4th of July Training

We went to the family lakehouse at Lake Kiowa, close to Gainesville on the Texas/Oklahoma border, for the 4th of July.  I got up early and intended to have someone follow me in one of the SeaDoo's for my lake swim.  The batteries were toast so I ventured off on my own.  I planned on getting about 45 minutes in which is exactly how it worked out.  I tried to stay close to the shore line and put on my neon orange swim cap.  No problems and I felt good the whole way.  While I don't know the distance for sure, I would have to think it was at least half iron man length.  Went back up the house after the swim, made a trip to Gainesville to buy new batteries, and then ate some breakfast.  Since I had to wait for the batteries to charge, I went ahead with the scheduled bike/run brick.  The goal was 90 minutes on the bike followed by a brief 15 minute run to aclimate the legs to running off the bike.  I started around noon so it was really hot.  One loop around the lake took approximately 30 minutes.  Perfect, I made three loops and pulled in to put my running shoes on.  Consumed one bottle of water and one bottle of Accelerade on the bike.  Triberry gels every 30 minutes.  I took a plastic bottle of water with me for the 15 minute run.  Timed the run perfectly.  At 7:30 I turned around and hit the door of the house at exactly 15 minutes.  Fueling was good.  Never felt dehydrated.  I also took an Shark Salt for the bike ride as well and one before the run.  We went to eat lunch and then fired up the SeaDoo's.  I was really tired this morning.  I did not run my 6 mile planned run today.  I will see how I feel this evening.  Yesterday, took alot out of me.  It was basically a small triathlon.  I can't stand going off plan so I will probably do some kind of run tonight.

Track Ladder 7.3.12

Plan today called for a track ladder run.  Not particularly long but high intensity.  One mile warm up followed by 400, 800, 1200, 800, 400 at 5k pacing.  The 400s were to be slightly faster.  Workout ended with a one mile cool down.  Just missed the Dallas Athletes rush at the middle school this morning so the track was almost empty.  My legs still felt a little heavy today and I was worried about fatigue today.  I have been going pretty hard for at least 9-10 days straight. 

Warm Up Mile:  9:51
400:  7:53 pace  slower than expected (7:40 range expected)
800:  8:03 pace  slower than expected (7:50 range expected)
1200:  8:08 pace slower than expected (7:50 range expected, really started to fell tired on this one)
800:  8:12 pace slower than expected (7:50 range expected, fading fast)
400:  7:38 pace on target (7:40 range expected)
Cool down mile:  9:59

I did not hit target today but considering how far I have come in the past few months, I'm not going to be too upset.  I know the workouts have been tough for the past week.  Tomorrow is the 4th and we are going to the lake.  I am going to attempt to ride the bike there and swim in the lake, if possible.  It is pretty busy on the 4th so swimming may not happen tomorrow.

Lap Swim Workout 7.2.12

Monday is a day off for my legs.  I only swim on Mondays and typically swim in the morning.  Today was no different.  I got to the pool about 6:30am.  My swim workout was 2500 yards in length and lasted about 65 minutes.  A new drill was introduced today.  The catch up drill with a stick.  I couldn't find a stick so I used a tennis ball.  I don't think it matters as long as you have something to hand off from one hand to the next.  It felt really weird with the hand off.  I did 6 sets of 50 yards with the ball.  The rest of the workout was the usual combination of stuff.  There was alot of kickboard work early and my legs are feeling a little heavy after the workout.  The women in the lane next to me must have had a garlic laden meal last night.  You could smell it coming from her lane.  Definitely incentive to keep on moving along.  It's getting pretty busy at the pool these day.  Maybe it's the Olympics that are coming and people are seeing it on TV.  I don't know.  I don't want to resort to the 5am swim.  I really hate early mornings.

Trail Run 7.1.12

Today, I went for a trail run on the northshore trail with two friends, Joe and Rich.  The northshore trail is very technical with a lot of ups and downs to traverse.  I believe this has improved my running and fitness quite a bit over the past few months.  We usually leave from Joe's house which is about a mile from the trail head at the western edge of the trail.  I felt really good today.  No problems with the groin from the tweak I felt yesterday on the bike.  Probably should have had one more gel with me.  Had a bottle of my Endurox R4 when I finished and we jumped in Rich's pool.  Felt great.  We ran for about 1:27 which is about 17 minutes more than the plan for today but I think thats ok.  I will wait for my plan from Jeff for the week.  It is another build week coming so I hope the extra run time today doesn't come back to bite me later this week.

Training 6.29.12 and 6.30.12

6.29:  Yesterday morning, I swam my 2200 workout in about 51 minutes.  It included alot of speed work with longer rests.  I felt good and my fast 100s were in the 1:40 range.  I have changed my stroke some based on some reading and instructional video.  Seems to be working and I am more efficient in the water.  After work, I did an easy 40 minute ride followed by a 20 minute easy run.  I didn't know how this would affect my long ride on 6.30 (Saturday).  My running miles were about 9:30 miles and seemed effortless.  I remember last year when a 9:30 mile was alot work.  I have come a long way in a year.

6.30:  My friend Justin went out with me this morning for the first half of my bike ride this morning.  I covered a little over 50 miles in a little over 3 hours.  I felt a tweak in my groin about 30 miles in and really didn't push my pace.  I was supposed to push my pace for 5 minute intervals this morning but that was kind of lost.  Had Triberry Gels every 30 minutes, a shark salt tab about half way in, one bottle of accelerade and three bottles of water for the 3 hour ride.  Felt good except the groin.  Weather seemed to cooperate and it wasn't too hot.  We started at 6am so we beat most of the heat.  It was good to have Justin around this morning.  It's always great to have someone with you to pass the time.

Primary 2012 Goal - Ironman Austin 70.3

I have decided to crank this up again to gauge my progress.  It is more for my own sanity than for anyone else but any curious people out there are more than welcome to follow along.  This year I have added a coach who helps with my training.  His name is Jeff Bennett and the progress I have made over the past four months with him has been staggering.  Knowing what to do (training and nutrition) and how to do it is a big part of this process.  I set a goal this year to do a half ironman.  That will include a mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13 mile run.  I have almost decided that the goal will be Ironman Austin in late October.  In the mean time, there will be a few sprints and Olympic distance races along the way.  I just finished a Sprint at Benbrook lake and plan an Olympic distance in Waco on July 22 (Tri Waco).  It will be my first Olympic for the year and the first long open water swim.  Last year, I did the US Open Olympic at Lake Ray Hubbard.  I wasn't overly prepared for the swimming and was not comfortable at all with the distance.  Most every race I do this year will include open water swimming to gain some confidence back.  With Jeff's help, all three disciplines are much improved.  I have improved my bike average about 3 miles an hour to the 19-20 range and my runs are down to around 8 minute miles from 9-10 minute miles last year.  It will be an interesting ride.  Pulling the trigger to actually make the commitment and register for the half is looming over me.  Once that is done, there is no going back.  I will have to make that call in the next few weeks.  At the end of last year, I totaled up my distance for training.  In 2011, I covered 85,111 yards or 48.63 miles in the water, biked 2,366 miles and ran 361.54 miles.  I set a goal, before I met Jeff, to cover 144,000 yards or 82 miles in the water, 3,600 miles on the bike and 500 miles running.  I thought this was aggressive.  As of this entry, through June 28, I have swam 130,495, biked 1,494.72 miles and run 411.97.  I was obviously way off on what I needed to do.  Having a coach and a plan gives me two important training incentives.  First, I know he wants me to do well and I feel like I am letting someone else down if I don't follow the plan.  I know this is not the case but I want to do well for him and it's just how my mind works.  I realize not everyone works like this.  Second, I have a good plan and the gains in speed are coming quicker due to his knowledge of how to prepare your body.  I could have never got this far without his knowledge and help.  For anyone wanting to do something like this, I think finding someone to guide you along the way is of the utmost importance.  We will see how it goes from here

6.28.12 Tempo Run

Today, I was supposed to run about 6 miles at a variety of speeds.  Tuesday night, I had to work all night.  When I got home about 7am, I was able to get in the bike and swim workouts during the day.  I was really tired and overslept slightly.  I only had time to do 4 miles this morning at a more intense pace.  I did a mile warm up at around 9:45, a 5k pace mile at 7:52, a 10k pace mile at 8:24, and a cool down mile at 9:22.  I remember when running a 9-10 minute range mile was really hard work.  Thursday's, by the way, are the worst day of the week for me and traditionally a little slow.  My body is recovering from the work done all week and I usually struggle running on Thursday.  I probably would have had the same issues today had I done the full 6 miles.  Tomorrow I am doing all three (swim/bike/run).  Interested to see how this affect my 3-4 hour bike ride on Saturday.