Oh STADIUMS

Sorry I have not been my usual diligent self with my posting. Without a clear cut workout plan I am having trouble. I am not having any trouble working out – just working out with direction. However, to add to that I am having fun with the workouts.

For the past week I have been doing the P90X workouts in the morning. I was actually a fan of the format from the original Power90 series a few years ago. I used the Power90 series of DVD’s for a few months and they were challenging. The Power90 series did get rather monotonous – there are only 2 DVD’s with 4 full workouts plus 2 really short abdominal workouts (about 5 minutes each). I believe the plan was to alternate each of the first two workouts (the series 1 /2 – beginner) for about 6 weeks and then do the same with the last two workouts (the series 3 / 4 advanced) for the last 6 weeks. I am pretty sure that I just jumped into the second series and did those off and on for a couple of months. They were fun to supplement running and outdoor activities when the weather was rough – I lived in the Midwest for a dozen or so years and being from Texas – I did not do well in the winters.

That being said – I started up the original Power90 videos again last week. They were still good just not as fresh – I still like the format. I was going to take it slow since I had not done much strength training for the past 6 – 8 months. I was able to complete the advanced videos. They were challenging but manageable. Unfortunately, manageable means that I would probably get bored with them pretty quick. I found a friend that had the P90X DVD’s (the X stands for Xpensive) and he let me borrow them. Tony Horton looks a lot different in the new series – his hair is much darker, his face is leaner but he looks a little bit like gaunt. I know that he is a little older but he looked better before he went Xtreme.

So this week I started the P90X program. Now, from the get go, I am not following the plan. I am not usually willing to cut out the things that I enjoy for one purpose. I know that I would see better results if I was able to concentrate on one or two objectives – and believe it or not I am working on these goals. I would like to drop some body fat, I would like to put on some lean mass and I would like to get faster at endurance based activities (racing). So with this P90X program I am going to continue to run / bike / swim and probably some fun activities as well.

In one area that I am pretty good at being smart is not letting my ego get in the way in the weight room – and I am continuing this with the videos. I have no problem picking a weight that is appropriate for my strength and my build. So for the first video, which was mostly body weight anyway, I stuck to 20 pound hex dumbbells (I later pulled out some 10’s and 30’s – depending on the exercise). They were using higher weights in the video but they were quick to point out that proper form is more important than weight. They were also very diligent about writing down your weights and reps – something that I used to do religiously but have gotten slack. I am going to pull out a workout log and start charting the progression again. That is something that always used to keep me motivated – I enjoyed seeing the improvement – even if it took weeks to go up just a rep or two. I will keep you guys posted on my progression with the P90X videos – and just to be fair, I think almost all of these video series will produce results if you follow them. I am such a proponent of working the ‘PLAN’ that give me sweating to the oldies and I think I could see results.

The workouts this week involved 4 P90X workouts – Chest and Back, Plyometrics, Shoulders and Arms and Legs and Back. I skipped the YogaX workout – I think that I am too type A for a 90 minute yoga routine in the morning. I think that the workout really could benefit me with coordination and balance but I don’t have the time in the morning during the week and – simply – it put me back to sleep. So on that day I did about 10 minutes of the yoga video and then did two rounds of abdominals – 1 Power90 and 1 P90X. I also skipped the Kenpo (TYBO) workout. I will pick this workout up this weekend because it looks like fun. I will give further, more extensive reviews of each of the workouts once I get the routine established.

On top of the P90X workouts I continued the Tabata treadmills (good, quick, hard workouts) plus the stadium, plus a couple of endurance runs, plus a quick swim.

Regarding the STADIUMS – I really got them dialed in this week. I added a little more time to the recovery (30 seconds) to allow full force for the working set. I programmed my watch for 15 seconds of work followed by 1:45 seconds of recovery. Once again for the first 10 reps this seemed too easy but it got more challenging. I was able to complete each work set with intensity in the 15 seconds – many sets were successful by split seconds. The total amount of work during the 30 minutes was less than last week (or the week before for that matter) but I was able to maintain the intensity. In the weeks prior, doing more reps lead to more work / fatigue but the intensity was not there – I was dragging on the last half of the session. I am not sure which is better but I have always thought that when doing repeats you want to maintain the same intensity throughout the workout – 1). To help prevent injury due to fatigue and bad form and 2). To really push the upper limits of your VO2max. If you are overly fatigued then it may feel like you are giving everything but your speed has dropped off and you limit your adaptation. My bad analogy is like when you are doing the bench press – you go through your workout, then the working sets and then after you are completely spent you decide to do a burnout and try to do as many reps with just the weight of the bar. This is hard – it hurts – but are you really lifting very much weight? Are more muscle fibers really being recruited? Or are you just doing work? Anyway – I am going to try and continue this method for the foreseeable future and try to know a few seconds off of the recovery while trying to keep the intensity.

I will also keep a close eye on recovery – that is something that will dictate success or failure!

P90X adn tabata's

I have officially jumped on the P90X bandwagon. My volume of run / bike / swim has dropped off a bunch but I still want to increase my fitness. I have no illusions about P90X helping with my speed (triathlon or running or swimming) but I do believe that it can help me gain some strength (not necessary muscle mass) and lose some body fat. I have done exercise programs in the past and they can keep me motivated and it helps a lot that I am following a plan. I do so much better when I do not have to think about what I need to do – I tend to overanalyze and this can get me in trouble.

So on Sunday I did day one of the P90X program. I read a lot about it on various forums and the consensus was that it is hard and that I would be sore all of the time. I will admit that it is challenging but I have been doing strength training on and off for a number of years. The first workout involved a lot of pull ups / chin ups and pushups. These are exercises that I really like. I have a bias towards body weight exercises because I am not usually the strongest person around – but pound for pound I can put up a pretty good fight. I also really like body weight exercises because you have two ways to win – either lose a little bit of weight or gain a little bit of strength and you can do more!

Anyway – the first video kicked my butt! It seemed like there were a couple of dozen sets of pull ups. Now when I say I like pull ups and chin ups that does not mean that I can just sit there and crank out 10’s of them. I once challenged myself to do 30 pullups in 3 sets (1 minute rest) – I tried all sorts of combinations 10 – 10 – 10 / 12 – 10 – 8 – it took me a couple of years to reach this goal – today – I’m not sure if I am there…

I’m like only good for around 10 – 12 the first set and then I drop off quickly – this will be a challenging workout for months to come. The pushups were another matter. I can crank out a lot of pushups (50+ if needed) and I have the endurance to keep the reps up – but even this was challenging – just as it should be!

I am going to try and keep doing one of these sessions each morning and still get my cardio in at lunch or at other times. I have continued to do the Tabata intervals on the treadmill – on Monday I successfully did the 8 reps at 12 MPH! It was much harder that the 11 MPH the previous week but it was manageable – I will increase it next week.

On Tuesday I was out of the office all day but I still got the p90X workout in and in during the morning and during the afternoon I ran 4 miles on the treadmill. I did an easy 10 minute warm-up and then increased the pace to just under 7 minutes per mile (6:58) – I kept this up for 2.75 miles and then did a burn out last ¼ mile at 6:00 minutes per mile. It felt good – hard but good. It is still hard for me to imagine running that fast for an entire 5k. My PR at that distance was 19:09 last March – which is a 6:10 pace. I think that I have a long ways to go to get back to that speed.

Transition set up and motor pacing

On Friday I continued with the Power90 DVD workouts. They are already becoming a little bit routine although I do like the strength training portion of them. That was one area that I missed this summer – I just did not have time with all of the other volume.

At lunch I decided to try the Tabata intervals on the treadmill. I warmed up for 10 minutes real easy – 6 MPH – a one mile warm up. Since I normally do not do 20 second sprints with only 10 seconds of recovery I was going to take it easy. I have plenty of time to up the intensity. I do not want an injury that is for sure. So right at the 10 minute mark I cranked the treadmill up to 11 MPH. I can do ¼ mile intervals at 10 MPH (or at least I could the last time I did intervals) so 11 MPH for only 20 seconds should not be too hard. And it was not too hard. I was only doing 8 sets for a total of 4 minutes. I would jump on for the 20 seconds and then jump off of the 10 seconds. They were manageable but I did want to jump off the treadmill at the 20 second mark. I looked at my heart rate results after the fact. I topped out at about 179 beats per minute – nowhere near my max – at least the max that I have seen during 5k races – (192 – 194). I also noticed that the 10 seconds of rest did not allow for my heart rate to recover any. During the 4 minutes my heart rate slowly climbed. There were not any dips like in a traditional set of intervals – 10 seconds is simply not enough time for my heart rate to drop. However, that being said, I think the short rest breaks did allow my heart rate to climb at a much slower rate. If I had been outright for the entire 4 minutes I do not think I would have made it – My heart rate would have gotten out of control. Next week I think I will try the same routine but a little faster – a little harder. – Maybe 12 MPH.

On Saturday a group of us met to ride the Eagleman Triathlon bike course – this is the local race that started up last year. I’m not racing it – I have a class that starts on Saturday – but I wanted to get out and ride the course as well as help set up the transition for next weekend. There was a pretty good group of us at 6:30AM. We were going to ride two loops for a total of about 33 miles. I had invited a friend from campus – Jason – who wanted to get in a little bit of open water swimming – the Eagleman will be his first triathlon. Jason was on a hybrid bike. I decided to hang back and shoot the breeze with Jason while we rode the course. Jason had not been off of the trace much and the hills proved challenging. When we were about done with our first loop the fast guys were starting their second loop. I pulled a u-turn and tried to catch up with them. This was tough. They were riding pretty fast and they had a couple hundred yards on me. I really had to dig deep and maintain a fast pace to get a wheel. All I thought about was that you just need 30 more seconds and then you can coast. I think I said that a couple of times. But finally I caught up with them. It only took a couple of minutes for my heart rate to subside from my hard effort. My heart rate dropped back into a comfortably hard range. I was relieved to have caught up with them. We had a good ride for a few more miles and then Keith took the lead. He created a gap of about 50 feet and no one was going with him. I dug deep and tried to bridge the gap - no one came with me. Keith rounded a corner and I finally caught him. We worked together to create a big enough gap that no one could bridge. To be fair –Keith and I are not racing next weekend – we had nothing to lose. All in all it was a spirited ride and a lot of fun. When we got back at the transition area we did a little baby brick – nothing much, only like 1.5 miles. It was a good pace but nothing spectacular. It was comfortably hard.

After the run a few more people showed up and we spent the next few hours assembling bike racks, putting up temporary fencing, carpeting the swim / bike entrances and trading race stories. The place really started to resemble a triathlon transition! Later, Ben and I drove the bike course and marked the turns. There should be no miss understanding of the course – easy stuff. While we were marking the course Mike L. was riding it. We passed him but he was right of our tail! For a couple of miles we were just in front of Mike and I was driving so that he could motor pace off of us. It was a lot of fun – more fun for me since I was driving I am sure. But there was a nice straight away and Mike was right in my draft doing about 35 MPH. It was pretty cool stuff.

STADIUM intervals

I have continued with the Power 90 - I did the abs-whatever-thing instead of the ab - BOSU- lutly class. The Power 90 abs thing is more like what I do on my own and it is gruelling even though it is only 5 minutes. Next I did the advanced cardio DVD - 40 minute of a ton of leg lifts and kick boxing stuff followed by - damn - the same abs-whatever-thing. I was pretty beat by the end of the session - I would say that this was also comfortably hard. It was manageable. A few more of these and I might need to kick it up a notch.

Last week the STADIUM was tough. IT was hot and the workout was grueling. If you remember, each set involved single steps, double steps and then the bleacher lunges. As many as possible in 30 minutes. I was able to bust out 9 sets (27 times I climbed the stadium). I think about half of the sets were solid. The rest, well the fatigue had set in and it was just hard. I know that when I do intervals on the bike or on the run that I try to make the last sets as strong as the first sets. Keep the intensity up! So, this time at the stadium we mixed it up a bit. I wanted to bring the intensity and keep the intensity. I decided to only run the double steps - they tend to be a good compromise between speed and strength - but give myself a little bit of time to recover so that I could hopefully keep the same pace (intensity). I decided to have each set last 2 minutes.

As soon as we ran up the first set - it only took about 14 or 15 seconds- Chad and Richard thought that 2 minutes was took long (the rest would be 1:45 seconds if we could keep pace). I let them get the best of me and I changed the game plan. Okay, now it was 1:30 per set - and the working sets had now increased from 15 in 30 minutes to 20 in 30 minutes.

The intensity was maintained for a little more than half of the duration. It got hard and I started to drag after the 12th climb. Chad and Richard were slowing even more and decided to break from the task at hand and do lunges instead. I kept of the game plan but I slowed down a second or two - which is significant in such a short sprint. All in all I felt that this was a more satisfing workout even if it was not as fatiguing. I probably did not burn as many calories but I think that my fitness improved more. Next time I will try the 2 minute sets and see if the intensity can be maintained for the duration. Once that benchmark is set then we can chip away at the rest!

Tabata intervals - kind of...

Only Wednesday – wow – long week already.

Monday I did the abs – BOSU- lutey class again followed by a 4 mile run around campus. I did not make a lunch workout.

On Tuesday I did the Power 90 advanced Sculpt program. I now remember this workout from a few years ago. It was tough then and pretty hard now. I would say that it is manageably hard – no, more like comfortably hard – I can complete it. When it comes to workouts I seem to fall into that working HARD mentality. When I was done with the DVD – I was not thrashed, destroyed, collapsed on the floor in my own fluids – I was just done. Logically I know that I do not have to be rung out to have an effective workout but I do find these symptoms gratifying. I do this in running and biking and swimming also. And I know that this is flawed. I got done with the workout video and I decided to jump on the trainer for just a few minutes. I had been batting around the idea of Tabata intervals.

The Tabata protocol is a high-intensity training regimen that produces remarkable results. A Tabata workout (also called a Tabata sequence) is an interval training cycle of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated without pause 8 times for a total of four minutes.

I have done similar things with running but I did not call them Tabata intervals. As part of EPIC day in the past I would run 100 yard dashes on the football field with very little recovery. Now, a 100 dash for me is about 12 – 13 seconds so it is not as long as 20 seconds. My dash times would drop off very quickly! This Tabata protocol would almost double the work session. I fumbled around with my trainer for a few minutes. I thought about putting a movie in – but I knew that I would not last long. I cranked up the music and did a very short warm up and then hit the first interval. I shifted in a large gear and stood out of the saddle to gain momentum. I then dropped into the aero bars and churned out big numbers for 20 seconds. It was an all out hard effort. I sat up in the saddle and watched the clock tick down. Session two was much the same – maybe just a moment longer to get up to speed. Sweat was dripping off of me already. The rest interval could not have gotten to me any sooner and on the flip side the recovery flew by. On the third interval it was everything to just hang on and complete the 20 seconds with max power. There felt like there was zero recovery and I was immediately back into the fourth repetition. I ramped up to power but I could not hold for the 20 seconds. I was done, spent, collapsed on the floor. Mission accomplished I guess. This will definitely be an area to work on in the future – I would like to increase the intervals to 8 x MAX for 20 seconds. Something to work on!

Prince of the Mountain

There were only 4 of us at Jackson Station on Saturday morning. We met at 6:30AM instead of the summer hours of 6:00AM. The sun was up but there was still a fair bit of fog. We decided to not get off of the trace until the mists had burned off. Believe it or not but my legs were STILL sore from the STADIUMS 3 days prior. The bike did make them feel better. We took it easy for the first 15 miles or so but when we turned off of the trace for the Epley Road King of the Mountain Challenge - the pace immediately quickened. Right now I just do not have the sustained speed necessary to sprint ahead and take charge but I did not want Lance to just walk away with a win.

I was not going to get the polka dotted jersey but Lance and Raland were going to have to work. We would be going at a relative quick pace and then no one would want to take the lead pull. The pace would slow a little bit. They were sandbagging. Once this started to happen I would jump out and sprint ahead for as far as I could. I just kept attacking. Sure the attacks lost a lot of there value when they realized that I was just not able to bring much – but I did make them work. The back part of the out and back is the hard part and at some point it ended up being just Lance and me. We battled a few times but Lance was the stronger of the day. My legs were burning up the last hill and I was giving it everything that I had but I just could not reel him in – Lance bested me by about 50 feet.

On Sunday I pulled out an old work out DVD – Power 90 (no X – I’m not that extreme) and I did the Sculpting session. I used to do this series a long time ago when the winters were cold in the mid-west. The videos were good for me – short, sweet and full of direction. I would like to get a routine of these in the off season to build a little bit of strength back and burn a little bit of fat.

I met up with the Sunday group ride and it was one of the most beautiful days of the year. The humidity had dropped, the sun was out and the air was – okay not cool – but definitely not hot. There was a large group and we rolled out to Sumrall and then beyond. We got off of the trace and hit some hills. My back tire started to hiss on one of these hills. I had a flat. This was the first flat on this bike since Christmas Day – the first flat in nearly 2000 miles on this bike! I changed the flat and got filthy and we were on our way. It was just a good brisk but conversational ride. We were going fast and it seemed like I had to work a little harder than I should have been. I am almost always right up front but not this ride. I was in the second pack and I was still having to huff and puff to stay up. I am getting back to myself but I am just not there yet!

Marco - Polo...

Friday morning I headed to the lake. It was dark. I have to drive to the lake and the air was thick – a blanket of fog covered the roads – visibility was nil. I arrived at Greg’s house right at 6AM. Dan was circling the neighborhood in his truck – he was not sure where Greg lived. It was dark.

We both walked around to the back of the house and Lance and Greg were getting ready to jump in. Did I mention how dark it was? – or how foggy it was? Now there are two or three buoys that mark a triangle of about a third of a mile – visibility was only about 10 feet – we could not see any buoys. The lights in the houses across the lake were very dim. I really did not have any apprehension. Dan said that he had been a swimmer in high school but he had not been in the water in about 10 years. We headed out into the mists. We swam in the general direction of the first buoy. I was going to try and stick close to the others – it would be an easy open water swim. There was no need to push the pace. After a couple of minutes of swimming and looking around we all kind of stopped and tried to get our bearings. It was just Greg, Dan and I – Lance was nowhere to be seen. In the darkness plus the fog we could not see anything. We called for Lance for what seemed like a few minutes – time is very relative when you are treading water in the dark! We finally heard Lance way to the left of us. He yelled that he was at the buoy. We all headed towards the voice. He was probably only 30 or 40 feet from us. We got to the buoy but we were not intact. We had lost Dan. This time we really did call and yell for Dan for a few minutes. We thought he was playing a joke on us and he was going to attack from behind us or something. It started to seem like a bad movie from the 80’s – piranha, alligator or something swamp thing-ish. After a small eternity we heard Dan far in the distance. He said that he had swam almost to the other side of the lake. I was having a good time and playing “Marco – Polo” – it was fun – almost like a swimming hide and go seek or maybe a water scavenger hunt! We made it back to the shore and Dan was humbled by the swim. Not being in the water in so long had deteriorated his swim fitness. I am sure that his swimming skills will resurface in a short time and he will be schooling us! Lance and I went out for another lap in the lake. I ended up swimming for about 30 minutes and had a blast. I think it would be fun to have a midnight showing of one of those movies and then see who is brave enough to swim the lake. It would be great fun!

I thought about the swim later in the day. Last year I would not have even gotten in the water in the dark. I always waited until the sun was a least up a little bit. On this swim I did not feel any apprehension – none - and I think these were pretty challenging conditions. My swim confidence and proficiency have really improved in the last year. Now it is time to work on the speed!

TRACK ON TAP - returns!

The legs were a little bit sore when I met up with the group ride on Thursday morning. It was still dark but we ventured into the black. The darkness requires a good warm up and that is probably for the good of the group. In the summer a warm up would consist of salutations and an easy half mile spin – then someone would drop the hammer. At least this way we get to chew the fat a little more and actually get the blood moving. Lance got to tell the stories of the Olympic race from last weekend. Robin got second in our age group!

Lately, even after the sun has risen we have not been putting in real hard efforts on the bike. There will be a few good pulls and then we back off a bit. My legs were sore – not tired but actually sore from the STADIUMS the prior day but they felt good to be moving. The soreness was not a limiter – it was just noticeable. I rolled into work with 28 miles under my wheels.

I was fine walking around campus and such but whenever I took the stairs the legs let me know it! They felt like they were getting better but I took a flight of stairs down and they screamed to attention. As the morning went on they started to hurt more. At lunch I went to the pool for a little, easy, quick swim. I met Chris there and we did a pathetic more-talk-than-swim 1200 yards. It was fun but the swim did not have much of a purpose. I was still glad I went. I had planned on taking it easy in preparation for the evening TRACK ON TAP. It has been months (May) since the running club has had one.

There was a group of about 10 of us that met at the trail head at 6:30. I brought along my blinkie light from my road bike. It would be dark soon. We debated for a bit about which direction to go – If we went to the west it would end up being about a 6 mile run so we headed east instead. The TRACK ON TAP is generally a monthly occurrence where we set off on foot to various pubs, bars, and taverns. The first stop was the Keg & Barrel. We made our way down Fourth Street along the future Longleaf Trace downtown extension. This was a TRACK ON TAP _ TRAIL EDITION. My legs were killing me – it was almost like a run shuffle but I was fine as long as I did not have to hit any stairs. Jim was there and we were wearing our matching ironman finisher hats – it was fun telling our race stories and listening to everyone else’s. These types of events are what make the running club so much fun!

We were all very careful tonight because it seems like someone always takes a fall - into a ditch or runs into a park bench or just does a face plant on a rough sidewalk. We eventually hit Nick’s Ice House (such a dive) and then the End Zone. I am happy to report that there were no scrapes, falls or incidents on this run. Everyone remained on two feet. Running from campus – all said and done I got about 3.5 miles and not quite twice as many beers.

This was such a fun day – I started in the dark on the bike and ended in the dark on the run (with a swim somewhere in the middle)!

Stadiums...

GPS reading from the STADIUM!

Getting up in the morning now feels like I am getting up in the middle of the night. It is so dark. I drove to work on Wednesday to take the ab BOSU lutely class again. It starts at 6:15AM and it is just too dark at 5:45AM for the bike. Maybe this is the year that I get a decent light! Anyway I did the class again – and it was fun, challenging and full. There was a whole sorority in class. There were about 3 times the people in class as last time. After the class I went for a run with a friend – I was only looking for about 4 miles and she was looking for 5 miles – Yeah – we ended up with a little over 6 miles. It was just a good solid run.

At lunch, we tackled the STADIUM! It has been months since I have been in the stadium. During my ironman training I was just not able to recover very well after one of these sessions. The routine has not changed much – it is still damn hard. We do a nice warm up to the stadium then do as many sets as we can. A set consists of running up the stairs one at a time, then running up the stairs two at a time, then doing lunges up the bleachers. After about 5 sets it starts to get real hard. The fatigue in your legs starts to build. You slow down. I was able to get nine complete sets in 30:15 or so – that is 27 times up the stadium. I had my heart rate monitor on (and GPS just for fun) and I was redlining for a lot of it. By the end my lunges we slow and there was copious amounts of sweat dripping off of me. I would not say that this was EPIC – but it was close. Maybe next week. I will feel this tomorrow!

Cycling intervals

The group was not at Jackson Station on Tuesday morning. Oh well, I decided to get a few miles anyway. I took it slow and easy for about 20 minutes because it was still dark and foggy – no scratch that – it was misty. It has been 100 percent humidity here lately. No I don’t think you understand – when I say 100 percent humidity that is what I mean. Here in South Mississippi 100 percent humidity means that the air is thick – so thick that it is like static rain dispersed with drizzle. You can look out the window and see the sun shining with rain hanging in the air. You cannot walk, much less ride or run, 10 feet without being totally saturated. Put a little bit of eucalyptus in the air and you have a wet sauna. Anyway, it is even worse in the mornings. I cannot wear my glasses and regardless of effort I soon weigh several pounds more due to water weight.

Once the light came out I decided to play with a little bit of speed work on the bike. Not much but I was going to do 1 minute all out efforts followed my 2 minutes of light peddling. It is harder than it sounds. 2 minutes of recovery is plenty of time in the beginning but past about 6 intervals it comes around quick. I completed 9 sets but the last one was not a solid effort – a minute was too long. But, it felt good. The legs were tired but not overwhelmed. I want to get organized and create a real cycling training plan this year. I want to get to the next tier if you will. I was in the 23 MPH range at a couple of races last year (23.9 at the Heart of Dixie – 27.5 miles) and want to pick it up a notch. I want to make my time on the bike more meaningful this year and not just more volume. I enjoy the group rides and the camaraderie but I want the solo stuff to be valuable and come out of the off season bigger and badder.

I just did some simple weight training at lunch – worked on my bench press and called it a day.

Hydrodynamics

The response to the hair has been very encouraging! Come on now, Telly, Destro, Professor X !!! What do these people have in common – well, they are all bald and … sexy! That is right bald and sexy. I can live with that for sure.

So I got to test out the hydrodynamics in the pool yesterday. It was an easy nothing swim of 200 yards straight. I was expecting the head to feel funny or neat or something – but not really much at all. Oh well, my times were right on so no complaints. The swim felt good. I really am going to join up with the masters swim class in a week or two and make all of my pool time productive. I mean, I am spending time in the pool and I have made improvements but I think the team environment will benefit me and I hope to see improvements!!!

I am also having second thoughts about a full marathon – I have two schools of thought –

1. I’m not getting any younger – If I want to Boston Qualify I need to make my gains right now!
2. The recovery and time away from making gains in triathlon are huge. Take out the run training and you still have a huge taper and a huge recovery – 6 weeks. I will do better next time but this transition after the ironman has been excoriating.

I could compromise and try to nail a really good half marathon and then decide if I want to pursue the full marathon. I could train for a little speed and still not have to rack up huge mileage in a sub 1:30 (fantasy run) half marathon.

I am starting to get excited.

Hair today - gone tomorrow ...

I got a good swim in on Friday afternoon but I am still drifting – undecided – for my next goals. I have determined that I am going to join the Master’s Swim club down a t the YMCA. IT seems like a good program – everyone raves about the coach and I respond pretty well to direction. I am sure just having an experienced set of eyes on my swim technique will benefit me more than just splashing around on my own.

With a triathlon and a century ride within a couple of hours of Hattiesburg I knew that there would not be anyone up for the Saturday group ride. Regardless I set off towards the trail head to see if there were any stragglers. I ran into Pierre again. He is in the French Navy and is stationed at the naval base in Meridian for a couple of years. I met him a few weeks ago and it turns out that we have done many triathlon races together and not realized it. He is pretty quick – always placing in the 20 – 24 age group. We only got 30 miles – I was not looking for much – I just wanted to get out and get a few miles before the rains set in – It has been raining tons here. After the ride I did some much needed yard work, cleaned out the garage and spooned new tires on my training wheels for my race bike. I got a lot of things done that have seemed to pile up – It feels like I have tons of time on the weekends.

I also shaved my head. I have wanted to do this for a very long time and I have just not had the guts to do it! I really thought hard about it before the ironman but did not want to risk sunburn or anything. I did not want to change anything up for race day. It definitely looks different but it is growing on me… Let me know what you think – try to disregard the deer in head lights - looks like I have been beat look.



I got an easy 6.5 mile run in on Sunday morning and ran into Steve P (the postman). He was out on a recovery ride – He had done the century ride the day before and averaged just 20.1 MPH solo. He is training for IMAZ and has really been getting the volume. We chatted for a couple of miles and I turned back towards home. The marathon training plan that I have been looking at has day1 being 3 x 1600m @ 6:12 (1min RI). At mile 5 I decided to pick up the pace to see what was in the tank – is this training plan even possible? I started strong and was able to maintain but the time was not happening. I clicked off the mile at 6:30. That is a far cry from 6:12 much less with two more reps to go. In the spring this would not have been a problem but I guess I am still waiting for my speed. I thought the streamed line dome would have at least given me a few seconds.

Planning stages

After the bike ride yesterday I did end up taking the rest of the day off. I am still trying to be smart and what is the point of ‘two-a-days’ if you do not have an objective. I am sure this thinking will go to the way side next week – but…

This morning I got in a nice and easy 5 mile run. Even though the humidity was high I really enjoyed the run. My rate of perceived exertion has dropped considerably but my heart rate is still just a little high. It was hard keeping it in my cruise / auto-pilot mode. I clicked off 5 miles at just over an 8 minute per mile pace – the pace crept up a little during the last mile – I ran into a neighbor out on the trace and we chatted for a bit at about 8:30 pace. No problems – just a good solid easy run with no aches, pains or difficulties.

I have been thinking about the upcoming season a lot and I really want to approach things the right way. I really want to fine tune my objectives, create a plan and then execute. I believe that next year can be special if I just plan it out. Here are some of the questions I will be asking myself:

1. What do I really want to accomplish?
2. When do I want to reach my goal?
3. Is my goal realistic for me?
4. What am I willing to do (or give up) to successfully accomplish this goal?

These will be important in the coming months. Too often I will create an amalgamation in my mind and want everything – I will recall when I was the strongest, the leanest, the fastest, etc and think that it is possible to achieve all of these metrics simultaneously. Obviously this is not possible but for whatever reason I tend to hold myself to those goals. I should do much better if I truly concentrate on one goal and apply all of my resources to said goal. I am excited about the coming year!

Strong pull on the group ride!

On Tuesday I was standing outside the gym at school waiting for the GPS watch to sync up - and some girl came up to me and saw the big watched and asked the time. How funny is that - the biggest damn watch in the world and I do not have the time displayed. I just said sorry- it doesn't do that!

I took Wednesday completely off – completely. When I normally say completely off I mean, maybe a little swimming or some abs or maybe just some strength training. But Wednesday was completely off.

And I feel better for it. I did get up this morning and do the group ride. There is an Olympic distance race this weekend down at the coast (gulf shores) that a few people are doing so the pace was not really pushed. It was super foggy and dark when we left and we had to watch out for debris on the trace. It rained like cats and dogs yesterday evening and there were a couple of limbs down. All of this contributed to an easy ride and that is just what I wanted. I did get a solid pull on one part of the trace for about a mile and I was able to maintain 23 – 24 MPH. I’m starting to feel strong again. I’m going to take it easy still for week or so and then I will be ready to start a build process.

I am so excited about adding some speed work – I have really missed it these past few months!

I watched this video from Endurance Nation regarding an off season marathon and how that is not the best way to gain speed. Interesting stuff (10 minutes). I might have to re-evaluate my off season plans!

Recovery feels like a four letter word.

I’m still taking it easy which equals boring! I only did some minor weight training in the gym to reinforce how weak I am – I’m really not down I’m just a little out of my element right now.

I’m ready to jump full force into a new challenge and I am waiting patiently for my body to completely catch up with me. Looking at the big picture – I am willing to ‘sacrifice‘ a few days this week so that I will be whole for the coming training.

Patience grasshopper.

Taking it easy today!

So Monday ended up being a 5 mile run for breakfast and a 4 mile run for lunch – then a little strength training. The runs felt pretty good. I still need to recover a little more before I can jump back into serious training. It is hard for me but I think that I need to take the advice from fellow bloggers Amanda and Missy and sit out for a little while. I understand these things logically but it is so much easier for me to train hard than train smart.

So I slept in this morning – it was hard knowing that there was a group ride outside – Since I live on the trace the group ride literally rides right by my back yard. I would have liked to be out there just chewing the fat and all – there will not be many early morning group rides left this year. The minutes are already ticking away. But, back to recovery – I going to make this a truly easy week and then re-evaluate. At this point there is no way that I can jump into marathon training – not the FIRST program anyway. I think Week 1 / Day 1 is almost out of reach and the plan just escalates from there.

This marathon training plan will be physically and mentally challenging. I am looking forward to it but I do have a little bit if fear. That little bit of fear always seems to motivate me to do better. I like these goals to be just out of reach.

Taking it easy today!

Getting back to the run...

Okay – it’s been two weeks since the big race. I am just about recovered – I still don’t have a top end but everything else seems to be firing. So, now it is time to stop flapping in the breeze and start to lay down the ground work for next season. First I need to solidify my goals. They seem to be run dominate right now which is a good thing – I would really like for my run to come around like my bike and swim (don’t get me wrong – I need the bike and swim to continue to improve but the run needs a kick start). I got literally chased down on a couple of runs this year in triathlons. I watched Mike and Robin pull away from me in the Heat Wave and if the Sunfish would have been a 2 mile run and not a 5k I would have had Robin.

So the big goals are a sub-19 minute 5K sometime early next year – the races that are easiest to PR are the ones on the Longleaf Trace in February and March (Run for Love and St Patrick’s Irish Italian Festival) – I think I was 19:19 and 19:09 respectively last year). Also the Mardi Gras Marathon is in, obviously, February. I checked the Run less Run Faster book out and damn the runs are challenging from week one.

I don’t remember exactly but the first set of intervals are mile repeats at just over 6:00 minutes per mile, the first tempo is around 2 miles at 12:30 and the first long run is 8:00 minute miles for 13 or 14 miles. Talk about jumping head first into the training plan. Last Friday I ran 4 miles for breakfast and 4 miles for lunch – all at between 7:30 and 8:00 minutes per mile. They were comfortably challenging.

On Saturday I jumped on the early group ride and got 25 miles. I did not want the full 40 miles that they were getting. It was not a no holds barred ride but I was working hard to not get dropped. That would not have happened pre-Ironman – still recovering I guess. On Sunday I suited up for the afternoon group ride but as soon as I got outside the sky opened up and filled my eyes and ears with lightning and thunder – I 86’ed the ride to say the least.

This morning I did get in a 5 miler with about 100 percent humidity. I really tried to keep the exertion level low – my heart rate has been too high for the last few runs – the pace has not been fast but the heart rate has been high. I kept it low and disregarded the pace. I am slowly recovering. It is not like I am down and out I just still don’t have my snap. I’m not sure if it would be better to take a couple of days of complete rest or to continue with the active recovery – I just know that I am ready mentally to jump back into a serious training plan but do not think that my body is ready for sustained hard efforts.

On a side note, at beer club last night, I think I have a taker for the milk challenge (you have an hour to drink a gallon of milk and then you must keep said gallon down for 1 hour) – The poor sap thinks it will be easy – he says he loves milk – wow. That is a set up for disaster. I still think that I can be successful – I have been so close once before – within about 10 minutes of ‘keeping it down’. We will make a go of it again real soon.

Sore as can be - strength training 101

The recovery and goal planning are coming along swimmingly. The fatigue is starting to lift - the legs still feel fine but they do not have that extra oomph – the top end is still gone. I went for an easy bike ride on Thursday morning and got to chat with Steve C. The ride was nothing hard but I enjoyed a good talk about the upcoming year. Nice and easy – I will get back to the hard stuff soon enough.

I have hit the strength training full force this week and I am sore as hell for it! My back, chest, arms and core are feeling the pain. I love it. I have really missed the strength training and would like to dedicate some serious time during this ‘off-season’. I would like to make some real gains. Then hit the endurance full force and see where it takes me.

My immediate running goals are two-fold and a little counterproductive. I would like to be able to qualify for the Boston Marathon by 2011 (sub-3:15) as well as PR in the 5k (18:xx). They are both running goals but they are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

I would also like to thank Tri Diesel for the Ironman bragging tips – I got to use one yesterday in the gym with my buddies. I have not done a bench press in a couple of months and I feel pretty weak in the upper body right now. I had just finished a rather pathetic set of 12 and I had to remark – “Had I known that I was going to lose 50 pounds in my bench press I’m not sure if I would have done an Ironman in 11:18.” It was appreciated by all!

Still recovering

I’m still getting up early but I am not getting the 6 – 8 mile runs in or the 28 mile bike rides in before work. My legs feel fine – no aches or pains. On Wednesday I did a workout class up at the Payne Center – Ab – BOSU – lutely and then did a short swim. The abs workout was good. It incorporated all of my usual core workout but when we got to the ‘bicycles’ and leg lifts – that is where I could tell that the legs are still fatigued. I can normally do the bicycle like nobody’s business but man were they tough.

The abs survived the 30 minute class but the legs did not. In the pool I just went through the paces. Nothing much but it felt good. It was an easy swim just too fill up the hour of exercise.

Later that night I did start to feel the abs – they were tight and sore. Also, from the little bit of strength training that I did on Tuesday the back was lit up all night. This is a good muscle soreness that I welcome. I am excited about the strength training this fall. Strength training is really an area that I enjoy but I had to let it go most of the spring and all of the summer. I was just not recovering after the ironman training sessions. It is time to drop some body fat and put some mass on – maybe. I have such trouble putting on mass. It is funny, I can gain strength pretty easily but the mass just does not develop.

I am getting excited to run a bit more this fall. This is the area that improved the least since last year – don’t get me wrong – it did improve but the swimming and cycling improved more.

Back to the recovery front – I am feeling better – in fact I do not feel bad at all – I am not tired or fatigued or sore – but I have been going to bed a little earlier. I think my body just needs the rest.

FIRST recovery then FIRST runnning

So in the last week I have swam twice and ridden the bike 3 times. My legs have just not been responding like I have wanted. They feel fine but there is just no spring – no get up and go. So on Tuesday morning I went for a 5 mile run. I pushed the pace. This was a ‘pretty’ hard effort but the pace was closer to a comfortable effort. It was difficult to maintain an 8 minute per mile pace (not insurmountable but difficult). A week or two prior to the ironman I was able to click off 6 miles in 42 minutes under similar effort. In addition, I have been about to hover around 7 minutes per mile on most of my short distance triathlons.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that there will be a recovery period; it is just that my legs and body feel fine. I am just not responding to the effort. It would be different if I was walking around on hurt legs and unable to walk up / down stairs. I would understand. But feeling fine and just not performing where I would like to is another matter.

I will just have to wait it out until I am back on my game. I have some 5k goals that I would like to achieve (I was knocking on the 18’s back in March – 19:09 and really want to see 18:xx).

Also, I would like to start putting together a Boston Marathon qualifying time. This will be a real challenge for me. Running a sub-3:15 – I am not anywhere near that but maybe with some hard work and a little bit of luck I can pull it off.

I have been looking at various training plans and I really like the FIRST program (Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training). I read the book Runner's World Run Less, Run Faster: Become a Faster, Stronger Runner with the Revolutionary FIRST Training Program (Runners World) last fall and put some of the training to use for a ½ marathon. The program is challenging and it is based on 3 purposeful runs a week (basically – intervals, tempos, and long runs). By purposeful they mean HARD. No garbage miles. In addition it seems to be based on a run dominate triathlon program since your non-running days are filled with cross training (i.e. biking and swimming). I was able to do most of the workouts last year with the tempo runs being the hardest. Tempo runs have always been my shortcoming. It is hard for me to ride that edge – I have always thought that I lack a little mental toughness at those edges. I guess it is time to put it to the test.

I may not have time to put together a run for Boston this fall but there is always the Mardi Gras Marathon in February. But first I have to get my legs back under me.