Monday, November 30, 2009

Rest of vacation

Friday was a short, intense workout. I actually enjoyed it - the 20 minutes went by pretty fast. Saturday I swam 1650 yds for time and ran a 10k for time. I kept losing my lap count on my swim so I may have swam some extra laps. Overall time was 34:11. I ran the same hilly 10k as a few days ago. I tried a different tactic - I went easy on the way out and as hard as possible on the way back. It took me 33 minutes to do the first 5k and 25:50 for the second. My overall time was a little slower than the other day so I guess pushing throughout is a better tactic, though I did think that my return trip was going to be faster than this as I felt like I was flying down the hills and I really attacked the uphill at mile 4.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Hills are brutal

I ran 10k for time this morning. Most people don't know where Lake Havasu, AZ is and even those who do don't understand the terrain unless they have been here. The only flat areas are down by the lake. Other than that it is uphill to the west (CA side) and uphill on the East (AZ side). I did not want to drive someplace to go for run so I set out from my parent's house. My intention was to have all of the uphill on my run out and have the run back be basically downhill. I pretty much succeeded as the run out was mostly uphill - but there was one steep downhill that I knew I was going to have to run up on the way back. That should not have been a big deal since most of the run back was downhill - but it hit at mile four - ouch!

The run out took slightly over 30 minutes, or five minutes more than a 5k should take me. I was hoping to really shave a lot of time off the second 5k to try to get a good overall time, but my downhill running did not speed up by as much as my uphill running slowed down. I tried to concentrate on having fast turnover on the way down and letting gravity do the work, but my return trip was not a great time. My overall time was 57:27; therefore, my second 5k was about 27:25 - not a great time. My average HR was 160 and my max was 167 so I definately worked the run, just got beat up by the terrain. It was a good run; however, I don't think the time can be used to guage much since the 10ks I have been running back home are much flatter than this.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Training in AZ

I've been in AZ since Sunday. The weather has been great - mid 60s to 70s and dry. I swam Monday morning even though plan did not call for it. Swam for half hour - warmed up with a 200 and then swam a bunch of 50's and warmed down with a slow 100. Mainly just trying to stay loose plus the Wed swim wasn't going to happen as I was going to be in Sedona. After breakfast I did my 500 squats in 19:54. I'm pretty sure that beats the last time I did 500 squats, but I have to wait to get home to be sure.

Tue I ran the 5k for time. I completed this in 24:35. The course was flat but very windy. I did not realize how windy it was when I started. After I completed about a half mile I looked at my watch and I was running about six minute pace. I was shocked, pleased and also knew something was very wrong - I don't run this fast (yet). I figured it out when the course turned - it was very windy - slowed my pace all the way down to 8:30 in the blink of an eye. I concentrated on keeping my form together and having quick feet to see how much of my beginning pace I could salvage. As the course turned I speeded up and slowed down according to the wind. My final average pace was 7:55 which is just about right.

I had to get going as soon as I was done as everyone was ready to go to Sedona. Did not do the 200 pushups for time until this morning. Finished in 19:30. 10k for time will be done in the morning. Swim will be done either Friday or Sat depending on the pool hours. One way or the other, the workouts will all get done, just not in the order originally intended.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Woo Boy

four times one mile with ten minutes rest doesn't sound that bad, but this was a tough one. Each mile was slower than the one before. Funny thing is, I actually felt like I was running faster and that my form was better as I was going, but I actually got slower.

1: 7:05
2: 7:27
3: 7:41
4: 7:45

I tried to concentrate on form throughout. Today I concentrated on having good turnover and supple joints - especially the ankles. I think my form is getting better, but I have a ways to go before it becomes second nature (if it ever does).

I may be silent next week as I will be in AZ. I plan to stick to the program though. May have to switch a few days around as I am going to Sedona for a couple of days and probably won't have access to a pool there.

Friday, November 20, 2009

ONe workout done

I hope I don't start to sound like a broken record as everything was going so well. I missed another workout due to work (kind-of). Wed was a workout day off. I had training all day Wed and then had to go to the office as we were moving locations. This is our second move in two years so we had to make sure that it went very well. We were there until 1:30 in the morning and then I had to drive for an hour to get home. I got about four and a half hours sleep which if this was the first day that it happened I would be fine, but I was up late the night before as well. Thur was a fairly normal schedule day, but I was exhausted - when I got home the only thing I could think about was sleep.

I decided to do yesterday's workout today as it looks pretty tough and I don't want to be accused of skipping the hard ones. The first workout was 35 squats, 25 pushups and 15 pullups 15x for time. Finished in 43:47. WOW! This one hurt. Squats were fine all the way through, but my chest was on fire with the pushups. I could barely get the pullup done on the sixth and seventh set. I thought about skipping the last set of pullups - I mean who would know anyway? I couldn't do it - as painful as they were I forced myself to get them done. Well.....I'm off to do my second workout of the day which is an intense bike workout. Good thing I like to sweat.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

30 min bike TT and yesterday's WOD (done today)

Today called for a 30 minute bike TT - record distance. I rode 10.2 miles. Not overly impressive at face value, but here is why it was a great ride:

1. I carved time out of a busy schedule (I had training today) to get the ride in;
2. Tire pressure was low - did not have a pump with me;
3. Ride was hilly in unknown territory (Rocky Hill and Cromwell);
4. Warm-up time was limited;
5. Did an out and back which meant slowing down to turn around and get back up to speed;
6. Got stopped at a light to make a left turn - too much traffic to blow through it.

Putting all of those factors together makes me believe that I could have done 10.5 miles or 21 mph. Not bad considering how hilly the ride was. Additionally, I am still getting used to the new bike - I am getting much more comfortable on the bike and am looking forward to tweaking it to my liking, getting race wheels, and getting more rides in on it.

WOD - yesterdays WOD called for 25 pullups, 50 pushups and 75 squats AMRAP in 20 minutes. I did the first round in 10 minutes. 12 reps for the first set up pullups (pretty cool!). I knew second set was going to take longer - finished two sets in 24 minutes. I felt it best to finish the whole set rather than stop part way through.

I did not do the workout yesterday as I worked a long day (about 14 hours). I started to do it, but had absolutely no gas. This is due to the long day, bad diet and hydration, and the fact that I completed my swim workout about an hour before attempting to start the WOD. I got my diet and hydration back on track today and it makes a world of difference.

Yesterday's swim workout went well. Four 400s with 45 sec rest in between. First three went well - felt fatigued for last set (most likely due to diet and hydration as mentioned above). Overall, swim went quite well - finished entire workout in 31 minutes (includes rest intervals).

Sunday, November 15, 2009

10k running time trial

Ran 10k for time today. My time was 55:13 which is clearly three minutes slower than the last time I ran 10k for time. Additionally, I ran 10k a couple of weeks ago at an easy pace and finished in 53:00. I felt good - not fatigued, or sick, or sore, or tight. I'm not sure why this run would be slow in comparison to other runs of the same distance. There are minor rollers on the course but that cannot be the problem - the time I ran it in 52:00 I ended with a big hill.

The one thing that I can point to that may have had a big impact is that it was very humid out. It was very foggy in some spots. I was having trouble breathing and couldn't get my HR up as high as it usually is for these time trials - my average HR was 154 vs. the 160 - 162 that I usually hit.

I double checked the distance and it was definately a 10k.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Bike time trial

I had to ride 15k for time. I mapped out a 9.3 mile course using mapmyride.com. Unfortunately I did not ride it exactly as mapped. I remapped when I got home and mapmyride says I rode 9.1 miles. My bike computer said I rode 9.0. Regardless, it is a good benchmark for future time trials. I finished the ride in 26:06. It was rainy and miserable and I believe that the weather conditions effected my ride to some degree, but the ride was overall pretty good.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Second workout today

A new workout appeared on my schedule today which is turning into a recurring theme. 5 dumbell thrusters (45 lb), 5 pull-ups, 5 times for time. I tried to do the dumbell thrusters with 45 lbs but that just was not going to happen, I only got three up the first time and the second rep was only one. I went to 35 pounds and started over. I finished the workout in 9:28.

Tomorrow is another new one - I need to go to Crossfit's website to research the movements.

Swimming time trial

Swam 1650 yards for time this morning (got up at 5:00 a.m. to make sure this happened). Finished in 31:23. This is a good time for me - there's room for improvement, but I am happy with where I am right now swimming wise. I started the swim conservatively since I have not been swimming much and certainly have not swam a long distance in a while. Established a rhythm at about lap 10 or 12 and felt no pain until about lap 40. It was a struggle from that point on, but I pushed through and completed the workout.

I have another workout to do later today - I am spending the day with my daughter as she has the day off from school, but I will find a way to squeeze it in.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The bike is a bullet

Rode the bike yesterday. I am starting to get used to it - remember, I've been riding a road bike all my life and now I switch over to a triathlon bike - very different feel. It was a warm November day with no wind and I got home from work early. I decided to try to beat the sun and see if I could get an hour in before it got dark. Well, it gets dark early so I lost the race, but I had a good ride. Only the last ten minutes were dark.

It was not my fastest ride ever, but I am really starting to feel the potential of this bike. It feels so smooth on the flats and it climbs unbelievably well. I definately need to tweak a few things - standing is extremely uncomfortable as my knees hit the elbow pads. The pads are kind of big, so I'm going to see if there is anything lower profile out there that I can use. The cockpit is very small - I think it is because my legs are proportianately longer than my torso. Makes sense since I am 5 inches shorter than my father, but we have the same inseam. Not noticible on the road bike since the position is more relaxed. I need to get a few longer rides in before deciding if the saddle needs to go or not and I need to figure out a better hydration system than what I have. I have the aero water bottle between the tt bars but I got very wet from the splashing. That was o.k. yesterday, but it would not be on a cold day. I guess they make better bottles than the one I have - I will check.

Didn't time the 5K

I used the 5K to calibrate my GPS so I did not get a time. I thought it would keep the time as well, but I guess not. I ran it hard, but I doubt I beat yesterday's time - I was hurting. Not sure what from the most - probably the squats.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

I succumbed and 5k race results

Thursday was a day off and I took advantage of it. I had trouble sleeping due to coughing half the night and was pretty tired Friday. I have a bad cough, but otherwise feel o.k. I decided not to workout Friday and get a good nights sleep instead.

I coughed quite a bit Friday night as well, though not as bad as Thursday.

I decided to do the 5k Saturday. I ran it in 24:21. I was shooting for 24 even, but this is probably my best 5k in the last three years. I ran this race in 25:58 last year. I wonder if I could have done a little better if I wasn't fighting a cold all week. I did my 500 squats in the evening. It still hurt, but it definately was not as painful as the last time I did this workout.

I'm going to run another 5k tomorrow to see if I can hit the 24:00 mark. I'm going to run the first mile hard and see if I can hold on from there.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

I'm dragging

I'm dragging partly from the workouts and partly from fighting a cold. The wise man may have taken a day or two off, but I don't like to succumb. I'm actually feeling better, but a little worn out - tomorrow's a day off so I get to rest.

Both of Tuesday's workouts were intense. I lifted at noon and did a track workout in the evening. Lifting consisted of seven sets of squats, 3 reps and seven sets of bench, 3 reps. I screwed up the weights in my head and had myself doing 10 lbs more than I actually was. I thought I was squatting 145 and benching 175 but I was actually doing 135 and 165. I'm pretty happy with the bench, but dissapointed with the squats. I am sore from the squats today though. I don't see squats (with weight) on my plan for some time - next time I see it, it has me doing my body weight for max reps. At this rate it will only be one rep unless I lose some more weight.

The second workout was 8 400's with 30 seconds rest between. I did not keep my splits, but I do know that the first one was done in 1:41. My total workout time was 18 minutes - strip out the rest and you have 870 seconds of work time. 870 divided by 8 gives you 108.75 seconds average per 400. so average was about 1:49 per 400. This was a hard workout. Repeats number 3, 4 and 5 were the hardest.

Today's workout was done at about 1:30 in the afternoon. It was a pool workout and rowing 2500 meters for time. I forgot my towel - luckily Target is close by. The swim workout was 20 25's with ten seconds rest. Strange to follow up no swim workouts for a while with intensity right off the bat. I was tight from not being in the pool for a while, but did not have any problems finishing the workout. I was pressed for time so I warmed up with a 200 and cooled off with a 200, dried off and then did the rowing workout. I forgot to look at the time when I was done, but I was averaging about 2:04 per 500 so I should have finished right around 10:20. That's a long 10:20- these workouts hurt!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Brutal

Run 400m, 30 box jumps, 30 wall ball shots (substituted thrusters) 5x for time. BRUTAL!!

I finished the first set and was on target to finish the workout in 25 minutes. As soon as I started the second set I knew that was not going to happen. I was really dragging after the third set, but I pushed on and finished the workout in 36:45.

I think the word "for time" really screws up my head - I generally just go hard and disregard that you need to pace yourself. The workouts are short, but not so short that you can go all out for the duration. I think that I will replace "for time" with "continuous" in my head next time. My bet is that if I slow down I will actually finish the workout faster.

Today's workouts look hard as well. Bench - seven sets of 3 (so I guess that means go heavy) and squat seven sets of 3. Second workout is 8 400s with thirty seconds rest in between. I will try to pace this appropriately so I run them even.

I get back in the pool tomorrow. I will make sure that happens - I always feel like I am coming from behind (training wise) with swimming as I have taken so much time off from it in the past.