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....

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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 :)

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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...

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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.

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Colchester ½ Marathon

I haven’t been training specifically for a ½ marathon, but when one pops up on the schedule at a convenient time for a $3 race fee, you sort of HAVE to do it. My focus the last couple of months has been on the Lake Placid Ironman, my first Ironman race and not specifically on running. Of course, I’ve been running a lot, you can’t train for a triathlon without running, but my long runs are around 10 miles at this point as I’ve been slowing building up volume.

In any case, Saturday morning my brother and I headed out for the race, he having never done a ½ before, and this only my second. I didn’t know much about the course, other than the rumor that it was “somewhat hilly”. Of course, hilly turned out to be a bit of an understatement; apparently the Alps have been moved to CT. The hills were relentless, there was no flat at all, we went up and down the entire time. Matt and I ran together the whole way, and figured to try and pace steady through 10 miles, then use whatever we had left. Unfortunately, 10 miles coincided with the final 3 mile uphill to the finish. At that point, my legs were trashed from the hills, and there wasn’t much left. I tried to keep my legs turning over, but the pace was pretty slow. I’m pretty sure that anyone out for a leisurely walk would have passed me at that point. My brother pulled away a bit, and I tried to go after him, but my legs just wouldn’t move. He ended up finishing about 30 seconds ahead of me, we both came in just over 2:15. I had hoped for better, but in retrospect I feel that was a pretty good time for me for that course.

Race Results here... http://greystoneracing.net/pages/Race%20Results%202007/Colchester%20Half%202.24.07.txt

Rested on Sunday, and back to spin class this morning…

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Goals for Week February 18 - 25

Back to a bike focus for next week, although this one will be a bit different with the race at the end of the week. It's looking good for the 1/2 marathon on Saturday, although I haven't done a lot of specific training for it. I'm hoping to finish around 2 hours and just have fun running with my brother and sister-in-law.

I need to keep getting on the bike next week and I'm going to try getting in the water 3 times, to help improve my swimming. It's still tough to do much swimming with the pool I'm limited to, but I'm hoping more repetition will help.

Have a good week everyone.

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Good Excuse?

Well, I haven't been able to get a workout in the last couple of days but I have a good excuse :0

I had some dental work done about 8 years ago (root canal) and it's been giving me trouble lately. So I went in to the dentist on Wed. to have the tooth pulled, (It turned out to be seriously decayed under the crown, the smell was awful when it came apart in pieces) and the Doc said "No strenuous exercise!". I felt that was a good reason not to get any workouts in :)

I did get back to Yoga at lunch today, so at least I've done something... back on track tomorrow for a Spin / Run brick in the morning, and perhaps a longer run at lunch time.

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Slacking and Hurting

Well... I've been slacking, haven't posted for a while, sorry about that. Work has been pretty busy and it's been tough to find the time to sit down and write a few paragraphs during the day when I usually get the chance. In any case, training has been fairly steady, although the workload has impacted that a bit as well. I'm still getting the workouts in for the most part, but the quality slipped a little last week as I was pretty tired.

Two interesting notes from the weekend, first my brother has been totally roped in at this point, he went and bought a road bike. We took a ride up to Brookline, near Boston, to pick up a used Specialized Allez in pretty good shape. Frame looked great, and although the components weren't top notch, they should work pretty well until he's ready to upgrade. A nice ride up with the oldest and youngest of my girls as well.

I also managed to get outside for a mtb ride on Sunday morning again, we've missed a few weeks with the snow on the ground. The ground is back to being manageable with a few inches left, but mostly packed down on the trails. A bit slicker than usual, you had to be careful on the downhills and spun out a bit easier going up, but it was still fun. It probably made for a tougher workout with more spinning than a usual ride.

I also got a nice long run in during the afternoon, and I'm pretty sore today. This morning, spin class was a bit tough and I jumped in the pool afterward to try and work out the stiffness. It didn't help too much, hopefully Yoga at lunch time today will improve things.

This coming week is a Run focus, and I'm going to keep in that way for a couple weeks as there is a 1/2 marathon coming up on the 24th that I'm eyeing. It's the kids school vacation week, so plans may change, but if I get the chance I'll head over and run it.... we'll see.

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Summary (and Goals) for Week

Whoops, missed my goal post on Friday so I'll put it in here. First, the results from my first recovery week... well, it was a recovery :)

As I mentioned, the goal for this week was to allow my body to catch up with the work that I have been doing for the last 3 weeks. It seemed to work pretty well, as I'm feeling ready to go again. In fact, I suspect I may have backed off a bit too much as I was starting to feel antsy this past weekend. It snowed on Friday night, so I didn't get to go out for a ride this weekend and instead rode on the trainer in the basement. It's a little tougher to get motivated when you are in the basement.

Other training related notes for last week, I got a 1 hour massage, hoping that would help loosen the muscles. It worked pretty well, and definitely helped my shoulder loosen up. It's been a bit tight for a few weeks, and feels much better now that it did. Hopefully I'll be able to fit a massage in every 4 weeks or so. Thanks to Peg at Relax and Release, if anyone needs a massage in Ellington, CT I would definitely recommend her. Also, I order a few Spinerval videos to watch on the trainer. They are mostly the base building type workouts, long rides with some intervals. That includes the Hardcore 100, a 5 hour plus workout! I hope to complete that a couple of times this winter.

Now for the goals for this week, it's back to a bike focus. 5 days or more on the bike with a couple long rides. I'm planning to get in a 2 hour plus ride again this week. Swimming is still in maintenance mode, and I will also ramp up the run a bit. There is a 1/2 marathon in 2 weeks that I'm considering. It feels pretty good to think that I have the base fitness to go run 13 miles if I feel like it!

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January... or how I overcame cabin fever

January was a very good month training wise, I came very close to 40 hours total. Here's the numbers:

Summary
7,000 yds swimming - 2 1/2 hours - Ouch... still not very good
378 miles biking - 21 hours, much of this is MTB, and the miles are converted to effort
75 miles running - 7 1/2 hours.

Obviously, a focus on the bike which has been real helpful in building my base endurance. Additionally, it's helping me lose some weight and round into better shape. I have another 15 pounds or so to go before I hit my planned race weight. As I've mentioned, lots of time on the mountain bike, and its been a lot of fun. I can feel the mountain biking do a lot for my cardiovascular system, although it definitely still feels different when I get on the triathlon bike.

Swimming is going to be an issue pretty soon, although I'm reasonably confident that I can stretch it out once I can get outdoors to swim. I'm trying to maintain my feel for the water, and then I'll just have to ramp up the endurance later when I get a chance. Still waiting to hear back from the swim coach.

Running is progressing well, I think it will be more of a focus for February and I've been considering a 1/2 marathon at the end of the month. That would be a pretty solid test for me to ensure I'm in at least as good a shape as I was for Hartford this past summer. We'll see, this may get added to the schedule.

Looking forward to a good February!

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