Hot water and track work

The pool was lava hot on Monday. There had been a pool party Friday night movie – I think they showed Pretty in Pink (breast cancer awareness) in the natatorium. They must have bumped the temperature of the water – it was 88 degrees on Monday morning at 5:30AM. It was just too hot. We still got a good session in but we did not push it.


At lunch I failed again and let play get in the way. Racquet ball took play twice this week – and it is only Tuesday. I have decided that this game is truly getting in the way. Although it is not super taxing it does nothing for speed. However, it is enough actively to negatively impact my recovery. Damn. So I played Monday at lunch and got beat – all games. I then play a couple of games on Tuesday – I won the first and got beat the next two. I did cut it short and hit the weights for a good number of upper body exercises.

After work I met up with several of the Pine belt Pacers for Tuesday track work. This is really what I need. Since I am tapering for my half marathon race this weekend I need to drop the volume (if that is possible) and keep the intensity up. We ran 5 800’s. This pace was comfortable for me so I sprinted the last 100 yards of each. However, we also did 8 200’s. This is shorter and faster than almost anything that I run. It was very challenging. I did end up being very consistent. The first was 28 seconds and all other except for the second to the last were 37. The second from the last was 36 seconds.

The packing is just about done. I am on the fence about bringing my cycling shoes and pedals. I just don’t know the availability of bicycles in Australia. I really would enjoy going on some rides. I would love to see the Sydney on foot and the outlying areas by bike!

My stuff on the left - stuff for my sister on the right.

FTP, Speed work and abs

I really enjoyed the BQ dialog in the comments.  I wonder - would the race fill just as fast regardless of the qualifying times?  I bet there are 25,000 people that could qualify at almost any time.  How many people qualify for the New York City Marathon?

I was exhausted after the weekend. 4:30AM Monday morning felt like it came early. I woke up in time for Adult Swim but I 86’d the session. I just don’t think I could have mustered a good performance. I got an extra 2 hours of sleep. I did not regret this decision.


At lunch I did jump in the pool. I did a warm up and cool down but in between I did 5 x 200 yards at a hard effort. I was trying to see if I was indeed faster than before. I thought back to my first 200 yard time trial – damn I smoked that thing. I remember that Raland was in the next lane and I was trying as hard as I could. Well, I was not able to beat that 2:44 from the very first time trial. I had a couple in the high 2:40’s and all were under 3:00 but I did not beat the initial swim time trial. Fitness wise I would say that I have progressed – I mean I was able to complete 5 efforts at close to my maximum but I did not edge the time lower.

After the swim I headed upstairs for a strength training session. I don’t think I have hit the weights since the Pump and Run (if you remember I was on the bench press a couple of times a week). I did not have a format but I have always loved chin ups (palms facing towards you). I remember when I was heaver and I could not even do one. The exercise was a challenge but I enjoyed the fact that you could do more and more whether you got stronger or lost weight. I still like the exercise. Anyway, I did 7 or 8 sets of chin ups – each to failure. I then played around with some machine rows and other such back work.

Pump and Run

Monday night was another get together – I went to the monthly Poker Night. There was homemade lasagna and garlic bread and leftovers from the runner club meeting. I lost a couple of dollars and had a lot of fun.

I started anew on the training front for Tuesday. I woke up early and jumped on the trainer. I dialed in a single 20 minute effort at 10 watts higher than my previous best. I killed it like it was standing still. It was no problem. The effort was solid.

At lunch I planned on doing some intervals. It has been a couple of months since I have done structured speed work. I dragged Chad out with me to the trace. We dialed in 12 x quarter miles with 1:30 rest. All efforts should be at 1:30 (6 minutes per mile pace). This was achieved with several efforts in the low 1:20’s (like 1:21). The weather was cooler and the session was solid. I am not sure how we did these things when the temperature was 20 degrees warmer.

All Tuesday night my arms and abs and lats were killing me from the chin ups. I expected the lats to burn and even the arms to ache a little bit – but the abs? I know that we use our stabilized muscles all the time and especially in something like a chin up. However, I was surprised at the abdominal workout. I mean I am pretty damn active with the run, bike, swim and all the other stuff. I can’t believe that my abdominal strength deteriorated so easily without dedicated core workouts.

Heavy breathing in the morning

I was reluctant to get out of bed for Friday’s Master’s Swim. Four thirty in the morning still comes by awfully early. I was not the only one having trouble. Everyone at the Friday session got their own lane. Now, normally in Friday we do a lot of drills and stuff. This session proved different. We got one of the hardest workouts yet. The main set consisted of 3 x 10 x 50 on 1:15 with 60 recovery.


Does that make sense? The main set consisted of 10 x 50 on 1:15 repeated 3 times with 1 minute rest between each group of 10. These were done at an all out pace – there would be 30 50’s all out (Coach Steve put me on 38 – 39).

The first 50 I did in the high 36’s. That would not be sustainable. I recovered with the 30 seconds rest and repeated the effort. Next was about 37 seconds and then they settled into the appropriate range. This was a demanding workout. At one put Coach Steve remarked on the panting that was taking place in the pool. He said, ‘I love the sound of respiration in the morning.’ This was an obvious reference to Apocalypse Now. I replied, ‘It smells like VICTORY!’ Yep – I will use this in the future.

The campus was closed to students for Fall Break and we were having a Fall Festival in my IT department. I am on the committee that helped to organize the event. We had a couple of games of flag football. Late in the day we played a lot of Bocce and threw the Frisbee around. I also got an hour of racquet ball in – there was not any run training but a lot of game playing.

I ended up not getting home from work until 1 AM – I was at campus from 5:30AM – 1AM. It was a long day. I woke up just in time to get dressed for the Sunday group ride. There was a good group of us and we did an easy 35 miles. After the ride I took a warm bath (I was cold) and then took a nap. We went to a friend’s house later that night for good food and drink. I had too much of both. This was another late night.

On Sunday I had planned a hard 12 mile run with 10 miles of the run fast. I headed out for the run at 10AM. I ran the first easy mile without trouble. When I went to pick up the pace I could not bring it. I was off of my paces. After half a mile trying to sort out the speed I turned around. It took me about another mile to screw my head back on straight. I decided to jump off of the trace and onto a trail. I was going to salvage the run. Although I did not meet my initial goals I did not shut it down. I ended up with 6 miles of trail running. I was able to turn the corner and turn a negative into a positive.

Sunday afternoon I had a meeting with the running club. I met up with Charles on the trace and we rode our bikes the 12 miles to the meeting. There was, once again, more good food and drink. However, this time I did not over indulge with the drink.

It was a busy fun weekend but now it is time to get back on diet and more diligent on the training.


UPDATE:  Boston Bound! 
Boston Athletic Association
Dear James:
Your entry for the 115th Boston Marathon has been received, and your spot in the race has now been reserved, pending verification of your entry and qualifying information.

Don't hold your breath for Adult Swim

Adult swim was demanding on Monday morning. We were all tired and a little beat up from the weekend. We did our warm ups and a little bit of drilling and then we jumped into the main set.

The main set consisted of 2 x (4 x 150 pink with 15 rest / 8 x 50 purple with 30 rest). If you remember the intensities are the color of your face – white, pink, red and purple. For me the 150’s were to be on 2:26 (I would round the recovery up) and the 50’s on 40 (I would round the recovery down – 20 seconds).

All of the 150’s were a little bit fast – maybe 10 seconds fast. This longer part of the set was no problem at all. I seem to be able to nail the longer lower intensity stuff. I catch myself having to slow it down. But as soon as we started the 8 x 50 – that is where it got hard. I struggle with the high intensity stuff. It becomes somewhat of a breathing issue. I kind of hold my breath and then force it out all at once – I get into an oxygen deficit. Anyway, on the second set of these Coach Steve noticed my stroke count creeping up – I have been trying to hold 17-18 strokes. If I slow it way down I can get 15 strokes. But on some of these 50’s when I was working really hard to hold time Coach Steve said I was spinning my arms at 23 strokes per 50 yards. Wow – that stroke count to creep up and fast.

When we were done with the main set we did some cool down repeats of 200 yards. Since I have been having trouble with taking breaths every 3 strokes (much less every 5 strokes) Butch threw down a challenge to see if we could swim the length of the pool under water. He said it would be good for us. Yeah right. Well, Butch was a natural. He was able to swim the length with seemingly little difficulty. I got about ¾ of the way the first time. The second attempt was no better. On the third attempt I was going to make it hell or high water. I swam along the bottom of the pool and then when the pool got deep I kept going down. The way I looked at it was I would not be able to come up quickly and if I kept my trajectory then I should be able to make the distance. My lungs were burning and hurting and I might have had just a little bit of panic but I was able to complete the task. I embraced the panic. The fourth attempt was just that – I gave up mentally and swam about half a length.

Back in the swim of things

It was not easy getting up for Adult Swim. I skipped all of the sessions last seek. Yes I was feeling under the weather but waking at 4:30AM and leaving the house by 5:00AM is damn hard. I do value my sleep. It is important to me. I go to bed early and I get up early. But out of the house by 5:00AM is damn hard.


The night before, I scripted out a meal plan for the week. I like to prepare most of my meals ahead of time. For one, it is more efficient to make 5 salads than one salad each day. But even more important if the meals are already prepared then you are more likely to eat health. It is much easier for me to make meal decisions in advance then when I am starving (although I do try to never be starving – that is just asking for disaster).

You see I have been getting off of my schedule and although everything is working during the day the eating has broken down at night. It was time to nip this in the bud. I am trying to cut out some of the grains that I have been eating. I would like to add more fruits and vegetables. I am still going to eat my oatmeal for breakfast but I am going to stop making oatmeal my go to meal. You see I like to add peanut butter to my oatmeal and it is simply delicious. I could eat it every meal. There is nothing wrong with this meal but it does not have the best mix of nutrients.

So I scripted out my meals and packed my foods for a few days. I also gathered up work clothes so that I could bike in for a few days. I only had to gather my stuff and leave the house. When I prepare for the coming day it is much easier.

Not me - Dara Torres

I was in the car by 5:00AM and made it to Adult Swim with plenty of time. I was awake but still tired. We did an easy warm up of 300 yards and then we started the main set.

3 times (3 x 50 pink, 2 x 100 pink, 1 x 150 red) all with 15 recovery.

If you remember the color chart of intensity is the color of your face (white, pink, red, purple). My times were basically 44 seconds for each 50 and doubled for the 100’s and tripled for the 150’s. For better or worse I was aiming at 45 seconds so that I could work the clock. As intervals should be the first set was comfortably hard. The next two sets were much harder. I was able to hold the 50’s but the 100’s crept up a few seconds. And the 150’s – well they crept up even more – probably about 10 seconds over.

After this working set we started doing drills. I do not mind the drill work at all. I believe that this is where my speed will come from – body position and form. After a couple hundred of drills we did 25 yard sprints trying to not breathe. I have trouble in this area. Several people were able to go the entire length without breathing but I had to grab a breath in the middle. Coach Steve timed up each length and I am slower in the short distance stuff. I think it is because I have absolutely no kick whatsoever. The total workout was around 2500 yards. When the swim session was over I was sure glad that I had made it – of course that is with every workout session.

Oh, by the way – I am ordering some new bibs. The ones with the hole are trainer only.

Bigfoot on the trace?

I woke up just prior to the alarm. The alarm was set for 4:30AM. I have to leave the house by 5:00AM to make it to Adult Swim on time (regardless of driving or biking). I try to bike as often as possible and especially on Wednesday’s – I like to do the bike ride after work. I made my way to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and turned off the alarm on my ironman watch just in time.

I loaded up my backpack which has become more like a purse. I put everything imaginable in this thing. It weighs a ton. So I was drinking a couple of coffee and getting dressed in my office and cramming more and more stuff into the bag. I had my watches, my clothes for the day, my swimsuit, my goggles, my wallet, my cell phone, a towel, flip flops, keys, sunglasses, MP3 player and then I decided that I needed a pair of shorts. I don’t like to wear pants on the bike from the gym to my office (about a quarter mile) because I can get grease on my pants. I went back into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of sleep shorts from my closet.

I headed out the door into the early morning darkness. I turned the headlight on and pushed play on the MP3 player. I have started to enjoy these dark rides. There is almost no one on the trace at 5:00AM. There is one older couple that walks on the trace with bright flash lights but mostly it is rabbits and opossums.

I was cruising along at an easy rate through the darkness. Previously I had seen a bat take some flying insects down that were attracted to my headlight. It was pretty neat to watch.

Then something hit me up on the left side of my head. It was not something small like a bug or stone or anything – it was like a slap to the face. My first thought was that I had just been attacked by Bigfoot or something. The slap was not hard at all but it stunned me. It was like when you hand brushes something in the lake. I took notice. I immediately turned my head and starred into the darkness. Of course I could see nothing – it was pitch black.

I then thought that it might have been a bat. That shocked me. I was more careful as I continued my ride. When I got to the natatorium I noticed that my back pack was not even zipped. I was half asleep when I left the house. I did a quick inventory of the contents and thankfully nothing was missing except for the sleep shorts. I guess they had worked themselves loose and flew up and hit me on the side of the head. Or did a Bigfoot grab at me and open the pack and dislodge the shorts. We will never know.

Adult swim was challenging again. I am pretty good with the longer stuff (150 yards) but swimming fast 50’s is eating me alive (10 x 50 @ 40 seconds on the 60 - I best I could hold was 42 - 43 seconds). I just can’t hold the fast pace right now – lots of stuff to work on.

Later in the day Jodie went for a run on the trace and she thought that she saw my sleep shorts but wondered to herself why would they be out on the trace. I am going to try and locate them on my ride home.

UPDATE:  Oh yeah, the ‘prickly heat’ is getting better. It is really not visible but I sure can feel it.   After the shower I have been loading up with the baby powder. I have been going into a corner at the gym locker room and basically throwing up a cloud of the white stuff and dancing around naked. It pretty much covers every inch of my body. I have gotten a few stares but I don’t think they can see much due to the smoke screen. Also, I don’t know if the chlorine from the pool is good for the skin but the cool water is very soothing.

Master's Swim at 3 weeks.

I just wrapped up the third week of Master’s Swim (or affectionately known as Adult Swim). The last two sessions have been workouts. That is just what I need to increase my swim proficiency. Every swim workout has a purpose – that is so much better than just showing up or putting together a last minute workout. I have never given swimming the priority that it needs. In addition, having 10 other people in the pool makes the sets fly by.


Late last week we did a 200 yard time trial at all out pace. I came in huffing and puffing at 2:44. This time would be used to set the paces for all future swims. I have done this in running and believe in the philosophy. However, in swimming I have always been a one speed pony. If I wanted to swim faster I just swam my normal rate and picked it up for the last lap or two – no matter the distance. I am starting to learn my paces.

Today was a ladder at the white level. Coach Steve said that he uses 4 levels – white, pink, red and purple. Those colors correlate to the color of your face when you finish the set. Today was at the lower white intensity. Still, with the accumulating fatigue it got very challenging.

The ladder consisted of the following (x2) with 15 seconds recovery:

4 x 50 on 0:45
3 x 100 on 1:39
2 x 150 on 2:44
1 x 200 on 3:20

The first round through was not too bad. But by the time I got to the 150’s the second time around my back was burning. I took that as a positive sign that I was swimming better.

Once we knocked out those 1800 yards we had a little more time. The next sets consisted of 10 x 50 on 40.6 (yeah point 6) on 60 (15 seconds rest). I was able to maintain for about 3 reps and then my stroke count started to climb. My time started to climb. Coach Steve noticed this and gave me another 15 seconds recovery on the set. It still very is demanding.

That was the best swim workout that I have had this year. I am loving the Adult Swim.

Master's Swim - First session

RANT ON -



Some people in our little blog-o-sphere have been talking about not having flats HERE. And then someone else started talking about that someone not having flats - HERE. And then that first person replied about the not having flats - HERE.


Well, it just happens that I have not had a flat in a frick’n year!!! That is thousands of miles spread out over a road bike, a triathlon bike and a newly acquired mountain bike. But once the bad mojo starts flowing – well – I had a flat on Sunday leaving my house. Actually it must have been a very slow leak so I was able to turn around quickly and change out the tube at home and still make the ride. Then I ran into Raland, Ben and Steve going to the ride. Raland had just had a blow out – he had to boot the tire with a power bar wrapper and Steve had also flatted. Long story short -if you are lucky enough to roll for thousands of miles without an incident then keep it to yourself.


And regarding the mojo - it is like Fight Club - KEEP IT TO YOURSELF.


Oh and by the way - in my fight club, the First Rule of Fight Club is - you had better bring refreshments.


RANT OFF

Master’s Swim kicked off great on Monday morning. There were 10 of us bright eyed and bushy tailed. There was Chris, Raland and Butch who I ride with and Susan and Laura who I run with and a couple of other people that I kind of know. Coach Steve took us back to basics and left nothing for granted. We did a lot of drills involving position and stroke mechanics. I was very pleased to see that Coach Steve’s philosophy is very close to mine. It is the shape, form and hydrodynamics that make the swimmer. Once you have those components down then it is easy to apply the speed. Much like all coaching, just having someone watch and tell you when you are doing something wrong is so valuable. Not to mention them telling you when you are doing something right. So, I have been practice many of the techniques that we went over in the session but without the feedback my progress has been so very slow. I am now excited about getting back into the pool and making some REAL progress.

If this sounds exciting to you there are still spaces left on the Master’s Swim squad at USM. We are meeting Monday / Wednesday / Friday from 5:30AM – 7:00AM. For more information contact the Aquatics Coordinator Jessi Hobart at - Jessica dot Hobart AT usm dot edu . If you are human you should be able to figure that out.

Contest 02: GU Sampler Giveaway WINNER

Last Monday I had a poker game at my house. Just a couple of guys from the running club. Nothing high stakes or anything. But I was left with a lot more quarters at the end of the night than what I had started with. So, having all of this extra currency sitting around got me to thinking of a creative way to pick the winner of the Potted Plant O’GU. I saw that I had 23 comments on the post and I used a sharpie marker to tag 23 quarters. Now, there were a lot more than 23 quarters to select from (I mean a whole lot more – a special thank you to Jim and Charles for making the selection process possible). Not to beat a dead horse but there could have been so many more entries – I had the quarters!

Potted Plant o'GU

I wrote a number on the head side of the 23 quarters and then threw them into a pan. If the quarter landed head side up you went to the next round. If tail you were eliminated. During the process I realized that there could easily be a tie. So I decided that in the event of a tie the last throw would be repeated. Just for the record there were no ties.

23 marked quarters

1st toss

2nd toss

3rd toss

We have a WINNER - NUMBER 17

Now, I hope that I don’t catch grief for this but the winning number (quarter) was 17. And quarters do not lie.  But, that just happens to be one on my riding buddies – Raland. If you follow the blog you will noticed that I have mentioned him before. Most recently while riding Red Bluff and he was combating some kind of Montezuma's revenge – the real kind Mexico. Well, dehydration, hills and 100 degree heat index don’t mix. Raland found out the hard way.

It will be Raland's responcibility to determine just what flavor this GU is:

New flavor?

Now on to the Master’s Swim front. Honestly, I have some anxiety. The pool has been closed for the last week so I did not even get a chance to brush up on my lack of swim fitness. I have been calling this the clean the house up before the maid comes over plan. And I have been unsuccessful. Going from zero to Master’s Swim ( 1.5 hours x 3 times per week) will be an eye opener. Like I said, there is some anxiety but I am also excited. I will let you know how it goes.

Also, I have really enjoyed the new blogs that I have found.  Everyone that has a blog and commented on the post - I have read your blog and probably started following you!  I had a lot of good reads this weekend while it was raining.  Thanks!

Running, Biking, Master's Swimming?

I have been happy to get back into my routine. The travel is fun but consistency is the key. I got back on the mountain bike and the road bike over the weekend.

It looks like a garmin ad - but these are our mountain bike trails!

I also won a cool camera from Jason at Tech-Tri! Jason had a contest and he asked for ideas regarding his taper.  He gave me and a couple other people extra entries for the plans.  I got lucky and won the camera!  I hope some of my suggestions help Jason meet his goals at the Rhode Island 70.3!  Jason is also raising money for make a wish - click here to help out.

Also, make sure you check out his blog and cheer him on!  Last week he did a brick consisting of a 3 hour ride followed by a 2 hour run - I am sure he is going to ROCK IT!

Cool camera from http://tech-tri.blogspot.com/

Speaking of contest - I have added a gadget on my sidebar to list some of the current giveaways! Check it out. 

The Tuesday / Thursday morning group ride has been powerful. This has been a lot of fun. Unfortunately the Wednesday ride (I mean race) was cancelled due to the rain. Also, trace intervals started back up on Thursday. We mixed it up a little bit – 6 x ¼ miles, 2 x ½ mile and then 4 x 200 concentrating on high leg speed. The rain started just as we finished up. We were already soaked from the solid workout!

I also got back in the pool for two really good sessions.  I have been working on breath control.  I hate doing this but I am seeing progress.  Not faster but the same speed with less effort - that is solid improvement!

Speaking of the swim, I recently met the new aquatics coordinator at the Payne Center. This is the fitness center here on campus. This is my base camp. If I did not have this facility I could not run or ride into work. Having a locker to store my work close is fantastic. However, it has made me reluctant to join the master’s swim team at the YMCA. You see, I know that I would benefit from the undertaking but I dread the idea of getting in the car and driving across town.  The coach at the YMCA has a great reputation.

So, I met Jessi Hobart, the new aquatics coordinator at the Payne Center. She recently contacted the running club inquiring about places to ride. We spoke a couple of times on the phone and she has made it out to several of the group rides – she even took a spill last weekend. It happens to the best of them.  A couple of weeks ago I mentioned to her how a master’s swim team would be great on campus.

Well, she did a whole lot of leg work and it looks like it will happen in the fall. This is all unofficial – I am not a decision maker - but it looks like the swim coach at the YMCA will be able to conduct the master’s swim sessions at the Payne Center -  Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings! The travel to the YMCA has been my only hold out to joining the master’s swim team. I know that my swim CAN and WILL improve with direct coaching and competition!

These are preliminary numbers but we need to have 13 people commit to the sessions to keep the cost reasonable ($150 a semester). If we get more people - the cost is even less. I think I know about 8 people already. Let me know if you are interested and I can get you more information.  I bet we can get a great team going!