramp shortly after starting the run. Generally I just keep going and the cramp goes away - not this time. I'm going to mark this up to a bad diet day. Well anyway, I kept going, slowed down at about 2.5 miles as the cramp was aggravating me, ran to the 3 mile point and did my squats. Started the 2 mile run and the cramp went away so I picked it back up again. Hit the five mile mark and did my 50 squats - ran last mile and did the 100 squats. Total workout time was 56:18. I'm proud that I did not quit and proud of my finishing time as not long ago I would not have been able to run 6 miles in this time let alone 6 miles plus 175 squats.

I skipped today's workout due to a hectic work schedule and personal schedule. By the time I got on the stationary trainer it would have been 10:00 p.m. (and I still had work to do). I told myself I could skip today and insert a workout on my rest day. Guess what? There is no rest day this week. Well, it doesn't happen very often so I will not beat myself up too badly.

Now for the exiting news - I purchased a triathlon bike today. I've just been thinking about this all summer. I did some research and got a bike fit as it was highly recommended to me (and makes sense upon pondering it). There were a few bikes recommended based on the fit and the Cannondale Slice was one of them. I was planning to research about a dozen bikes to see if the geometry would fit me as Cannondale changed their standard builds and the 2010 bikes were a little too pricey for me. The 2009 Hi-Mod 3 was the bike I was looking at as the build suited me and I would still be able to afford race wheels. Dan suggested that we check into buying a frame and building it similar to the 2009 Hi-Mod 3 to see where it would come out price wise. Sounded like a plan and I stopped at the bike store today to see if he had a chance to put that together - He was working on it and then as we were talking he had an epiphany. Why not call Cannondale to see if they had any 2009s left - the only real difference from 2009 to 2010 is the paint job. I don't know why the obvious sometimes eludes me. Cannondale had 8 left in my size. I decided not to wait any longer and purchased one of them on the spot. It should be in sometime next week. This is actually a great stress relief as I did not want to put the time into the research that I was going to have to do especially since there was a good chance I would have ended up right where I am (except the bike may not have been available). Wheels will have to wait until next year, but I will have them before race season. I should be able to get a few rides in on the new bike before winter sets in.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Max is a genious

Or maybe I am. Perhaps I should give the credit to Dave. I ran 90 minutes today (actually 91). I clocked the run on mapmyrun and it comes out to 10.4 miles which equates to an 8:45 pace. I felt comfortable - not to say that I did not feel the effects of Murph. There were no big hills on the run, but I felt Murph on the little risers.

So who's the genious?

Max for coming up with the training plan
Dave for finding Max
Or me for sticking with the plan

A good week ending with Murph

I can proudly say that I completed every workout except for the Tuesday swim. As previously stated, I was punished at the beginning of the week with 500 squats. I was sore until Thursday. I stretched out Tuesdays ride to compensate for the fact that I did not get a swim in. Basically, I did a good warm-up and a good warm-down. Wed was an Aerobic bike - Dave and I biked in the darkness of morning. Legs were tired, but I was o.k. because I was sucking Dave's wheel. Thursday - swam late afternoon, knew if I waited until evening I would have blown it off. The swim felt really good - I swam a total of 1,600 yards in a half hour split up as two 500's and a 600. I felt like I could have kept going which is an encouraging thought. Did weights, bike and run in the evening. Biked on trainer - ran outside - it was quite cool.

Saturday was the fun workout. This was Murph. It was either the 3rd or 4th time it hit the schedule and only the second time I completed the whole workout. I finished it in 1:08:57 (this is the first time I timed it from start to finish - last time I just timed the two runs). I ran the first mile in 6:45. I actually surprised myself as I did not think I had a 6:45 mile in me. At least not yet. I don't know how to get my splits out of my watch, but I'm curious as to what the last mile run was - certainly no faster than 7:15. I find the pull-ups to be the absolute hardest part of the workout. If it was not for the pull-ups, I would have completed the workout much faster.

Today I am running 90 minutes which should be around 10 miles. It's been raining all morning, but we are supposed to get a break in the rain this afternoon so I will go soon. I feel yesterday's workout in me, but I think this is the best I've ever felt the day after Murph.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

I made a mistake

I made the mistake of telling Max that I was not going to do the prescribed workout and that I wanted an alternate workout to do. Prescribed workout - five sets of heavy squats. Alternate workout - 500 squats for time. I did the 500 stinking squats in 28:13 and now its Wednesday and I'm still sore - very sore at that. I feel like someone beat on my legs with a meat tenderizer.

I probably should not tell Max that I did not exactly do the workout Sunday as prescribed either. Workout was 5k for time, 100 squats, 10 minutes rest and then 5k for time. What I did - cycled to Windsor (12 miles) ran 3.5 mile road race, did 100 squats (yes I did!), drank a beer, ate a cheeseburger, cycled back home. I did well in the race - 45th out of about 455 people. O.k. so the race did not exactly attract a star studded field, but I'll take it. My pace was 7:52. Ran the first mile in 7:30 - I thought I might be able to hang onto that pace, but apparently not.

Rode 45 minute time trial yesterday and although my legs were sore from 5oo stinking squats, I still managed to ride a fast pace - 21.2 mph average - hr average was 146 with max at 161. No swim - total ride time was about 1:05.

Rode 75 minutes easy this morning - hopefully my legs feel a little better for tomorrow's workout.

Did I mention that I'm really sore (only hurts if I stand, walk, touch my leg, etc.)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Angie is not my girlfriend

Angie may well be the hardest workout that I have done so far this year - not that there weren't other toughies. Angie calls for 100 pull-ups, 100 pushups, 100 situps and 100 squats. you have to finish all of one before you start the next one. I finished the workout in 38:41. I must admit though, I did not have 100 pullups in me. I managed to get 55 pullups in before calling it quits. I started with hitting 7 or 8, then 5, 5, a few 4's then it was down to 3 max and the last few I could only get one in at a time. Pushups went much better - 30, 30, 20, 20. The last twenty really hurt. I did one set for both the situps and squats. I don't remember air squats hurting as much as these did - I think I was going faster this time than in the past - it was my last excercise so I did not have to conserve for anything. The vast majority of the time spent on this workout was on the pull-ups.

I knew I had done this workout once before and wanted to compare my results to see how much I improved on the pullups. I did this workout in FL and there was nowhere to do pullups so I substituted with one arm rows so unfortunately I cannot compare it.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Better

The last time I blogged I was pretty beat up. Thursday I did a portion of my workout - did not get to the pool and did not run or bike - just did the strength portion. This was partially due to being beat up and partially due to it being a very busy day both professionally and personally.

Friday was a much needed rest day.

Saturday was a one hour run, one hour bike (reverse brick) and a 30 minute swim. I did an out and back for the run and ran the second half of the run exactly one minute slower than the first half. The bike portion felt pretty good especially considering how weak I felt Wed. I swam 20 laps and really did not feel into it so I bagged the rest of the workout.

Sunday was another reverse brick with the run at one hour and the bike at 90 minutes (hills). I practiced my nutrition on this workout. I did a powergel every 20 minutes and drank liberally. The run split was exactly the same as the day before. I did not feel real strong on the hills, but kept a good pedelling cadence and just motored. I rode with Dave - he was much stronger on the hills than I. I surprised myself with a decent average speed (18.8) for this course considering that I did not feel real powerful on the hills.

I have a couple of tough looking workouts over the next two days and as strange as this may sound, I am looking forward to them.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

I'm beat up

I went for a bike ride this morning at 5:15 (where were you Dave?) and I had nothing. It was a recovery ride so I was not planning on pushing the pace, but I would not have been able to if I tried. I don't think my legs have been this weary all year.

I believe this is how I'm supposed to feel after the week I have had so far. On Sunday I ran 10k for time. I was happy with that run. On Monday I did a race pace brick and again I was happy with that workout - lacked a little power on the bike, but had a decent avg speed all the same - run felt good especially after Sunday's effort. Tuesday had me running four all out miles with eight min rest in between. I clocked a mile run so I am certain of the distance. I need to reclock the mile that I was doing previously as my times are off (may be due to tired legs or the hill in my new mile run). My times for the mile were as follows: 7:32, 7:37, 7:47, 7:35. I tried to pace number 3 differently as I thought I might be going out too hard - apparently not. My average HR on the miles varied from 151 to 155. I did not feel that I had too much power in my legs so it may be right that my times are much slower than the last time I ran miles (though I believe the last course may be a tenth or so short.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

10k for time

Ran 10k for time today. Warmed up for a half mile first so I did not hit it cold. I think I'm going to warm up for a mile next time - half did not see like enough.

My goal was to finish the run somewhere around 52 minutues. I finished in 51:57 - can't get much closer to goal than that. Pace was about 8:23 which is the best I've run this distance for quite some time. I managed to pick a course where I finished uphill - that was fun. Avg HR 155, Max 167.

Did 150 squats after the run. I did not think I was going to make it at first, but the last fifty actually went well.

I took a quick look at the next few days on the schedule. The next two are pretty intense with Wed being easy (recovery) to get ready for a hard day on Thursday and then I get a well deserved rest day.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Quick post

Well, I didn't get that swim in Friday that I put off on Thursday. I was exhausted - there was no way I was going to drag myself to the pool and do laps. I stayed up way too late Thursday night due to working out at night (I get wound up) and surfing the web for bikes. I fell asleep (more like passed out) at 7:30 Friday night.

Got my workout in today. Rode to the pool (30 minutes), swam for 30 minutes - 400 warm-up, five 100s on 2:00 and 450 warm-down. Rode home - extended ride to get an additional hour in. Total workout - two hours.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

I almost didn't get to my workout today. Between a busy day at work, picking up my glasses (yes, I now wear glasses and yes I am getting old), and watching Alicia at gymnastics I did not have much time to fit in a workout. I started off the week poorly by not getting my Monday workout done in the morning - throws the whole week off. Well, I decided that rather than put the workout off until tomorrow I would do the majority of it and just swim tomorrow.

I got the strength part of the workout done in a half hour. What a difference it makes to not have to wait for equipment to become available. I rather enjoy working out at home - there's a few things I can't do here, but I have almost everything I need. Total workout was over in an hour. Not too shabby.

I am now going to browse the web to research bikes.

Susan

Last night I did the workout called Susan. It's short, but not sweet at all. This is the second time this workout has shown up on my plan. I am happy to say that it did not hurt nearly as much as it did when I was fat and out of shape, but it still hurt. Like I said this workout is short. It entails five 200's followed by ten squats and ten pushups (after each 200) "for time." That means no rest between sets. The entire workout (not counting warm-up and warm-down) took seven minutes and twenty-eight seconds. I can't wait to see this on the schedule again as now that I have done this twice, I am pretty sure I can figure the proper pacing and beat that time.

Warmed-up with a one mile run before workout and then stretched out real good. finished with a one mile cool-down run. I'm a little sore today, but nothing compared to the first time I did this workout.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Intensity is the word

Raced on Sunday, went easy on Monday (kind of, who knew there were so many hills in Hamden), went hard again Tuesday.

Tuesday I did a brick - 30 minutes on the bike and 30 minutes running, race pace. The bike piece was awesome - I hit a lot of traffic, but still managed to average 20.5. The run felt good - ran 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back - split it pretty evenly. Went swimming for a half hour a little later - really did not feel like swimming, but it had to be done. Warmed up with a 500, did three all-out 100s with 3.5 minutes rest in between. 1:28, 1:32, 1:29. Warmed down with an easy 200 and went home.

Another hard workout is planned for tonight and tomorrow does not look like any picnic either.