Go ahead and tri--make my day!!

Four weeks until a pool tri.  It is a 300 m swim, 10 bike and 5k run.  They call it a sprint and it basically is a sprint going that short.  I need to make sure I am use to going that fast.

Did my second straight day of two a days.  I did a speed workout in the morning.  I went down to the high school track and ran 3 by 800m.  My splits were 3:05, 3:08, 2:58.  Any time you can break a 6 min anything, you like that.  I did not push real hard.  With a warm up, recovery laps and cool down, I was at 35 min.

In the afternoon I got my only swim workout in for the week.  Mornings have been too hectic to get a way this week.  I was going to swim a mile, but my times started to tank after a 800 so I broke it up and worked on form and speed.  I swam the 800 in 16:15.  I am not sure what I did to swim a minute faster.  Swimming is like catching moon beams . . . there some days and not others.  I did a 200 with the pull boay, 200 with fist gloves, 300 timed, 200 fins and drills.

Had a good workout this morning--a triple.  Lifted for about 20 minutes, then did a 35 min spin workout.  I did 4x4 min fast.  I felt good.  Then I went outside . . . still pretty cold with that wind and ran for 38 minutes.  I bonked at 30 min on the run but just kept going and gutted it out. 

I finished reading (listening to the audiobook) of the book called "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan.  It is a little more fundamental than I am use to, but it is good on giving reasons to eat good.  He attacks the reductionism of nutritianism.  Meaning, breaking foods down to the small parts and then by knowing the what makes up food, then the processors  can try to replicate the food.  But the sum of the parts do not equal the whole.  He also attacks the western diet of white flour, no fats, fast food, and processed foods.  Interesting reading.

I swam this morning.  Did a timed 800 to start.  15:43.  Had to wait for traffic for a few seconds.  I did not feel too tired at the end.  200 splits at 3:48, 3:59, 3:59, 3:54.  I drilled afterwards and then did 4x 100m:  1:51, 1:47, 146, 1:47.  It was to get some of those splits to almost as fast as I was.  I am still trying to have a relaxt arm recovery, but also hit a more powerful switch.  My right hand also is crazy, so I am trying to get it to pull straigh instead of bouncing to the center of my midline.

Lifted a little before the swim.

Training is getting interesting now that I am narrowing things down for a race.  Before it was easy miles and base work.  This is why the science of tris are fun, developing workouts to get into the best shape.  In the Tri Training Bible, Joe Friel has 21 different things to work on.  I think that is overkill.  I like easy, medium, fast and hard workouts.  I will try to mix those up per week.

I went on the track and did  a 3x1 mile intervals.  Times:  6:15, 6:06, 6:02.  I thought I was going to break 6 on the last one but ran a 1:31 400 instead of a 1:29.  I felt good about things and no cramps or soreness.  Hopefully in a while, I can do this workout all at under 6 min.  My next speed workout  next week will be 6x 800 at under 3:00 pace.   I think my body reponds well to doing fast workouts.  It is nice to have 13 pounds off from fall.  By eating well, my stomach does much better in the morning too.

I did a 25 min active recovery bike workout afterwards on the trainer.  Tomorrow I will do a longer bike with intervals and perhaps some active recovery run or a good warm up run.

Friday will be a pool workout.  I think  I want to do the timed 800 again and see if I can get back under 15:30.  And then do some drills.  Depends my the time.

Saturday, I can do a longer faster run with a bike something or other.

Had to get an early start today, so I ran the MVP 5k road race at a slow pace.  After all was done, the run took longer than I planned--35 min.

Then I went and did a bike workout.  10 min. warm up, and then a 7 two min accelerations with 2 min recovery time.

I was as a little tired from two pretty hard workouts the last two days.  I went to the pool and the temperature was 88.  That is nheard on in the pool I go to.  Laps swimmers hate it warm.  The pool was busy and I decided to do 4x 300m as a workout.  I will be swimming a 300 in my pool tri, so I like to practice at that distance.

I jumped in with the fast swimmers.  All the other lane had at least two other slow swimmers in.  It is better to be the slowest in a lane than the fastest, then you do not have to pass anyone.  Well the fast people were doing 4x400.  So I jumped in with them and I always go faster when I get in with them since I am scared to death of getting run over.

I my race goal is 5:30 for the 300.  I swam 5:21, 5:12, 5: 31, 5:38.  The last one was by my self and the others were with a little drafting, especially the second one.  I did not realize that swim drafting helped that much . . . . . I might have to rethink my swim strategy in future races.

Biked on the indoor trainer for 60 minutes. It had been a while since I did a longer bike workout. My bike is what will make or break me this tri season. I know that I will be improving yet fair on the swim and I usually do well on the run, but the bike has lots of potential.

I went into work early today to do a noon workout, but that got delayed to after work.  The sun was shining so I did a bike workout to the Elk Ridge Rd and back.  53 minutes Felt pretty good.  Came back and ran 3 miles on the Jr. High grass.  Overall a good workout and it was great to see the sun.

Boy, day light savings time changes are a pain.  Got an later start in the pool.  I swam a timed 800 in 15:44.  Swam 59 sec. 50s most of the time.  I then did a timed 300 in 5:35.  I felt a little better about that.  I buried my head as deep into the water as possible which brought my feet up better.  I will experiment with that.

Track workout tomorrow. 

Had a monumental workout today.  I ran a 1.5 mile warm up around the jr. high, then drove down to the high school track.  I wanted to run a 6x 800m at 6 min mile pace.

My splits were: 3:01, 2:57, 3:00, 2:59, 3:01, 2:58.  I had three minutes of recovery inbetween.  I tried hard to relax and focus on breathing.  It is easy to let you breathing get away from you, but when I breathed deep instead of rapid shallow, I did much better.,

Had a mile cool down for an hour worth of work.  Things are going as planned.  I need to put in some more swimming time--If I got the pool earlier, I could swim more, so I guess I have to use my alarm clock.

Lifted last night and got three full circuts in. 

I weight in today after the workout, and was lighter than I have seen since college (157).

After the breakthough workout yesterday, I was feeling kind of sore and tired.  I did an easy to medium bike workout on the trainer for 60 minutes.  Kind of uneventful. 

I will swim on Friday, and try to get their eariler and get longer and better workout in.  Saturday looks like a bad weather day, but I need to get outside and do some more biking.  I might go and do a bike and run on a race route and get a time on it.

I forced myself to get going and get a complete workout in.  I drilled with the pull boay for 400.  Did fist gloves for 400.  Then did a 3x300 in 5:35, 5:45, 5:45 with three minutes recovery.  Tried to bury my head, but still could not go fast.

I did not workout in the morning.  I wanted to wait and see if I could do an outside bike workout.  That did not occur and so I biked on my trainer at 3:30PM.  I slopped around all day . . .. not having the morning workout just puts the body in dead mode.  No energy, no ambition.  Now after my workout, I feel like a million dollars.

The bike workout went pretty good.  I went straight out and raced a 5k on the MVP route.  I wanted to break 21 min, since it was after the bike and I was in my training shoes and not my racing flats and I was listening to an audiobook (Fablehaven) to pump me up.  I ran a 20:15.  Miles splits:  6:25 (down hill), 6:49 (up hill), 6:59 (to end).  I think the course is a little short, but that is a pretty good tri time for me with all things considered. 

Blog testimony time:

I am 13 weeks in to using the fast running blog, and I have been pleasantly surprised at how motivating it is.  Granted with being a triathlete, I don't have too many that read the blog, Thanks, Tom, Scott, and Kim!!! But I realize the blog is more for my own good than it is to gain readers or popularity.  I appreciate feedback from them and it helps to keep me going. 

I find myself on a workout thinking about what I can write . . . granted I want it to be positive.  So I work a little harder to be able to blog something good.  I have never shared anyone my workouts, or wrote anything down.  I just woke up in the morning, tried to feel what kind of workout I wanted to do and then went a did it.  I have been learning a lot more about training in the past few months.  I subscribe to "tri-talk" podcast and have read the Traithlete's training Bible.  In both of those deals, they say that "every workout should have a purpose" So I have tried to do that.  Granted, as I approach race time, that becomes more critical, verses base time when you just get slow miles in.  So it is good to write down my workouts and have in my mind what they are for.  Perhaps, I will include the purpose of a workout in future blogs.

I really like the report feature at the end of the week.  As I compare week to week, I can see how many miles I put in, but more importantly, how many workouts I got in.  As I study my weeks, I realize that my swim meters are too low.  If I can get those back up, perhaps I can get swimming faster.

I am looking forward to a good racing season. . . .  hopefully injury free.

Start of a new week.  I got through a 50 minute run this morning.  I have felt a little sick with an upset stomach, so I am off just a bit.  I hope it feels better.  I have gone off my diet a bit and that might be causing problems too.

Swam a timed 800 to start.  15:35.  I watched some videos on people swimming last night and tried to focus on a few things.  Not a lot of change.  I did some drilling and did one 300 in 5:38 and three 100s in 1:48.

One of the post on Tri-talk said that the Total Immersion system (that I have bought into big time) is great for beginners, but not always best for more advanced.  I will try a few things out to see if that is true.

I have been fighting a low grade stomach flu or something.  I had this back in December.  Makes it so you don't want to be an working out animal, but still not so bad to take time off, and I seem to have energy.

I tried to sleep it off this morning.  I ended getting off work early and biking since it was the HDOY (hottest day of the year),

I biked to Salem and then did a loop on the Salem Tri bike.  It is very technical:  11 turns, 4 hills, a few curves and construction.  My time was 16:49 for about 10K.  It seems like I had done a 16:30 before.  I was hoping to get some time savings from having a new tribike. . . . I am disappointed at that.  But I guess it is the man more than then machine.  At least a I have a bike mark to work on now.  I need to get a flat straight course to serve as a base line too, where better areodynamics of the tribike can pay off. 

I will try a track workout tomorrow, but I am not sure how I will feel.  I am due to run 3x one mile under 6:10.

Still fighting the funny tummy.  Tried to run after work and my blood sugar was out of sorts. I felt shaky and weak.  I went on the Jr. High track and did a 800 warm up.  I did a mile, but only made it a half of mile  adn went home.  No since in beating a dead horse.

I did another time trial today to set a benchmark for the bike, and to train.  I went to the new ball parks and started at the first light pole and went out 10K and back 10 K.  This course only featured one turn, two hills (one an overpass), one rr tracks and a 4 way stop.  Most of it flat and straight.  It took me past the Benjamin church and park.  I turned around about 30 yards before a driveway with a newer house facing East.

I hit 16:34 out.  Average speed on my bike computer was 22.2.  Back was 17:00 (had to stop at the 4 way stop so that cost me 10 sec.)  With the goal of 23 MPH, I have some work to do.  I thought my new bike was going to give me a boost, but I have not documented any.  My bike computer on my old bike was a little sweet so I am not sure how I compare.

I need to work on getting faster.  As I use just a little bit bigger cog, I can get up to the 23 MPH and sustain it without creating latic acid but not for long.  That is my dilema on the bike, how to increase my latic threshhold.  I usually train just below or right at LT, but I have never done much of over LT.    If you go over LT, in a run or long training run, I never recover.

Did a timed 800 in 15:35 and then did fist gloves for 200 and one timed 300 in 5:36.  Typical of what I have been doing recently.  I got a little in oxygen debt the first 400, and so I did not compete very well the second half.  3:50, 3:45, 4:00, 4:00.

 I still have the stomach thing . . . .

Race next week.  Hope for good weather--no snow.

Race week!!

Well after 5 months of training without a race, I get to compete this weekend. My race is costing me $53 so we tightwad triathletes don’t do many.

I am doing the Icebreaker in American Fork. See Milliseconds for complete race history. http://www.milliseconds.com/ I competed last in this race in 2006. I took 11 overall out of 250 and first in my age group.

I was in pretty good shape then—similar to what I am now. I think there are 400 entered and I am in a higher age group. (I would not have taken first in the 40-44 age group).

But I have no control over who shows up. My time was 1:01.38. That time would have got 15 in 2007. My times were: 6:16 on swim, 32.24 (21.3 mph) on bike and 20:24 on the 5K run. My transitions times were 1:43 for T1 and 49 for T2.

I should break the swim time by 45 seconds—all being well. Possibly even faster. I have been doing 5:35 after swimming a half mile.

I should break the bike by maybe one half  minute. It is a hilly technical course. 

I hope to break the run by 15 seconds. For a savings of 1.5 minutes. It looks to be cold weather, so my T1 time might be a little slower, but I think I bundled up last time. Gold: Faster than 1:00.0 Silver: 1:00-1:01.30 Bronze: 1:01.30. This is assuming the T times stay the same, and the weather is not so cold that it slows everything down.

If they do a reverse tri, then my time will be a minute faster on the run, same on bike and 30 sec. faster on swim. 

Race week Monday.  I had a bad runnig week last week (only 7.5 miles) so I ran a 5K without a clock.  I pushed it a bit on the last mile.  I like to work short and sweet on the first of the race week and then very light at the end.  I like to be well rested.

I think I will get some pool time in Tuesday, a short and sweet bike workout on Wednesday, and we will see how the last two days pan out.  I might swim on Thursday and take Friday off or run on Thursday and do drill on Friday.

I have not gotten nervous about this race.  I usually do get pretty worked up before a tri.  I wonder if it is the blog that gives me an outlet and confidence instead of getting nervous.  This is weird.  Last summer, I would get an email for a race that I did not have any intention in competing in and I would get nervous.  In fact, I would not compete sometimes since I would tell myself "if you cannot enjoy a race, you are not going to get to race."  (I usually do not practice tough love on myself).  Sometimes I have to do that if I get disappointed with results that are not just perfect:  "If you cannot be happy with what you did, not since in competing". Then I get over it and feel good about things.  I always have come off a competition very motivated.

Did a timed 300 at the first in 5:30.  Then several 50s in 51.  Then a 100 in 1:46 Then fist glove workout, finished with a 100 in 1:46.

I remembered something that helped me go faster when I was creating PR's.  I like the concept of "breaking the work up"  meaning faster shorter pieces instead of big long pieces.  (think of gearing down when you go up hills, shorter, faster easier reps) I was anchoring with a fast hand instead of a powerful hand.  I tried that today and I was not too tired after the intervals that I did.

To get back to my PR, it is a matter of cutting two seconds off per lap.  I  have gone from 1:40s to 58-59s.  Pretty good swimmers are in the 40s.  So I just need to get to 55-56 and I will be much more competative.

I got a lunch time workout in.  I went to the Benjamin, and did a timed 10k.  I think I was at 23 mph and around 16 min, I was confused at my mark to end. 

Last of my harder workouts.

Lifted in the morning.

Rest day today. 

Rest day

PM update:  Milliseconds has posted the results.  I had a 1:03.46.  I took first in my age group--which was a surprise.  I posted the fasted bike second fastest run and  and third fastest swim in my age group.  There were only 19.  I had the 15th fastest run and the 13th fastest bike overall.  So I feel good about the AG win.  The previous two years, this age group has been more competative.

AM report:  I did pretty good, with the conditions--maybe a high bronze or silver preformance.  Not Gold.  My time was 1:03.13 (by my watch) so I will have to compare that with other times.  It was a windy cold tri, and it was a reverse tri--run, bike swim.  I know I did pretty good on the run, 19:15 on the 5K-- the bike was hard, up hill into the wind, but I timed a 34:30.  My first lap was 17:30, and then I did a 17:00.  I was smarter on the second lap.  I greared down up hill and competed better on the flat.

My swim was 6:14--Kind of disappointing, but I was tired from the run and bike.

They had four wave starts, with slowest going first and fastest swim going last.  I missed the last wave by two people, so I was in the third wave.  I finished 8th all together.  There were 2 from my wave that beat me, two from the last wave and then 3 from the first two waves.  So the question is, how many from the last wave finished within 3 minutes of me finishing, and if I was with in the start time on the three others that started before me. 

Still sore from the race on Saturday. It was icy this morning so I got off work early and did the after work put put run. 

I got a side stitch on the run on saturday.  I was planning on my track work to help avoid the side stitch from going so fast, but at mile two it came on.  I was just starting to pick up more speed and then I turned down hill.  I guess a side stitch does not know the difference between running fast flat and downhill.  I started a little slower on purpose to avoid a stitch--plus the run was up hill the first mile.  I was at 6:35 the first mile so I did not go super fast (I was at 4th in my heat then) and end up third in my heat after the run.  I think my long lay off caused the stitch.  I will have to look at tapering better.  But I had a yucky stomach the whole week before the race and I took off my speed day the week before.  I love to be well rested but I have to keep the body use to the intensity of the race.

So I had to run off the side stitch today and did that by about a mile.

Training plan:  I just complete one cycle, peaking for this race.  Now I start another cycle of base work followed by faster stuff.  Now I have to work for Ragnar relay and the spudman, with a couple of road races inbetween--but I will not adjust my training for them.  So I need to train for a 10K run and 40K bike and mile swim. 

It is back to the base work.  I have not not done a long run for a while so I need to build it back up. I don't think I will abandon the speed work completely, I would like to keep doing that to keep a gradual increase in that. 

I learned I need to increase my bike base. I need longer 25-30 miles with some hills.  Eventhough my bike was comparatively my best event (13 overall compared to 15 overall for the run), this race has more great runners since the swim is so minimal--(that is why I usually do well in these pool tri's, I am decent in all events, but not being great in the swim does not hurt me as much.)  I like to bike in the heat and sun and I need to find two hour block of time to do a 30 mile workout and shower and eat or an hour and and a half to workout. 

I will go back to longer swims with drilling to keep me from tanking.  Even after three years of swimming, I still have to have everything work to enjoy and finish a mile swim without blowing up.