Sorry for my tardy updates lately. I've been focusing on training, sleeping and eating, as a result, my internet time is way down. Less interent = more training! So without further ado, here are the tardy numbers for last week:
Swim: 8k
Bike: 483k
Run: 56.5k
A good week. Only 2 swims, but each one was 4k. I wanted 450k on the bike, flirted with 500, but I'm happy with 483k. As for the run, was aiming for 60k, but I won't beat myself up for missing it by 3.5k.
Swim stuff. Want to swim slower then IM pace? Breath every 5 strokes. Want to swim at IM pace? Breath every 3 strokes. Here's a good set to experiment with: 2(5X200). First one drill, your choice. #2 breath every 5, #3 breath every 3, #4 at half IM pace, #5 at Oly or faster pace. Repeat.
An interesting footnote on how 2 'hard' days can differ. Thursday's plan was to bike 110-120k and run 7.5. It was hot, humid and we were under a smog advisory. I checked the air quality index and it was at 'moderate' (AQI was 40, today was 'good', AQI 17). Basically I was on the cusp of training outside or riding the Computrainer inside. I trained outside. Got lost on my bike, (exploring new territory), ended up bonking and grinding out 160k. Got home late, much to the chagrin of Sally, went fetal, then proceded to cough my lungs out for 40 mintues. Ok, so now I know I can't train long on 'moderate' air quality days.
Fast forward to Saturday. Good air, good temperature and overcast. I biked 192k and felt great, even did a short 5k transition run afterwards. A 7 hour endurance day and it was awesome. I was amazed at the difference between the 2 days. Lessons learned: dial back the intensity even more in the heat and humidity and train indoors during smoggy days.
Vacation this week. :)) Hoping to do some big numbers. It will be my last 'big' week. Here's the plan for the next 4 weeks: this week: 'big' week. (~bike 550k, run 60k) Week 2: 'moderate' (bike 400, run 60) Week 3: easy. (race on the weekend), Week 4 'moderate' (last hard weekend on June 23/24) Taper begins June 25...
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Monday weigh in..
Ya gotta love the easy weeks that have built in long weekends! Here's the stats for the week:
swim: 10.7k
bike: 130k
run: 42k
weight: 158
Picked up an extra swim session and the high point for the week was on Friday when I logged a 5+k swim. I did my favorite long distance set:
4X400m @ 6min
8X 200m @ 3min
16X 100m @ 1:30
Usually I have low energy stores by the 16X100m set, but I made extra sure to have enough food in me before the swim, so all was good. Held 1:25's for the last set for each one - just slightly faster then IM pace. Throw in a cool down and bada bing - 5k done.
Bike: 130k on the Computrainer.
Run: First run since half marry was on Thursday. Did 7.5k+ on the trails for the Thurs and Fri and a early morning Sat and Sun run of 14k each. I was out of town for the weekend, so had to squeak in a run when I could.
That pretty much caps off the week.
The plan for this week. Swim ~6k, bike 450k, run 60k. I've already had a 'recovery ride' today, so maybe if I'm lucky I'll break 500k on the bike. That would be a record methinks. We'll see how it goes. Anyway, I'm starving, off to make dinner. Hope you have a great week - cheers!
swim: 10.7k
bike: 130k
run: 42k
weight: 158
Picked up an extra swim session and the high point for the week was on Friday when I logged a 5+k swim. I did my favorite long distance set:
4X400m @ 6min
8X 200m @ 3min
16X 100m @ 1:30
Usually I have low energy stores by the 16X100m set, but I made extra sure to have enough food in me before the swim, so all was good. Held 1:25's for the last set for each one - just slightly faster then IM pace. Throw in a cool down and bada bing - 5k done.
Bike: 130k on the Computrainer.
Run: First run since half marry was on Thursday. Did 7.5k+ on the trails for the Thurs and Fri and a early morning Sat and Sun run of 14k each. I was out of town for the weekend, so had to squeak in a run when I could.
That pretty much caps off the week.
The plan for this week. Swim ~6k, bike 450k, run 60k. I've already had a 'recovery ride' today, so maybe if I'm lucky I'll break 500k on the bike. That would be a record methinks. We'll see how it goes. Anyway, I'm starving, off to make dinner. Hope you have a great week - cheers!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Sunday Synopsis
By the numbers..
swim: 6.5k
bike: 414k
run: 53k
turtles saved: 1
bike accidents: 1
season high bike mileage: done!
PB's: 1
Wowsers, what a week. Ok, working backwards, starting with the last one. I PB'd at Mississauga half marathon today. I really kinda, sorta have to laugh at this because it was *totally* unexpected. No taper, large time on the bike, including 165 hilly, chilly, windy K's yesterday, I thought running a 'race' today would have basically amounted to a silly experiment. So with my HRM on one wrist and my garmin on the other, my intention was just to gather data, learn and run hard. Basically, I went out at 4:00/k, took note of my heartrate and pace at every kilometer marker. HR was pretty steady @168-170 for the duration, a tad higher towards the end. This is solid 10+ beats below my LT which is ~182. From the 8k mark on, I kept thinking: "ok, the legs are going to give out now" - they didn't. At the 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15k mark, I thought the same thing, but they were still holding up. Very cool, thank you legs. Slowed a bit from 15 to 19 and tried to come in strong for the last 2. Total time: 1:25:24. Solid.
Logged over 400k on the bike, this was actually my primary goal for the week. I'm continually amazed at how much faster my recovery is and I think a large part of this is due to my extra cycling time and fitness level.
Bike schedule looked like this: tues: 123k wed: 36k on the computrainer (recovery ride) thurs: 90k on the CT (road a loop of Lake Placid) and Sat: 164k.
Bike accident. Pretty much covered it in the last post. I'm so grateful nothing got hurt too bad.
Turtles saved. My yearly save the turtles drive is officially underway. This one was a big sucker that bascially parked himself in the middle of the road. Damn thing must have been 40 pounds. Silly turtle. Got him safely to the pond on the other side of the road.
Run. Missed one scheduled run. Was suppose to run on Tuesday after the bike - looked after the road rash instead and called it a day.
Swim. All is good. Technique feels solid, endurance is lacking a bit, but there is still time to get some extra pool work done. Not worried. Actually, this will be a good week to get an extra pool session or two in - let the legs recover a bit.
C'est tout for now - cheers!
swim: 6.5k
bike: 414k
run: 53k
turtles saved: 1
bike accidents: 1
season high bike mileage: done!
PB's: 1
Wowsers, what a week. Ok, working backwards, starting with the last one. I PB'd at Mississauga half marathon today. I really kinda, sorta have to laugh at this because it was *totally* unexpected. No taper, large time on the bike, including 165 hilly, chilly, windy K's yesterday, I thought running a 'race' today would have basically amounted to a silly experiment. So with my HRM on one wrist and my garmin on the other, my intention was just to gather data, learn and run hard. Basically, I went out at 4:00/k, took note of my heartrate and pace at every kilometer marker. HR was pretty steady @168-170 for the duration, a tad higher towards the end. This is solid 10+ beats below my LT which is ~182. From the 8k mark on, I kept thinking: "ok, the legs are going to give out now" - they didn't. At the 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15k mark, I thought the same thing, but they were still holding up. Very cool, thank you legs. Slowed a bit from 15 to 19 and tried to come in strong for the last 2. Total time: 1:25:24. Solid.
Logged over 400k on the bike, this was actually my primary goal for the week. I'm continually amazed at how much faster my recovery is and I think a large part of this is due to my extra cycling time and fitness level.
Bike schedule looked like this: tues: 123k wed: 36k on the computrainer (recovery ride) thurs: 90k on the CT (road a loop of Lake Placid) and Sat: 164k.
Bike accident. Pretty much covered it in the last post. I'm so grateful nothing got hurt too bad.
Turtles saved. My yearly save the turtles drive is officially underway. This one was a big sucker that bascially parked himself in the middle of the road. Damn thing must have been 40 pounds. Silly turtle. Got him safely to the pond on the other side of the road.
Run. Missed one scheduled run. Was suppose to run on Tuesday after the bike - looked after the road rash instead and called it a day.
Swim. All is good. Technique feels solid, endurance is lacking a bit, but there is still time to get some extra pool work done. Not worried. Actually, this will be a good week to get an extra pool session or two in - let the legs recover a bit.
C'est tout for now - cheers!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Welcome to the club.. a quandry no more.
There are two types of cyclist, those that have crashed and those that haven't.... yet. I'm now a proud member of the former. :) My induction to the club was so fast, I scarely knew it occured until I was on the pavement. Here's the details: Tuesday I have a long brick scheduled (long ride followed by a run), I'm out on the bike and feeling great, I'm so owning the hills and the wind isn't bothering me at all. Just one of those days everything feels good. So I'm at the 3 hour mark into my ride and figure, damn I feel so good, let's do another hour. An unscheduled extra hour - hell ya!
I'm 10k from home and passing a construction zone where they are doing road work. Guess what they decided to put on the pavement? Some sort of oily petroleum product - nice. My bike slid out from under me so fast and bam I was down. At the time I was only going 20-25kph, so I didn't get too banged up. Just a bit of road rash, some sore wrists and couple of bruises. Perhaps the biggest downer is the SIX cars that zoomed right past me without even asking if I was ok. To them I give a BIG hearty one finger salute. Hehe.. had to get that off my chest. Karma has a way of biting you on the ass and to them I really hope they don't experience that feeling of being totally let down by my fellow man.
Anyway, enough of that. I just know you want to see pics!
Not so bad. The good news is I'm still able to bike and run. (phew)
Earlier this week I had a bit of quandry. I have a half marathon scheduled for this weekend and I was debating about whether to take a couple of easy days and go for a PB or keeping up the volume and just go for a good hard run. Well, between my biking mishap and the fact that I'm pushing pretty good bike/run volume, I've decided to just go for a hard run and see how well the legs hold up. Should be interesting..
Gotta go.. bedtime!
I'm 10k from home and passing a construction zone where they are doing road work. Guess what they decided to put on the pavement? Some sort of oily petroleum product - nice. My bike slid out from under me so fast and bam I was down. At the time I was only going 20-25kph, so I didn't get too banged up. Just a bit of road rash, some sore wrists and couple of bruises. Perhaps the biggest downer is the SIX cars that zoomed right past me without even asking if I was ok. To them I give a BIG hearty one finger salute. Hehe.. had to get that off my chest. Karma has a way of biting you on the ass and to them I really hope they don't experience that feeling of being totally let down by my fellow man.
Anyway, enough of that. I just know you want to see pics!
Not so bad. The good news is I'm still able to bike and run. (phew)
Earlier this week I had a bit of quandry. I have a half marathon scheduled for this weekend and I was debating about whether to take a couple of easy days and go for a PB or keeping up the volume and just go for a good hard run. Well, between my biking mishap and the fact that I'm pushing pretty good bike/run volume, I've decided to just go for a hard run and see how well the legs hold up. Should be interesting..
Gotta go.. bedtime!
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Games, wheels and a great week.
I frequently play little games with myself in order to get a job done. A work/ reward type thing. For example, sometimes I'll write a workout down on my calender before I actually do it. Then when I have to do the workout a part of me says 'well it's already written down, you can't change it or wimp out now. Another one is I'm only allowed to eat or drink at the top of the hill. This allows me to focus on the task at hand while knowing there is a carrot (however small) that awaits me when I'm done. Some other 'games', counting strides or exhales, crossing the crack in the pavement at the bottom of my driveway and visualizing that as my Ironman finish.. hey whatever keeps you going, right?
I guess the big news is I now have race wheels. :) I ended up getting the H3C's.. actually a fellow tri-wienie had a pair for sale and he lives an hour away. So after Saturday's long and windy ride I went and checked them out and made a deal for them on the spot. He actually bought them from the fellow I mentioned in my previous post - Speedy. So instead of buying a brand new set, which are not cheap, I saved some coin and got a gently used pair.
Just a quick update on the sponsorship news. Speedy, the Canadian distributer for Hed, is also the rep for Blue Competition bikes. As it turns out, he is in fact looking for athletes to represent the Blue line of bikes. Basically, you get a free frame and obviously in return you have some responsibilities and of course the bike still needs all the components; so this isn't in the cards just yet - but maybe in the future. But if you're in the market, I urge you to get in touch with him - you have nothing to lose.
A good workout week. I can't believe IMLP is closing in so fast, I'll be tapering in what? 6 weeks? Damn! I'm so not ready. Though I guess one is never 100% 'ready'. There is always the feeling I should have done more..
Anyway, here's the numbers for the week:
swim: 6.5k
bike: 385k
run: 66k
I guess the highlight was Saturday's long ride. It was a tad windy, a tough effort and an all around solid workout. Total ride was 163k. I've been tweaking nutrition and it pretty much seems that I can eat anything I want as long as I keep my heartrate below 140. For example, at the 90k mark, I stopped at a convience store, ate 500 cals worth of snickers bars, chugged back some Infinit, hopped on the bike and got the HR up to 140 and suffered no ill effects. More experiments to follow, but this is very good news.
Cheers!
I guess the big news is I now have race wheels. :) I ended up getting the H3C's.. actually a fellow tri-wienie had a pair for sale and he lives an hour away. So after Saturday's long and windy ride I went and checked them out and made a deal for them on the spot. He actually bought them from the fellow I mentioned in my previous post - Speedy. So instead of buying a brand new set, which are not cheap, I saved some coin and got a gently used pair.
Just a quick update on the sponsorship news. Speedy, the Canadian distributer for Hed, is also the rep for Blue Competition bikes. As it turns out, he is in fact looking for athletes to represent the Blue line of bikes. Basically, you get a free frame and obviously in return you have some responsibilities and of course the bike still needs all the components; so this isn't in the cards just yet - but maybe in the future. But if you're in the market, I urge you to get in touch with him - you have nothing to lose.
A good workout week. I can't believe IMLP is closing in so fast, I'll be tapering in what? 6 weeks? Damn! I'm so not ready. Though I guess one is never 100% 'ready'. There is always the feeling I should have done more..
Anyway, here's the numbers for the week:
swim: 6.5k
bike: 385k
run: 66k
I guess the highlight was Saturday's long ride. It was a tad windy, a tough effort and an all around solid workout. Total ride was 163k. I've been tweaking nutrition and it pretty much seems that I can eat anything I want as long as I keep my heartrate below 140. For example, at the 90k mark, I stopped at a convience store, ate 500 cals worth of snickers bars, chugged back some Infinit, hopped on the bike and got the HR up to 140 and suffered no ill effects. More experiments to follow, but this is very good news.
Cheers!
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