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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.