Wow!!!

I hate poaching from other blogs but this is awesome!

Fall is here.

Nothing to exciting to report. I have been logging the hours and trying to fit everything in. I missed two sessions this past week one swim and one core. The pool was closed so that one wasn't my fault. All in all I feel good about how things went.

I think my body is starting to absorb the work that I am doing. That after all is what we are looking for isn't it. Not just getting the training in but causing our bodies to respond and get stronger from what we are doing.

I had a couple interesting discussions with people last week over what motivates me to do something like Ironman. I am always interested in what comes out of my mouth when asked questions like these. I am going to try and sit down this week and get what motivates me down on paper. I will post my thoughts once I have them collected in a coherent manner.

The weather here has finally decided to resemble fall. Over the weekend the trees decided to drop most of there leaves. I have now been forced inside for two rides which will mean I now have to swap out my trainer tire everytime I want to ride outside (today). If only I could afford an SRM or a second Power Tap.

I have been trying out a new trainer by Blackburn which so far I am pretty happy with. Here is there description of how it works.
"CENTRIFORCE provides resistance based on speed and acceleration, which allows it to feel hard when you're pushing it, but as soon as you back off, the resistance drops far more dramatically than with mag or fluid, allowing for a smooth feel that's more like riding on a flat road.”
This thing is ultra smooth and very quiet. I think it may be the best none electronic trainer on the market. You can check out PezCycling News for a great review.

Today is day 16 of my 16-5 training cycle and I am not looking for a break which is a great sign. I think the decision to go to this format was a good one. It is going to improve the consistency and quality of my workouts over the long haul.

Is it Monday again already?

It is amazing how time slips by when your days are filled with training and work.

This last cycle of training had its highs and lows.

I have been fighting off a cold which meant skipping out on a couple workouts. Not too worried about this since two of them were bike workouts that would have been done on the trainer. That is a place I am not quite ready to go yet.

On a more positive note things have continued to progress with my running. It seems like I can now consistently run 5:45/km or faster and stay in my base zones. I still have a long way to my goal pace but I am happy with my rate of progression.

I had a great swim on Thursday. I was suppose to do 800m continuous as part of the workout and ended up feeling good enough to make it an even 1km. One goal for this year is to increase my confidence with my swimming. This 1km early is going to help out a lot as it puts me a couple weeks ahead of schedule. The better I feel exiting the water on race day regardless of time the faster I should end up finishing the race. I want to feel fresh, fresh, fresh when I enter T1. The key to success is maximizing your run potential.

My cold seems to be under control so it shouldn't be hard to get in everything this week. Looking forward to feeling solid again during my workouts.

Congrats Mike!

Mike's Race Report

Two Great Workouts Yesterday

This post is going to be short.

After being kept up late by Homecoming Party Noise Sat night I managed to put together two solid workouts yesterday.

Workout #1
60min run @ 5:45/km just over 10km total.

Running is progressing nicely and should lead to a big improvement in my time in July. I am really happy with my progress.

Workout #2
50min swim 100m/200m/300m/400m/400m/300m/200m/100m
@ sub 2min/100 pace

The decision to swim on my own is working out really well. I am a lot farther ahead of where I was two years ago at this time a year. My long continuous swim will be 800m this week.

I am pretty tired today and not looking forward to 180min on the bike but I am sure that will change once I get out there.

16-5

Typical training templates are based around a 4 week cycle. Build for 3 weeks and back off for one. Usually if a plan is well written you will even see small builds within each week. This, however, is not the only way to do it. The reason we so often see this being used is because most of us live our lives by the seven day work week.


What I have decided to do with my schedule is base my training on a 3 week cycle. This doesn't mean 2 on and 1 off though. What I am doing is 16 days on then 5 off. What this allows me to do is take advantage of my weekends. If you look a my basic week it stays the same whether I am in a rest phase or a work phase. I just lower the volume accordingly during my 5 days off. Since both of my long workouts fall on "my" weekend then these are never left out of the plan. The 5 off days are always Tues-Sat.


Today was the last day of my 5 off days. I have to say that I feel like I have recovered nicely and am looking forward to building things up again. The one thing that I have really noticed is that by working with this 16-5 plan I have gotten a mental break before I felt like I needed it. With the onset of winter and indoor training not far off I think this plan is going to keep me a lot fresher through the winter months.


I have been fighting a bit of a cold the past week but seem to be keeping it in check with a few home remedies. It seems to be sticking to me head and throat so I haven't felt the effects much in training. I did back things off a bit more than planned the last few days to help give my body a bit more energy to fight off the cold. There have also been a few added stresses from other parts of life that have definitely sapped some of my energy. Some of that has been taken care off so hopefully I can maintain my energy and focus going into the next 16 day phase.


I am really looking forward to tomorrows long run. It will be interesting to see how I feel running after a little rest.



Oh ya Hawaii is today. Best of luck to Mike Neill. Hopefully some day I will get to know how it feels to race on the Big Island.

Sub 6

Well it seems that something has changed with my running this last week. Mark and Gordo's advice on keeping it long and slow is working so far. With the exception of a few hills, all of my runs have been under 6min pace and sub 155HR (base zone). I am trying to get a little stronger running when things kick upward and so I am letting my HR creep up a bit when the incline does but keeping it under 165.

Despite not always being rested I have been able to get through each session with out too much difficulty. Usually the long ride of the week is the toughest. This is most likely due to weights Friday night followed by ride Saturday Morning, Long Run Sunday Morning then Long Ride. The legs are always pretty tired come Monday morning but that doesn't stop me from turning the cranks. In a week or two I think I might try and cap the amount I am lifting in the gym for a week or two and see how that effects my long rides.

This was the big turkey weekend and I managed to eat normally which is great. It is so easy to go overboard when you sit down in front of a big pile of tasty food. I did indulge in a second serving of carrot cake though. My father in law made it but thats not the reason I had a second piece. It was moist and just melted in your mouth. I almost snuck a third piece while no one was looking.

The next five days are recovery. With the exception of my long swim on Thursday I am just going to try and go through the motions and not exert myself too much. I am going to reduce the weights in the gym as well. Things are progressing well and it is smarter to back off and absorb what I have done the last two weeks then to push it.

Recovery Points

It is the most important and most often forgotten part of most training plans.

I am kicking myself right now because I am starting to feel warn down and really shouldn't be with the amount of work I am doing. A little fatigue is expected but last night I was bagged and had to drag myself to the gym. So as I lay in bed this morning trying to squeeze in a few more Zs I realized that I had dropped the ball on my recovery.

I have decided to try and implement something SQW and his buddies are doing out west. I read about it in one of his blog posts a while back but just never got around to implementing it.

The idea "Recovery Points".
The following list of activities will each have a Recovery Point Score.

Massage 3 Points
The Stick 1 Point
TP Massage 1 Point
Regen Exer. 1 Point
MP Exer. 1 Point
Cold Shower 1 Point
Sauna 1 Point
Hot Tub 1 Point

The goal for each day is to accumulate a score of 3 or greater.

The other element of this will be getting 8 hours of sleep every night. I am not great at napping unless I am totally exhausted and I can't afford to get to that point. So 8 hours a night will be the goal.

I am amazed that I haven't already implemented this as I am regularly telling customers that all there improvements come not from there training but from the recovery afterward.

Todays score so far 1 Point for The Stick.

17 C Partly Cloudy Wind S 26km/hr

What more inspiration than the nice weather could you want this time of year. Sunny warm and dry. I don't know if what we are getting in the way weather is normal or not but I am not about to start complaining. It is simply a treat to be able to be riding in just a jersey and bibs this time a year. I even spent half of yesterday's run with my shirt off.
All in all last weeks training was great. The pool was closed on Tuesday so I missed that swim and also decided to skip the gym that night since my upper body has been pretty tired. To make up for it I did two unscheduled runs Tues night and Wed morning. I don't know if that made the difference or not but I had a bit of a breakthrough on Sun on my run. I got out for 50min with most of it under 150 HR and managed sub 6min/km. All you runners out there please don't laugh too hard because this is a big deal for me. 2006 in Placid I went 4:13:57 9:42/mile which is 6:01/km. To already be at this pace and HR this early in the year I think I am on track to really improve on the run portion of the IM. I do have a goal time in mind for all three events but am not ready to make it public yet. Lets just leave it at I want to go faster and feel a lot better while doing it. I learned the last time around that so much can happen when spending 9-12 months preparing for a race that it is best not to look too far ahead.
My diet has been solid. Other than a couple little treats this week I didn't cheat at all. Chocolate doesn't count by the way.
I am really enjoying eating healthy. I have always been better than average but have had a habit of indulging a little too often in the sweets. This new move to avoiding refined sugar and non complex carbs seems to be having a big impact on my body composition and my overall energy levels.
My weight is still creeping down ever so slowly which is what I want and what I expect. With the addition of weight training this year I should be carrying a little more muscle mass than in the past. So instead of simply watching the scale, which can drive you nuts, I am also watching my waistline.
Time to go Ride!