2.28.14 Thursday Run and Friday Swim

The weather was cold again on Thursday morning so I waited until after work to run.  I'm over winter big time at this point.  Time for Spring please.  My run was a normal tempo run.  One mile warm up and cool down with the middle four miles at mid zone 3.  I updated my zones slightly for the run.  My HR monitor must be running low on battery life.  The first 15 minutes were way off and didn't normalize until somewhere in the second mile.  I ran strictly by HR zone after that and completely ignored speed.  My legs were tired after the double on Wednesday.  The swim this morning was the same.  Due to the late run, my legs were a little tired for the swim.  I had some kick board and fin work in the swim today.  After 15 minutes or so, it was good but I was tired after the fact.  Thanks to the weather, this "recovery week" may be one of my more productive weeks this month.  The build plan comes on Monday.  I'm sure it's about time to start edging up the mileage.

2.26.14 Recovery Week

This week is a recovery week prior to another build cycle.  Seems like I am making out good on the plan after a light weekend.  I was in Minnesota visiting my daughter and had to run one day on the treadmill at the hotel and obviously couldn't ride my bike.  Treadmills are the devils instrument.  I missed a few days of workouts and got back on schedule Monday.  The weather was brutal on the frozen tundra and I'm glad to be back.  Seems like the weather followed me a little bit but no negative temps in Dallas.  Track workout on Tuesday was supposed to be easy.  Jeff doesn't ever seem to give me anything easy.  2 mile warm up, 800 at 5k pace, 1600 at 10k pace, 800 with first 400 at 5k pace and the last 400 as fast as possible, followed by a mile cool down.  Each interval had a 400 recovery in between so a total of six miles.  My 800s were in the 7:40 pace range and the mile was about 8:20.  Weather was rain with wind chill in the low 30s.  Not great.  Feeling good about my speed work at the present time.  Swam on Monday and today.  Strange mix in the swim sets today but that keeps it interesting.  Underwater kick with fins for 25 yards.  I made it end to end on two of the four.  Hopefully, the weather starts turning in March.  I have officially had it with winter.

2.19.14 Wednesday Double

Work called at 5am with some issues so I didn't get to swim this morning.  I was hoping to get that out of the way and do the hour on the trainer at the CAC and get home early.  Sometimes you have to be flexible.  I have been doing trainer sessions on Wednesday with Shelby so I did that again today.  Good work.  My swim was 2400 yards and I was able to knock that out in an hour.  The swims are getting a little longer.  The soreness is gone from my legs so I'm feeling good again.

2.18.14 Track Run

I got a fairly tough track workout from Jeff for today.  It's a ladder.  400, 800, 1200, 1600, 2000 at 5k pace and the laps need to stay within 3 seconds of each other.  I get a 400 recovery between intervals with a mile warm up and cool down.  Total of about 7 miles altogether.  Up to the 1200, it wasn't too tough but the 1600 and 2000 were rough.  My times were very consistent and I actually got faster until the 2000.  I had the track to myself today.  The gate was locked so I had to hop the fence but I love the track in Lewisville.  Still sore from the trail run debacle but I'm starting to get some speed back again.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/447247749

2.17.14 Structured Training Underway

Jeff has been dropping plans on me for the past few weeks.  It's good to have a definitive plan.  The weather has not cooperated at all making some of the days very tough.  This weekend was a 3+ hour bike ride and 90+ minute run.  The wind was blowing about 15+ on the way back to the house so it was a little slow going.  The run was problematic.  I tripped on a rock at Northshore on the downhill and fell on some rocks.  Knee, elbow and hand were bleeding.  I had a fairly large knot on my forearm.  After checking things out, Joe and I ran it in and I got some hydrogen peroxide on my wounds before heading home.  Looks like the weather is changing for the better this week so hopefully the cold stuff is behind us for the year.

2.4.14 Track Run

Not a great day for a run.  It was in the high 30s with a light rain.  I really haven't been doing much speed work over the past few months so this was going to be hard.  My legs were sore from the strength work with Shelby on Monday morning.  It was hard to get going period today.  I was the only person at the track today.  Usually, a few people will show up in bad weather but not today.  I had a warm up mile, 800 at 7:15 pace, 1200 at 7:20 pace, 1600 at 7:30 pace, 800 at 7:15 pace and a cool down mile.  The times would be difficult when I was peaking last September.  I ended up running the 800 at 7:19 pace, the 1200 at 7:43 pace, the 1600 at 7:50 pace, and the 800 at 7:44 pace.  It wasn't a great performance but I'll take it considering the conditions.  I forgot to turn off my Garmin on the way home so I have some very fast miles after leaving the track.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/440439039

2.3.14 Day 1 of Boulder Training

I received my first weekly workout regimen from Jeff yesterday for Boulder.  At this point, not really all that different from half iron distance training.  I'm sure it will be a gradual progression.  Shelby has a boot camp on Monday morning so I did an hour of strength with him and then swam for an hour after.  I got everything knocked out in one shot this morning.  It looks like the workouts are more geared towards endurance and less about shorter speed which makes sense.  My track stuff tomorrow is smaller sets but with longer distance.  Should be interesting.  If the weather would just cooperate and warm up some.