Training log update

It's been a while since I shared monthly or weekly totals, mostly because I'd gotten pretty lazy about tracking my workouts. With my bum knee and apathetic attitude I really hadn't been writing stuff down consistently since April. Getting back in the swing of things a bit at the gym made me think of updating it this morning and I was pleased to see that even with all the stuff I missed I was still at over 170 hours for the year.

I did add the racing I did to the sheet since I remember those dates, but had to guess at a few other things. My running has really been pathetic this year, no real surprise but I would like to get it dialed back up again. I suppose I will have to get out at least once a week from work during the day to really make a difference. I've done a long run the last two Sundays, and that really fits well in my schedule, but I need to get out during the week a couple times as well.

August is shaping up to be a big month, again mostly because the rest have been weak but in any case it is encouraging to see.

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Lifting Program - week 3

As I mentioned earlier, I've started a weight-lifting regimen based on a program developed by my sister-in-law. I had two goals when I started, mix up my workouts and get a bit of a kick in the pants to refocus my attention. Any strength and fitness gains are purely incidental ;)

The good news is that both of my goals have been achieved, I have been interested in going to the gym more and have managed to get there 4 times a week for 3 straight weeks now. I've also felt better and feel like I'm moving things around. My upper body feels a bit more defined already and my legs feel very strong. I have noticed the difference in my racing the last couple weeks as well as I was able to bike and run faster.

Two good components that I would particularly recommend; foam rolling and combination lifts. Foam rolling had intrigued me for a while, it's essentially self deep tissue massage. Laying on the roller and slowing moving through the muscles feels pretty good, and when you hit a sore spot... Ouch! It can be painful, but almost immediately afterward the muscle feels much better. Secondly, the combination lifts are something she has recommended that puts a couple different exercises together. For example, this morning I was doing a squat, then stand up and curl the weight and then military press above my head. I also do a lot of these kind of exercises standing on one leg. This works the arms, but also makes your core and leg muscles fire the whole time as well. It makes for a bit more complete workout, and feels like I'm doing more than just trying to pump as much weight as I can.

Looking forward to a few more challenging weeks...

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WT - Final Race Report 2008

Last night was the final race in the series, and the whole gang was on hand for the final party. At risk was my brother's third place in his age group, but he mostly just had to finish upright to hold off his challengers and keep his spot. Everyone else was locked out of finishing in the money, myself included sadly :(

Personally though, I was ready for my best effort of the season. I was feeling very good, and have felt stronger and stronger as the weeks have passed and my knee has been feeling better. I was hoping to pull off a strong run and determined to push hard the whole way.

It was a bigger crowd again, the race has grown tremendously and gotten very popular. The size has an impact for sure, especially in the swim as I got bumped a lot. Overall, a good swim, and my quickest of the year by a few seconds. The bike was also good, I pushed very hard and managed to pass a lot of people. Unfortunately, the last 1/2 mile or so I had chain issues, dropping it once and making tons of noise and making me nervous the rest of the way. I took it easy to try not to cause any more problems. Ended up with my fastest bike split of the year (27:39), but I still felt that I could have been faster.

Started the run feeling good and running hard. I didn't slow for the first hill, and just kept running as fast as I could. I had hoped to hold off Brendan who's the quickest runner among the family group. I hit the last uphill feeling that I had done it when he went past me. I tried desperately to stay with him, but he pulled away on the hill and then I couldn't reel him in over the finish line sprint. I did still finish with a great run time, (27:39) also my fastest time of the year and finished with a year best (obviously) of 1:02:49.

Disappointed a bit that it's the last race of the year... but I'm motivated again to hit the off-season hard and be much faster out of the gate next year.

Final results here: http://www.plattsys.com/results/res2008/wt0810.htm

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Final Chance

Today's the last night for the Winding Trails race! The party has grown bigger than ever, with up to 8 of my friends and family competing tonight. Hmm... perhaps I should ask the race director for a commission!

I had a good race last week and I'm looking forward to another good result this week. My weight-training regimen has gotten me feeling much better and has resulted in a faster time last week.

Perhaps there's another race out there this season after all, I'll have to do a little checking.

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Strange to have Mike without the Mad Dog... If you're a fan at all, it's worth listening to the "farewell".

8-15 Mike & the Mad Dog Farewell
via Mike Francesa on 8/15/08The last opening to Mike & the Mad Dog radio show. Mike addresses the public for the first time since Thursday's announcement that the show was ending. Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo joins Mike by phone to talk about the end of the show.

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WT Race Report

A bit late, but I had a great race this week... finished in first place in the family race, and 99 out of 212 overall at 1:03:58. I finally felt "good" throughout, which is not to say that it wasn't painful :)

Swim focused, biked hard, and tried to run fast, not just steady. Once again, it's the run stupid! I kept trying to move my feet faster instead of just stay moving... ultimately rewarded with a 28:17 run time, my best time of the year.

Final week next week... last chance this year for all you slackers.

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Weight lifting week 2

Starting my second week...

Feels pretty good, I'm enjoying the program so far. I feel stronger and better already and I'm down 5 lbs. Admittedly, I don't expect that to last or have even expected that result. I'm guessing it's more a focused workout approach has made me focus more on eating better and getting other workouts in.

Hopefully, I can keep making progress.

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Nice Weekend

Fun week in general, I started my new lifting program thanks to my sister-in-law, and I got a ton of time on the bike in this weekend.

Rode to the beach with my uncle to go to my cousin's graduation party (55 miles) and then played volleyball for a couple hours. Yeah, I was shot at the end of the day! Today, we went for a quick mountain bike ride and then I sat in the hot tub to recover.

I'm headed back to the gym in the morning to start my next week's workout. Hopefully it will be as fun as this past week... it looks like it from what I've seen.

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Better late than never

Crazy week at work after the week off...

I did race this week, the knee is feeling much better with the prescribed exercises. It was a fun race, although I did try and take it easy. I finished behind my uncle but ahead of the two young guns, not sure that would have happened if Brendan hadn't cramped up on his run and been unable to keep his usual pace.

Also, interesting quote and reading from another blog that I subscribe to, relating to my day job a bit:

"Architecture, for me anyway, involves intention, game theory, systems thinking and relentless testing and improvement. Fine with me if you want to call it design, just don't forget to do it."
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/08/is-architect-a.html

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