I'm In!!

I just signed up for Ironman Arizona. I am so excited (I must be nuts)!!

MTB ride

Went for a ride this morning - went to Soapstone as it is closest to my house. Went alone. Haven't been there in a couple of years and got turned around a little while trying to follow some unmarked singletrack. I ended up on the white trail and just followed it for a while and eventually merged into the blue trail which I know fairly well. Spent a little extra time out there (2:15 vs. the two hours planned). All in all it was a good ride but it would have been nicer to have someone to ride with.

Swim lesson

I ran long on Thursday - nuff said.

Friday was a swim lesson with coach Jim in Wilbraham Mass. He was a national champion swimmer in the 70s and has been coaching for over 30 years. He also knows the difference between what is needed for long distance races and short races so he focuses on trying to teach us triathletes to be more efficient. Now the good news. He picked apart most people's strokes, but he was pretty happy with mine. The one thing that he pointed out was that my right side was perfect, but the catch on my left side is not. I seem to recall Max pointing that out to me as well. I did a lot of catch-up drills after Max pointed that out and thought I fixed the problem. I don't think it is as bad as it once was, but it is still there. One thing he had us do was swim a few laps with our heads out of the water so we could watch our stroke. This seemed to help some.

I may not be there the night they videotape, but he said he would make arrangements to make sure I get videoed so he can point out the issues that he is seeing.

I got very tight part way through the session - we ended up with 10 100s - My shoulders got so tight I was having trouble rotating them right. I will be swimming more regularly now so this should not be an issue for long.

I went for an easy run this morning - felt better after the run than before it.

Plan to mountain bike tomorrow. Can't do it with the guys as Alicia has a meet and they tend to dally quite a bit. I will be on a schedule.

Back in the pool

Finally! I managed to get back in the water. This was not a hardcore workout, more of an ice breaker. I signed up for some swim lessons (coaching) which starts this Friday. I did not want to be tight as a drum going into that session so I planned to get a couple of swims in - something kept coming up (either work or family matters). I forced the issue today and got 1,000 yards in. Not a big swim, but better than zero.

Here's a recap since last Wed.

Thursday - Tabata bike 32 rounds all standing (10 min warm-up and 5 warm-down). Lat pulls 30 reps w/easy weight, then three sets of 10 heavy.

Friday - 100 pushups 4:45, 250 situps 7:46, 100 squats 2:54.

Saturday - WHAT A NICE DAY! I planned on a bike ride but got dragged all over the place by family. I was able to squeeze a run in late in the day. No watch, no HR - just ran. I was going to do my 5 mile route, but was feeling pretty good so I extended it and did about 7. I was going to go further, but had plans and am trying to keep in good graces w/wife and child especially since I am planning to ramp it back up pretty soon (gots to earn points while I can!).

Sunday - daughter's first gymnastics meet of the season plus it was her birthday. Meet was in morning so I was planning on having plenty of time to ride in the afternoon - WRONG! We went out for lunch with freinds to celebrate Alicia's birthday and it took way longer than it should have then we had to stop at the in-laws house for cake. I could just feel the day getting shorter and it was really aggravating me, but I tried to keep my cool. I managed to get one hour in - it got dark on me but I had my light and flashy running vest on. I will ride in woods at night, but not alone so I came home. There was a good hill in this ride so I still got a decent workout in even though it was short.

Monday - nothing.

Tues - planned on long run but weather did not cooperate. It was pretty dark at night - dark and scary - did not feel that visibility was great so I decided that staying alive was more important than workout in this instance. Not ready for treadmill yet!

Wed (That's today) Swam 1000 fairly easy yards. Did two 50's hard to see how it would feel.

I generally ride on Thursdays but I think it is going to be a run day tomorrow.

And Nancy, no I don't look like a stud anymore. I put on a couple of pounds and I just don't wear it well.

I've been bad!

I never intended to stop excersising and in fact, did not. I just needed a break from a rigid program. I did not intend to take a break from maintaining good habits mainly in the diet area. I cannot even begin to explain how bad I have been. Not only am I a far cry from Paleo, I'm not even zoning it.

Too much beer, too much candy, and no portion control!

I guess when I took a break mentally, I REALLY took a break.

I am really quite disgusted with myself and I'm blogging about it hoping to get yelled at so I can get my act together.

5K PR

East Windsor Veteran's day 5k, November 6, 2010.

I done't miss this race as it is practically in my back yard. Been running, biking and lifting a little, but nothing compared to hard core training. Did not expect to PR a 5k, and intentionally went out too fast. I Wanted to see what I could do the first mile in. I did the first mile in 7:05 and managed to hold onto enough speed to average 7:35 pace and fininsh in 23:40 (somewhere around there, I have yet to find the official results). My time last year, and previous PR, was 24:21. I'm damn happy with this and hope I can continue to bring the running times down.

Big bike Sunday

Saturday - did four sets of 10 lat pulls and seated shoulder presses. I'm still sore two days later.

Sunday - did my first mountain bike ride in two years. It went pretty well - climbed well and did o.k. on most of the technical stuff - just had trouble with the rock gardens that were spread out through the ride. Total ride was about two hours and 15 minutes. After the mountain bike ride a few of us went for an 18 mile road bike ride. It would have been splendid except it was windy and I ran out of gas. I was not prepared for such a long day and starting fueling way to late in the ride.

I'm going to get a few more day time mountain bike rides in before joining the night riding crew.