Back on the TRAINER.

It seems like our morning sunlight is wasting away. I have not been taking advantage of it. I have missed the Tuesday / Thursday morning ride for the past week and a half. It was light at 5:45AM and that drifted to 6:00AM. Now, it has been dark and rainy in the morning.

However, I have not been missing my rides. I have been on the trainer each of those mornings. I have missed the camaraderie but the workouts have been solid. In fact, this morning was my BEST TRAINER WORKOUT EVER! You see, I have a love hate relationship with the trainer.

I simply cannot ride the dang thing for much more than an hour. So, I have to make each workout quality. I have been doing tempo intervals at pace the past couple of weeks. And they hurt. Now, these numbers are only relevant to me and my trainer but I have worked up to 4 x 6 minutes at 250 watts. Like I said, I have no idea if those 250 watts is the same as your 250 watts or how it relates to actual speed. But what I do know is that it hurts. I know that my heart rate starts in the lower zone 4 and climbs to the top in those 6 minutes. I know that the first minute is not bad at all but by the time the second minute complete it seems like it will be impossible to go for another 4 minutes. I also know that each time I complete one of these 6 minutes intervals I feel like I have slain a dragon or stormed a castle. I taste the success! But it is bitter sweet because I also dread the next interval. I watch the 3 minute recovery tick down like a time bomb. It is me that will explode.

I have a love hate relationship with the trainer but it makes me better.

FAST and STRONG

I have been having success after being away during spring break. After the high volume cycling over the weekend I did a recovery trainer ride Monday morning and then biked to work. It was cold in the morning but the temperature climbed into the 70’s later in the day. At lunch I swam with Sam and he pushed and gave me form tips. I always swim better and faster when someone is watching. It an easy 500 warm up followed by 10 x 100 on 1:45. I never do them that fast – I always give myself more time to recover than necessary. These were some of the best 100’s that I have ever swum! I did some abs after the swim.
The commute home was nice. The sun was out but it was straight into the wind. I needed the ride home – it cleared my head. I have been having a little bit of apprehension with my sister and her family moving to Australia – maybe even some jealousy thrown in. I am going to miss them but on the bright side I will be travelling to Sydney in the very near future!
Tuesday brought about an interval session on the bike trainer. I have been struggling with the tempo trainer rides so I dialed in a moderately hard interval session – and I nailed it. I felt strong! The legs were recovered from the volume over the weekend and had bounced back. The cycling is coming along.
STADIUMS were on hand at lunch and we took 10 seconds off of the recovery. Once again the working set was 15 seconds but the time to get across and back down was now 1:25. The first 3 or 4 reps were hard on the legs but they some came back and the session was maintainable. We were all successful. My heart rate was much lower than the same session last year. After the STADIUMS we did 2 reps at the back of the Cochran building. This is very demanding. I would like to add a rep of these each week until it just kills us! That might only be 3 reps – we will have to see.
Back at the gym there was the bench press. I have actually been enjoying the strength training. I loaded up the same weight as last Tuesday – just 2 45’s – approximately 87% of my body weight. Last week I did 4 sets with very little recovery as 15 / 15 / 15 / 12. I was determined to improve upon this!

I started off and felt strong again. I owned this workout and was able to put up the following: 16 / 16 / 16 / 14 / 15! I am not sure where the strength is coming from but I will definitely take it.

Success and Failures

Getting back to the routine brought my weight down. I lost 3 pounds from the previous day. I know that the weight is not real but I am glad to be getting back into the swing of things.
I jumped on the bike again on Tuesday morning. I dialed in a tempo workout which consisted of a 10 minute warm up followed by 3 x 10 minutes at intensity with 2 minutes of recovery and then a 10 minute cool down.

I failed again. I only completed the first 10 minute interval and a couple minutes of the second interval. However, I did not end the workout there. I reloaded and completed another 20 minutes at a little less intensity. I have never really trained like this before – at set intensities. Most of my previous cycling has just been volume with some aggressive group riding thrown into the mix. I think I am just getting caught up in the numbers and wanting more than I can accomplish. I only rode for 40 minutes.

At lunch we did the STADIUMS. I lopped off 10 seconds from the recovery and then had to add two additional reps to the session for a total of 17. The round trip was 1:50 – 15 seconds up and 1:35 recovery. Next time I will deduct another 10 seconds from the recovery. My legs were screaming at me for the first three reps but then they settled down. Fortunately, the repeats never got harder – I was able to just churn them out. It felt good to succeed!

I checked the last time that I did this workout (October 22, 2009) and my average heart rate was 149 BPM with a MAX of 178. This week, with the same workout my average heart was 128 BPM with a MAX of only 165. I do not remember what the temperature was and everything but I will take it (but my blog says that the day was beautiful)!

After the STADIUMS we did just one rep of the stairs at the back of the Cochran Center. These steps are about 50 percent longer than the stairs at the STADIUM. My heart was racing much harder doing just the one rep!

Back at the gym I continued to work on the chest for the “pump and run” challenge. I had some intel come through and I believe that Robin is able to squeeze out about the same number of reps that I can – somewhere in the 30’s. And being that Robin has a good minute or two on me in the 5k I need to get to work. So I did four sets of flat bench press. I only put the 45’s on the bar so that equated to about 87% of my body weight – well my hope to be body weight. I am counting on 155 on competition day. For some reason I felt strong and was able to increase my reps by a couple. I did not doing any max outs but I did get 3 sets X 15 with a fourth set X 12. I was only working out with one other person and we purposely kept the recovery short. To win this competition I believe endurance is the name of the game.

Easy trainer rides

I jumped on the trainer again on Friday morning. This time I did an interval workout – one that I have done several times. It hasd been about a month since I had been on the trainer. During and after the workout all I could think about was how much harder this seemed the last time I did it. Not that it was easy or anything but it had definietly been harder last month. Now I do know that there are a dozen or so different variables involved but I will chock this up as my bike fitness starting to come back on line.


After the trainer workout I switched bikes and rode to work for the first time this year! It was a little cool outside but nothing like it has been and I was, afterall, still quite damp from the trainer. Even though my feet were cold I had forgotten how much I enjoyed riding to work. I love days that I do not have to get into a car!

At lunch I went on a very easy 5 mile run outside. It was very much conversational pace and enjoyable. My heart rate was in zone 1 reecovery the entire time.

After work I got to ride home again – this time into a head wind but it was not a big deal. I ran into Chris at Jackson Station and chatted for a few minutes.

With the start of spring break I will be out of town for a full 9 days and away from my bikes. (I did get another training ride in this morning – a little hard intensity. Although I am going to be very busy this week I am going to try to turn this into a mini swim / run camp. After holiday I will only have a month to prepare for 70.3 New Orleans – which, unfortunately is just when the taper should start.

As a side note I have started working the chest for the pump and run!

Running Long

After the breakthrough tempo run I took the next day off of running. I did ride the bike trainer. I have been doing well on the bike trainer – having ridden for 45 minutes 5 out of the past 6 days.

So after I rode the trainer I ate some breakfast and got a little stir crazy. I had planned on going to the track in the early evening and doing some intervals. I actually hate to train in the evening. That is the time that excuses creep into my mind. I thought that if I waited until later then there might be a chance that it would not happen. I had also been neglecting the long run.

So, even though the temperature was in the 30’s I hit the trail so to speak. That race in Baton Rouge was at 32 degrees and although I was cold at the start and finish – in retrospect the conditions were just about perfect. I knew that I would not be running at that intensity so I put just a little bit more clothing on. Actually, I wore just about the same outfit. I ran in triathlon shorts, a base layer and a thick performance light weight pull over. And of course gloves.

I headed out with the latest running / fitness / triathlon podcasts loaded up. I also had two gels stuffed in pockets. This would be an easy run and I was going to keep my heart rate in the 140’s. I also ran along the trace in the soft pine straw. This was not a hard or fast run but I was determined to get a little distance. I took a gel at Epley Station (about 6.25 miles into the run – 50 minutes) and then I jumped off of the trace and ran along the undulating horse trail. It was a nice change of pace. I had thoughts of running further and further out but I have a better understanding of my limitations. A year ago I got into some trouble when I just felt invincible. I had turned an 8 – 10 mile run into something like 16 miles – on and off the trace – and I paid the price. It was too much too soon and my body responded. My Achilles started to really hurt. I called for an EVAC (first and only time – I was embarrassed) and limped to Clyde Station. I had to get a ride home. I was lucky because I never run with a cell phone.

I would play it smart this time (no cell phone – anyway). At 7.5 miles I turned around and headed home. Back at Epley Station I took another gel and continued. My pace stayed consistent throughout the run and I was not hurting. It did get a little harder as I wrapped up but nothing that would cause me to slow down or walk or anything. Towards the end of the run I was listening to an interview with an ultra marathoner / ultra marathoner coach. They were asking him how you train for a 50 mile race. Do you just run progressively longer – like a 40 mile training run? He said no – You will not be able to recover very well with that kind of mileage but that you work up to running 20 miles back-to-back (like on a Saturday and then again on a Sunday). He said “You learn to run on tired legs.”

I finished up with 15 miles at 8:34 pace. I need to be almost exactly 1 minute per mile faster and for the full marathon to Boston Qualify. This is going to be tough

I am meeting Charles to map out the Stream Whistle 12k - link to pdf registration (New Year’s Day) route today – so with running from my house I should get over 10 miles – I guess that will be running on tired legs!

Mental BREAKTHROUGH - tempo run

I took Christmas day off from the run and just rode the trainer. I have been trying to build my cycling base up – this has been a lot of steady state riding at moderately / low intensity. I also rode the trainer the day after Christmas but I was ready to hit the pavement. I am trying to make most of my running miles count – no garbage miles. Having read a number of books they always seem to state that there are really only three runs that push improvement.

1. Hard Intervals at or above VO2MAX – example Yasso 800’s or ¼ miles or mile repeats.
2. Tempo runs at LT (lactate threshold / anaerobic threshold – your maximum intensity that you can hold for about an hour).
3. Distance runs – long runs at a steady pace

Everything else is supposed to be extraneous – although if you talk to anyone that is fast they will tell you that there is no substitute for mileage. Go figure.

Anyway that being said I was going to go for a tempo run at just above what I believe to be my LT – which is in the mid 170’s by heart rate. This is a hard area to run – a hard area for me to sustain. It is easy for me to let my mind wander and slow down a bit. It is easy for me to think about the discomfort and want to slow down a bit. It is easy to want to stop.

Last Tuesday (Monday was an off running day following the half marathon PR on Sunday) I tried to see how I would have felt / faired if I would have raced at my own pace (instead of following a faster runner and blowing up and suffering through 11.5 miles of the race). I set the ‘virtual trainer’ on the GPS watch for 5 miles at a 7 minute pace. I could not do it. I gave in to the voices – my legs were dead and I was hurting. I turned around at 1.5 miles and slowed way down.

Well, yesterday I decided to not look at the pace (much) and I wanted to do a mile warm up and then push the pace at LT for 4 miles. Then follow up with a mile cool down. The temperature was only in the 50’s but I was looking for excuses and felt cold. I warmed up a little during the ‘warm up’ but my heart rate seemed a little high for the pace I was running. My feet were hurting and I stopped to adjust the laces. I picked the pace up at the one mile mark and it was hard. I already doubted myself. I pushed on and it was still hard – but I was not going to be defeated this time. I had a real mental toughness BREAKTHROUGH with this run. No – I never fell into some kind of bliss zone – it was hard the entire time but I did not stop and I did not slow down (well the first mile was a little fast). I passed a guy and his daughter who were riding bikes – yes they were riding slow – but the guy said that he had never been passed by a jogger before. We were going close to the same pace and I could not slow down – not even just a little bit. I HAD to keep it up!

I got a huge amount of satisfaction from this run! Tempo runs are always hard for me – especially when I run them alone. It is much easier for me to run hard during a race or with someone who is a little faster than me. Others really push me and allow for me to excel. When out there by myself it is a different story.

Miles –

WU – 1 mile
1. 6:21 HR AVE 168
2. 6:40 HR AVE 175
3. 6:39 HR AVE 177
4. 6:40 HR AVE 178
CD – 1 mile

I hate tempo runs!

I was not able to get a trainer ride in on Wednesday morning and I even skipped the STADIUMS at lunch. I was planning for a ‘BREAKTHROUGH’ running session. I was not sure if this would be mile repeats or a hard tempo run pushing my anaerobic threshold. Either of these are hard runs.


I decided on the tempo run on the treadmill. The treadmills are getting a little bit old at the gym. I always use the same one but it was occupied. It took me a total of three attempts to get a treadmill that would 1. Turn on and 2. Let me set the incline (I always set the incline to 1).

I was all set to go and I thought that I could do a 4 mile tempo run at the pace that I last did mile repeats. I ran 3 x 1 mile @ 6:30 with a quarter mile recovery in between on Saturday. I remember this being challenging but achievable. Last spring I PR’d in the 5K with a 19:09 which equates to a 6:09 pace. That was really fast for me – obviously it was fast for me - it was a PR. But it was fast for me because I was pacing off of someone that I knew and I used them to get that PR. This just does not happen in training. In addition, I feel a bit slower than last year after training so much for ironman. Anyway, I thought that 4 miles at a 6:30 pace would be hard but achievable. I was wrong! I was wrong on a couple of levels. I was not willing to get into the RED zone – the deep RED zone anyway. I wanted to stay at or just barely above my anaerobic threshold. I know that I can average in the low 170’s while running hard for 30 minutes and averaging my heart rate for the last 20 minutes. In the last half marathon I ran (2 weeks ago) with an average heart rate of 168 (with a max at the end of the race at 186). This means that much of that run was in the mid 160’s and the level of exertion was picked up at the end (at mile 11 to be exact). A heart rate in the 160’s is a comfortably hard level for me.

For this tempo run I tried to keep my heart rate between 172 – 175. This is obviously just a little too high for me right now – I can hold it there for a while in a race but not on a treadmill in the middle of the day. I think that I need to back off of the speed in the tempo run and bring it up slowly (last Friday morning after warm up I ran 4 miles at an average pace of 6:52 with an average heart rate of 178 – and a MAX at 185). As much as I hate to say it - This week’s run was just a little too much too soon.

A little frustrated having only run 2 miles at the pace that I wanted I decided to ride the trainer after work. I geared up and set the trainer up for a steady zone 2 ride for 45 minutes. The DVD was on and I was ready. I made it about 5 minutes and then I aborted. My legs were burning at what should have been a pretty easy steady state ride. I gave myself a break and would let the legs have a rest.

I got up this morning and tried the same trainer workout again with much better success. While it was not SUPER easy - all cylinders were firing as they should be. I clocked off the 45 minutes. A good night’s rest makes a huge difference.

STADIUMS - cancelled...

Cool weather and wet eliminated the STADIUMS for the week. That was probably a good thing. It has been about a month since I tackled that obstacle. I am sure that my legs would be sore for several days after another EPIC day at the STADIUM. So this brought us indoors to the coliseum. This is the basketball arena. Since the staircases are shorter this is much easier. We alternated doing single steps and double steps on 1 minute. Doing the single steps takes less than 15 seconds and doing the doubles takes just under 10 seconds. Then you run back down the stairs and recover for about 30 seconds. We got 40 sets in 40 minutes. This was a good work out but not like the STADIUMS. We were wondering with the much cooler weather if even the STADIUMS are not the STADIUMS any more. We will have to see next week.  We did about 15 minutes of abs after the stair climbing.


On the bike front - it has been cool/cold and raining this week.  So, I have been riding the trainer at home. My father upgraded and gave me his old 32 inch CRT (big and heavy) television. I brought it back home from the Thanksgiving Holiday.  I hooked this up in front of my trainer. I have been watching a lot of television on DVD. I read a book recently about cycling base building and I am trying to put some of this to practice. I have been riding a lot of steady state workouts – mostly about 45 minutes long (an hour of television on DVD just happens to be 42 minutes). My trainer hooks up to the computer and I have been setting a constant workout by time and watts. It has been interesting to compare the different workouts – it records watts (constant) and heart rate, cadence, etc. This week I have logged over 3 hours on the trainer. That is more than I have used it for the last 6 months. Granted I ride a lot more outside in the summer but I think that this is a good start.

I am heading to Baton Rouge for the ½ marathon on Friday for a fun race weekend.

Dixie group ride

SPECIAL SHOUT OUT:


My friend Ren competed in Ironman Florida this past weekend and finished with a fantastic time of 12:13:47 -  Way to go Ren!

My legs were tired this week. I did the P90X Plyometrics and STADIUMS on Wednesday, a spirited group ride on Thursday morning and then the P90X Legs and back program on Friday. So the Saturday morning group ride would take place on tired legs.

Dan and I arrived at Keith’s house at 6:30 on Saturday morning. It was brisk morning and I thought that I might be over dressed. I had a base layer shirt, jersey, arm and leg warmers as well as full neoprene booties. It turned out that this was just about right.

We headed south of town in what is known as the Dixie area. I have never ridden in this part of town and the hills were welcomed. However, from the get go the pace was challenging for me. I was struggling to keep from getting spit off of the back. And there was one occasion that Keith and Dan did need to slow up for bit to keep me in the pack. This was a tough ride for me. This was a lot of fun and we only stopped on two occasions – one when Dan, who was leading by a good way missed a turn and then once again when Dan had a client malfunction and fell at an intersection. No harm, no foul but his cleat got turned around.

Sunday I did a P90X Chest and Back and then played on the trainer for just a few minutes. 15 minutes at an easy pace and the 6 minutes at a hard effort. I am trying to devise a base training plan for this winter. I have been playing with some of the intensities.

Jury Duty - a pain in the back...

It was hard lounging around the house but better for me in the short and long run.

I rode 30 minutes on the trainer this morning - the first time that I have been on the trainer in a long while. I thought that it would be better for my back - I could control the environment. The good news is that the ride was easy and my back felt fine. The bad news is that it is not completely better - running might have to wait for a few more days.


This morning - Jury Duty - more time off from the plan.

Another off day - this time scheduled.

There was a lot more rain for the weekend. Sunday, the plan called for a 3 hour ride – I decided to split this ride up between trainer and the road. I waited until the start of the Giro before mounting the race bike. I started off with a 12 mile trainer ride with a significant hill right in the middle. This was a good warm up. Next I loaded a flat profile and decided to do a few intervals. I would try to maintain a very hard effort for 3 minutes followed by 2 minutes recovery. Repeat five times and I was spent. I would just cruise along in heart rate zone 2 to finish out the rest of the trainer ride.

I hit the road next and was just going to get 20 miles. On the way back I crossed paths with Steve and we chewed the fat for a few miles. He is building for Ironman AZ. We will be doing several of the same local races this year and he also mentioned a September century ride along the Natchez Trace. This would be a fun (read – FAST) ride.

As you know, I have not been sticking to the plan as well as I should have. I spent some time this weekend to reschedule some of my work outs for different days – example, I will probably swim on Wednesday’s after work (if the weather permits) so I need to schedule these swim works – not just add them.

With following the plan, Monday was an off day. This would have normally bothered me by having an off day on a non-work day. I feel like I am wasting premium hours. It didn’t bother me much this time. My primary goal, as it should have been for months, is to just complete the prescribed workouts – nothing more – nothing less.

Spring is in the air -

The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine. - John Howard

*** New resolution at 13resolutions ***

I had some bicycle seat time to make up from last week so I got on the trainer yesterday morning. I churned out 20 miles in right around an hour. It was nice to get it out of the way early. I was going to ride the bike outdoors when the weather warmed up a little but I did not want to just mill around the house waiting for the sun.

I did meet up with Chris and Sam for an afternoon ride. There was a little confusion of where we were going to meet so we ended up crossing paths about half way through the ride. So I was on my road bike on and off the trace hitting the hills. These are the hills that I found just last week with the group ride. I was able to power up them and it felt good. The air was brisk but the sun was out. The heat of the sun felt good on my black arm warmers.

I started to head back after about 16 miles and that is when I crossed Chris and Sam. They were both on their race bikes (Sam even had his race wheels on his bike - I don't think they ever come off of the race bike). These guys are fast. I was having to draft off of Sam just to stay up with them. There were stretches of road where he was maintaining 27 MPH. Sure he was on his tricked out race bike with tricked out race wheels - but still, maintaining 27 MPH. This is an area of the trace that is relatively flat (maybe a very slight down hill) that I can, if I push it, maintain 22 - 23 MPH. Sam was flying. Sam is the local fast guy (that just happens to be the same age as me). If he shows up at the 5k's or any other race that just means I am racing for second in my age group. Sam is also a great coach and is quick to help you out in your training. He helped me out a lot last year. He was sizing me up for the race season and asking me what I averaged on the bike last year in my races. I told him that it was 21 - 22 MPH. Being that this is only my second full season of triathlon he believes that I will make great strides.

I had to go back and double check my bike splits for a few races to make sure that I was not exaggerating. I had four races last year and the last two I averaged more than 22 MPH (Sunfish - 18 miles in 47:41 for 22.65 MPH and the Heart of Dixie - 27.5 miles in 1:13:50 for 22.35 MPH). FYI - I love athlinks! I ended up getting about 53 miles for the day.

Today I am anxious to get out my race bike and get some seat time. Time Trial / triathlon bikes feel much different than road bikes.

First brick of the season...

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. - Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

Yesterday - I was proud of myself for getting on the trainer. I rode it for an hour. The time passes much quicker if I have a plan. I did a warm up for 10 minutes and then 20 x 1 minutes intervals with 1 minute rest then a 10 minute cool down. My trainer has a 'power' meter gauge. I believe it to be consistent and do not really care about the accuracy. So my warm up, rest intervals and cool down were at 160 watts and the intervals were at 260 watts. I prefer to spin at a high cadence so the times at 160 watts were at 90 - 100 RPM and the 260 watts were at 75 RPM. Take the power numbers with a grain of salt - they only relate to me on my trainer. Who knows 260 watts could really be 100 watts (or even 500 watts - dreaming). I really can't go much lower than that - this was supposed to help build leg strength. The time went by quick.

Just for fun I did an EASY, SLOW 3 mile run - the rain was light. This was the first 'BRICK' that I have done in a while. With the slow pace the brick was super easy and I felt strong - I could have ran much faster, much longer, and much harder - but I didn't.

Today - The rain has stopped so I will get to go on a longer bike ride, however, it is cool outside. I know, 48 degrees is not that cold - many people across the country would kill for that weather. But it is cool for here.

Cold weather riding -

Sunday called for a 4 1/2 hour ride. I checked the outside temperature and it was 48 degrees. I was going to go on a 50 mile bike ride and meet up with the Sunday afternoon group for another 35 - 45 miles. I put on my arm warmers, leg warmers and shoe covers. I packed lots of calories for the ride.

I hit the trail and I was immediately aware of how cold I was. I should have worn something else to keep my core temperature up. I made it to Sumrall and my feet were blocks of ice. I was not having any fun. I thought that I would turn around and ride the trainer in the house for an hour and a half until the group ride formed. Once I got home, I did get on the trainer. I had a 20 mile route programed in with lots of intervals. I took off the arm and leg warmers and changed my jersey top. I put a long sleeve technical shirt on to limit the puddle of sweat that would form under the bike.

I only made it 30 minutes (about 10 miles). My body did warm up. I did start to sweat. My feet were still cold. On top of everything I was bored.

I jumped off of the trainer and into the bathtub. I took a hot bath to get my temperature back to normal. There was definitely a lack of motivation with the training this weekend. I was looking for any excuse to not put in the time. The weather did not help.

Looking back, I do not know if this makes a difference, but I have not had a training day off this year (11 days and counting). It is hard for me to take time off. I looked at my training plan and there are no scheduled days off until 01/28 although today only calls for an hour long bike ride.

I will just have to play it by ear.

Still not swimming

Last month I read an article about many pools closing due to the need to modify the drains but I did not think that it would effect me - well it does. The pool will be closed for a least another week. I am still thinking about braving the open water swimming. I need to get a temperature reading from the lake and put the wetsuit on and just do it. I am sure the lake is much cooler that the usual 84 degrees of my closed indoor pool. I really have to start getting some time in the water.

Luckily, I always have a back up plan (meaning clothes in my locker at the gym). I did the alpine trail on the treadmill. This is still challenging to me. I only set the hill program for a max speed of 8 MPH with a max incline of 12 for 30 minutes. I did not have my heart rate monitor but it was a good workout. Next was a strength training session of back and abs. Also pretty tough after the holiday break.

Did an hour long cycling session on the trainer after work. The program called for a low cadence. Low for me is 70. I usually spin at right about 100. This was a tough session.

The diet is still in order!

Back on the diet

Last week was the start of a new diet program. I was to loosely follow the 'Body for Life' program. It was a failure! I actually think that I ate worse starting the new diet program than when on my normal, everyday diet. I usually eat oatmeal several times a day, tuna or grilled chicken for lean protein and steamed vegetables for dinner. I can follow this diet fairly easily. It is the sweets and refined grains that kill me.

Anyway, last week I cut my portions down a little and as the week progressed I got into a major calorie deficit. This always happens. It becomes very difficult to control portions and stay on the diet. The holidays did not help the matter - Kyle and Tina brought cookies into the office last week and I had a get together at the house where Brad brought pizza. Friday night I stopped at the store and bought a cake - what was I thinking. Not much will power on these days.

So I have revamped the diet for this week. I am going to increase my calorie consumption and try to keep from getting into a massive deficit. I generally eat too little scheduled calories and that is when I get into trouble. I am trying to be smarter and account for the calories up front this week.

It has been a week since the Gulf Coast 1/2 Marathon and my legs feel completely recovered. I have also analyzed the data from the race. All things considered I am satisfied with my performance, however, I do see lots of room for improvement. Having not run more than 5 or 6 miles at a time for the past 2 months definitely is not the correct training plain. It was the correct action to take to allow my hamstring to heal but not the best plan for performance. I have ran much longer (20 miles) in training in the past just not much this fall.

I ran the race by what I thought would allow for me to finish the race without hitting the wall or having to struggle the last few miles. This was achieved. However, I really believe that I could have gone much harder for longer. My running LT is right around 170 - 172 so I wanted to keep my heart rate below 170. I did this for about 28% of the race. I picked up the pace and ran in the 170's for just less than half of the race. I did not take into account that my heart rate would be elevated in a race scenario. If I had brought my heart rate up into the 170's sooner I believe that I could have shaved a few minutes off of the total time of the race. In the race, I finished strong and passed a number of people in the last 3 or 4 miles. In reality I ran a 10 mile tempo run with a 5k finish. I did receive third in my age group for the effort, however, I was beaten for second by 5 seconds and by first by less than two minutes. I am having second thoughts about a spring marathon but I am strongly considering another 1/2 marathon. I would like to better the 1:37 time from this race.

It was cold and windy here in Mississippi again - cold for Mississippi anyway. I followed my training plan to the tee this weekend and got the long run in on Saturday and the long ride in on Sunday. However, I did have to split the bike up. I rode 25 miles on the trainer and then immediately headed out the door for the group ride where I got 42 more miles.

Total for the weekend:
RUN 12.5 miles
BIKE 67 miles

Kicking 101

Got a group of guys out to 'The Rock' during lunch for some fun and games. Did some field goals, punt returns and three on three. The place holder is Kyle from Atlanta while Kevin (also from Atlanta) watches on. Unfortunately some of the 'out of towners' are now hurting.

I have been riding the trainer indoors a lot lately. It is just too dark in the morning to hit the roads. I also believe that I am becoming quite Southern. This 40 degree weather is not very comforting. I still have all of my cycling clothing from living up north for so many years but the ride is just not very fun. I can not wait until spring returns and the group morning ride resumes. This adds a fun and aggressive 40 - 60 miles a week on the bike.

I am getting better about riding the trainer. I have my old road bike permanently set up in my office. The trainer hooks up to the computer and is challenging and motivating. My training plan requires several hour+ rides during the week. These rides can pretty much only be done indoors. I think that the trainer will be more entertaining once I get past the base build period and start doing more intervals and threshold rides. I do believe that the trainer will build my cycling this winter. The long rides will still be outside and generally with a group of people.

I am excited to see how my local Time Trials will improve this spring.

Kittens no more and the off season has ended.

Well as cute as they were - the kittens have been taken to a better place (better than my house anyway). They were dropped off at the 'no-kill' shelter and I am sure that they will be adopted just in time for the holidays.

I started my 'official' 1/2 ironman training (I signed up for the plan at http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/ - I really like the site) this week with Monday being a day off - alright!

I did a strength training workout and let the legs continue to recover. They were not bad but still a little sore from the race. Today was just a 75 minute recovery bike ride. I got up in time and hit the trainer with a movie in the DVD player. Damn, an hour and fifteen is a long time. I was only able to complete 45 minutes of the ride. I think it would have been easier with intervals to break up the monotony. I will have to hit the trainer for half an hour this evening.

I have a strong swim session scheduled for lunch - I believe that structured swim sessions will allow for me to make swim progress faster.

In addition, we have started a diet routine to help with the holiday excess. It is a slightly modified 'Body for Life' plan. Basically you just try to eat clean and often and limit processed foods. I have been eating this type of diet for quite a while. I find it pretty easy to eat by schedule - especially at work. At home is another story. As the week goes on I find myself in a calorie deficit and go a little crazy. Jodie does not seem to have the problems with self control that I do. With both of us adopting this diet routine it should help me to stay on track. I definitely do not want to put on any extra weight this holiday season.

SWIM WORKOUT:

Easy swim
40 minutes - 2000 yards
Warm Up: 500
Main Set: 500 pull, then 10x50 on 1:05
Cool Down: 500 easy swim.

Pull Drill - Focus will be on learning to 'catch' the water with your forearm and pull yourself through the water. If you feel your lats (the muscles under your arm pits that go down the side of your back) engage, then you are starting to get it. If your shoulders are tired, then you are still using too much shoulder and not enough lats.

Anaerobic Threshold Test -

I decided to do some benchmark cycle performance testing on my indoor trainer. My trainer will display (on the computer) your heart rate, speed, cadence, and power. Using these parameters and the instruction from Joe Friel’s The Cyclist’s Training Bible I set out to conduct the test. I warmed up for 2 miles (about 6 minutes) on the trainer. I loaded a 10 mile course with 0 slope. The test instructs you to start at 100 watts and increase your power output by 20 watts every minute. At each minute you record your power, speed, heart rate and perceived exertion (scale from 6 – 20 - very very easy to very very hard). I wish that the results were a little better but it gives me a baseline to improve upon.



I will retest this approximately monthly to determine if my cycle training is improving.

Two flat tires and a microphone...

I set my old road bike up on the indoor cycling trainer. I purchased a trainer recently that hooks up to a computer and allows you to ride on different types of road courses. It even comes with DVD's that go faster or slower depending on how fast your are pedaling. I downloaded the 112 mile bike course from this years 2008 Louisville Ironman so that I can practice the race before I get there. You can download the .crs files from GPS devices like garmin, etc.

So I hooked my old road bike up to the trainer. I pumped up the tires to the normal 120 PSI and then tightened the trainer to the back tire. This worked fine for a few days but the bike was so slow. I felt very weak and disheartened. I had to drop into the smallest chain ring to just ride on level ground and had to stand up on the pedals to go up any amount of incline.

Day two the back tire was flat. Not only was the tire flat but there was a cut in the tire (Rufus?). I removed the bike from the trainer and changed the tire (patched the tube). Today I went for a ride on the trainer in the morning - it was 30 something degrees outside and I wanted to stay in. About 30 minutes into the ride something starts to feel funny - no not my soft tissue - but the bike is getting squirrelly. The back tire is flat again.

Fortunately I have some spare tires (both old and new). I pulled the bike off of the trainer again and changed the tire. I put in a fresh (previously patched) tube in and another tire on the rim. This time I tried to be a little smarter. I only pumped the tire up to 100 PSI and then mounted the bike back on the trainer. I adjusted everything and then picked another course to tackle. The bike performed so much better. The speeds were much more realistic and I had a lot of fun setting new bench marks. I will beat these records later this week.

With the new road bike, I headed out for the 1:30 Sunday group ride. The temperature was still in the upper forties / lower fifties. I dressed warm. I was running late and really had to make time to get the the trail head. I think this was one of my fastest times ever - about 16 minutes. The new bike is easily the most comfortable bike that I have ever ridden - soft tissue, once again stays soft while riding - but not when you need it. Also, the bike feels fast. It wants you to ride it hard. It feels like my triathlon bike but more forgiving.

Did a fun 35 miles with the group and called it a day. Total mileage was about 55 miles today (inside / outside).

FYI - pop tarts are a great mid-ride fuel...