Views from Left Field: March 2007

Mar 29, 2007

Do you have what it takes to be an IronMan??

Extensive training... dedication... hard work... do you have what it takes? Some consider it the ultimate endurance event.

I'm not sure I can do it, but I'm willing to try!

Mar 28, 2007

Still in the running

Well, another 11 mile plus run yesterday brings me up over 90 miles, so it looks like I may get to 100 after all for the month. The other really good thing is the frequency, I've run over 21 days so far this month and can get close to 25 if I really try. I think the regularity of the runs have really helped my legs recover better and better as they are getting used to the running. The other good test was the 2 runs in 3 days of over 10 miles each. I was feeling tired towards the end yesterday, but I feel mostly recovered today. Hoping to get another mid-length run in tomorrow... we'll see how I feel after that.

Also anticipating the Mooseman race coming up in June... I plotted out the bike course on gmap-pedometer. Gmap is a pretty cool tool that lets you plot courses with elevation and distance, I use it to map out bike and run routes. Check out the Mooseman bike course, or the Ironman bike course. Just a few hills :)

Mar 26, 2007

20 miles in 6 days?

I'm up to 80 miles of running with less than a week to go. Not sure I'm going to make it unless I get at least one really long run in during the week. I'm going to set aside some time on Thursday to go out for a run, but work has a way of getting in the way a lot.

We'll see...

Scantic Splash

Cold, really really cold... but fun. That's how I would describe the canoe race I did on Saturday with my brother. It was the 5 mile long Scantic Spring Splash that finishes with a series of 4-5 drops of a few feet each right before the finish line. The photo below is in the final 100 feet of the race being watched by a couple hundred people, most of whom are on the same side as the picture is taken from.
The race was a blast, and we only went in the water twice. Twice in 34 degree water that is, it took your breath away when you hit it. I wore my wetsuit underneath the shirt, and managed to be a bit comfortable after I got back in the boat, but it was pretty cold while I was under. There were 3 sets of rapids, and we flipped in the first two. Fortunately for us, we got it figured out in time for the last set where most of the people were, including my aunt with her camera. We finished in 5 place out of 16 boats in our class. Not bad for the first time in a canoe together in probably 10 years with my brother.

Edit.. pics here
and more pics

Mar 23, 2007

Washing Machine

Finally got the countdown working on the right.... inspiration below

Looking ahead to biking

I'm going to try and focus on biking in April, much like I focused on running this month. Towards that end, I decided to buy a rack for my bike so that I can do a lot more commuting to work, adding a 40 mile minimum round trip to my day.

This seems like a good way to get more miles in and also save a bit of money on gas and wear and tear on my truck. My office has a gym with a shower, so I just need to bring a change of clothes and I can take a shower when I get to work. I commuted a few times a month last year and it's a real pain with a backpack. It gets heavy and hurts your back a bit and it's really hot during the summer on your back.

I also ordered a new helmet, since the one I have is old and rather cheap and it seemed like a good idea to have a spare on hand.

Mar 19, 2007

Running Dialogue

It's been an interesting two weeks since I tried to really challenge myself with my running. I've had a harder time with the running every day than running long distance, in fact I'm feeling a bit burned out with the daily grind. It will be nice to go back to a 4 or 5 times a week schedule. I did get in a 32 mile week and a 24 mile week, so I've gotten some good volume, but a lot of it has been getting on the treadmill for a couple miles so that I could count the day.

My total mileage at the moment is 58, so I only have 42 miles to go to hit my aggressive goal of 100 for the month. There is still an outside chance that I can hit that goal, I'll have to keep the frequency up and get in a few longer runs. I'm due for a recovery week this week, and I'm feeling a bit sore so I will probably take a day or two off of running and they try to make it back up with a long run or two this weekend.

The 15k that I was supposed to do this weekend was postponed, and I wasn't able to do it... a bit disappointing, but not a big deal.

Mar 16, 2007

Geek Humor

Funny post on one of my favorite blogs about certification. http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000818.html now if only they had a class I could take to help get this official certification!

Oh... if you're looking for actual training content.... sorry, none here :)

Still running, my legs are feeling it. More to come, I have a race tomorrow.

Mar 12, 2007

A little cross training this weekend

Chasing the kids...

Kids

Solid Week

Well... it was a good weekend. I've kept to the running every day, I'm currently at 8 days and counting and I've made a good start on hitting 100 miles. As of today, the 12th, I have 41 miles complete, requiring me to average 3.1 miles a day from here on out. I've changed my thinking a bit in that it actually seems harder to get a run in every day than it will be to hit the mileage target. It's a bit of a grind to get on the treadmill every day and crank out a few miles with all the other stuff I have going on, but going for a long run on Saturday or Sunday feels good. I can make up a lot of distance pretty easily if I run 6 miles plus 3 days a week as opposed to trying to run 3 every day.

This past week, I hit 32 1/2 miles plus over 100 miles on the bike. I've also reached over 24 hours for the month, and I'm projected to put in my biggest month ever. In the meantime I just keep feeling better and better.

Mar 6, 2007

More on my month to come

I'm feeling a bit re-energized with the idea of having to run a LOT this month. I'm now at day 2 of the 15 days in a row and I don't think I'll have any trouble keeping this up. The larger issue will be hitting a 100 miles total for the month. Currently at 8 miles, I'll need to average over 3 1/2 miles a day for the rest of the month to hit that goal. If I can get a few 10 mile runs in over the weekend, I can get ahead of pace and make things a bit easier.

Ideally, I should go right from my spinning class in the morning directly to the treadmill. This gets a 'brick' workout in (practicing the transition from bike to run that I will do in a triathlon) and it lets me get the run out of the way for the day. I can occasionally get another run in later in the day or evening, but things are usually a bit less flexible later in the day. This would also allow for 2 a days, a good way to get in extra mileage without totally beating up my legs with extra long workouts.

Next week is scheduled to be a run focus week, and I have the race on Saturday so I'm thinking a 25-30 mile week might be in the cards. My current weekly high for running is 26 miles, achieved back in September... hitting a 100 for the month is definitely going to be a challenge!

One of the reasons for this challenge as I mentioned was the idea that I needed to kickstart both my motivation and weight loss goals. Implicit in that is the requirement that my diet improves, at least a little bit. I still struggle with eating healthy, as years of bad habits are still a bit hard to break. Things have certainly improved, I'm bringing my lunch to work to make sure that I get a good lunch, and I've tried to eat a bit less at dinner. Desserts are still my bane however, including the 2 pieces of pie I ate last night! I'll keep working on it though....

Mar 5, 2007

Plateau

I feel like I've hit a bit of a plateau lately, physically and mentally. My weight is staying about the same, the training has been consistent but not outstanding and I haven't really been able to push myself mentally. Even the 1/2 marathon that I did while fun and a decent time didn't feel hard, like I didn't really push. So, I feel like I need something bigger to push me a little bit.

This morning's workout really helped, I got to the gym early and pushed really hard in spin class. Over an hour and twenty minutes total since I started early before the class, and my legs are feeling that good ache. When I got finished, I felt a bit inspired so I decided to challenge myself, and the one thing that seems to spur on my fitness breakthroughs is running. So, I've decided I'm going to try and run every day for 15 straight days, coinciding with the first day of spring. This will also include another race, a 15k in a week and a half, so I'm hoping to really push hard for that race too. In addition, since I don't want to make it too easy to just run a quick mile or so after spin class, I'm going to try to reach 100 miles for the month. That's probably going to be pushing it just a bit, but we'll see how close I can get. The good news is there are 31 days in March, the bad news is that it's already the 5th and I only have 3 miles in for the month... only 97 miles to go :)

Mar 3, 2007

Good week... topped off

It's been a good week, I was supposed to be in a recovery week, but I felt pretty good so I got some quality workouts in. A nice long swim for a change, 45 minutes worth, tough to do in the short pool, but I just blanked out and kept going. 2 hours plus on the trainer with Matt this morning was a bit tough as well, mostly mentally, it's hard to just keep pushing when you're staring at the wall. Wrapped it up with an hour of Yoga tonight to stretch out, and I feel good.

Looking forward to a nice mountain bike ride at Case tomorrow...

Mar 1, 2007

February Summary

February was a good month... I got some solid training in and even got to run in a race!

Summary
Swim - 8,500 yards - 3 hours
Bike - 289 miles - 15 1/2 hours
Run - 38 miles - 6 1/2 hours
Other (Yoga) - 10 1/2 hours

My overall volume is down for biking and running, and swimming is up just a bit. Still not enough swimming, but I can't really add too much without getting into a different pool. The chances of that seem to decline every day, so at this point I'm just hoping to "tread water" until I can get out in the lake in the spring :)

Biking is still solid overall, the snow has hurt the amount of time I can spend outside and thus it's down a bit from last month, I need to bump up my long rides on the trainer a bit more in March in order to have the endurance base in April to put in the really long rides outside. Overall, I feel like I'm in a pretty good place on the bike.

Running is increasingly in my comfort zone... down a bit this month in terms of volume, but this is again due to crummy weather outside. I was pleased that the 1/2 marathon that I did showed a respectable time for the course given I hadn't specifically trained. From my perspective this means I'm gaining the fitness to go out and run 13 miles whenever I feel like it, a far cry from where my running was a year ago!

The big addition this month was the Yoga, a program of 3 classes during the week, and some additional time on my own. I think this is making a big difference for me in both core strength and flexibility. It's also helping my body composition as I'm losing weight and building more muscle. Overall, my body just feels better! I would definitely recommend Yoga to anyone that asks as a good way to feel better, and add both strength and flexibility. One recommendation is http://www.yogatoday.com, this site offers a free download of a 1 hour yoga program every day. Very cool and useful for trying Yoga on your own at home. I use it occasionally for my home practice, and my wife uses it a few times a week.

Goals for March are increased run frequency and building my bike to 3 1/2 hours.