Rest is good?

This is my last recovery week before the last four week push, and also marks the first time I have had weather issues all summer.  No ride Tuesday or Thursday due to rain, and had to to two lunch combo swim/run workouts to keep it indoors.  Today’s workout (Friday) I felt much fresher than Wednesday and had a solid mile swim/5 mile run combo at lunch over a 90 minute workout.

These recovery weeks have been a tough concept for me to accept, other than the fact that my body tells me they work.  The 3 week hard, 1 week recovery cycle has made a difference as I can tell.  Mentally you are debating all week that laying off so much for so long is going to set you back, but somehow you come back with that much more for the next phase.  I never noticed this much in my shorter distance training plans in previous years, but obviously when you step up the volume for a half-ironman rest becomes a key component (as backwards as that seems).  Since I skipped two short (1h) rides this week I am going to stretch Saturdays ride to from 90 minutes to 3 hours.  Also have a brick planned for Sunday that by the plan should be 1h 30min ride + 50 min run, but I am going to do 1hr + 2 hour run.  I missed a 1h 50min run last Sunday travelling, so I need a long run since it has been a few weeks since the last run over 90 minutes.  Oh yes, also have to get another 2000 meters in the pool Sunday as well.

Hopefully the weather holds off and we log some nice mileage this weekend.  Next week should be back to the plan as written with four weeks to go from this Sunday.

Catching Up Part 4

OK. Now the final catch up to get current. Last week 8/17-8/24 was the final week of build phase 2 before a recovery week. Since I had scheduled a race for Saturday I had to drop one run, and one swim and shift a few workouts. Tuesday’s 1h 10min ride was scrapped and spent packing. I moved Wednesday’s 2300 meter swim to Tuesday. Wednesday I did the longer of the two midweek runs (scheduled for Friday) of 1hour (with sprints at the end) and scrapped the scheduled Wednesday run of 40 minutes. We got to Florida on Wednesday night and Thursday morning went out for the long ride that is normally on Saturday. Although scheduled for 3h 15min I shortened it my 45 min to cover 43 miles. One thing that I forgot about coastal riding is the wind is a significant factor when it is in your face. It was like riding the second half of the ride uphill the entire time, and really was a good leg workout. Friday was off, so no swim or run and Saturday was the Sandestin Triathlon.

This is one of my favorite races for a few reasons. The length is a bit longer than a sprint at ½ mile swim, 20 mile bike and 4 mile run. One of my favorite things is that it is an open gulf swim with a mass wave start so you get the great Gulf of Mexico water along with a bit of the chaos in the water that you miss with a staggered start race.

I felt very strong on the swim and was out of the water at about 14:30. With a little cross current the entire time I was pleased with the time and felt like I never exerted much during the swim. The run to the transition is out of the beach, up a boardwalk, and into the parking lot so the posted time was a little longer since the timing mats are not until you get to the end of the boardwalk. Thankfully this year there were no jellyfish like 2007. My official swim time was posted at 15:58 where my goal was set at 15min.

The bike was downwind to the turnaround and I was moving at a nice 22-25mph pace the entire time. After the turnaround speed dropped to close to 20mph, but I was able to maintain and pin it into the wind to beat my goal of sub 55min bike time. My posted time on the 20 mile bike was 53:42 which was a 22.3mph average. I was very happy with this since I am a 19mph average rider on my training rides.

The run was a nice out and back 4 miler on golf paths and the road inside the Sandestin resort. It took about 7-8 min to get my legs and I really felt like I took it slow the first two miles so I could accelerate to the finish. I ended up running a little faster than I felt. I would have guessed a low 9 min pace, but my actual time on the run came in at 34:17 which was an 8:34 min/mile pace. I was very pleased and felt strong at the end.

My total time on the race this year was 1.47:38. My goal was set at 1h 46 min without transition times so I was pleased with the result since it had been almost a year since my last real race. The real fun was comparing this year’s results with 2007 results (2008 race was cancelled due to Hurricane Fay). Race place improved from 448^th place to 135^th place overall (out of 700), with age group place moving from 63^rd out of 78 to 24^th out of 74. My swim time dropped by 1min 49 seconds, bike time dropped by 7min 50 seconds, and run time dropped by 10min 14 seconds. The only time that didn’t drop was my T2 which I blazed in 2007 at 52 seconds. I was a bit slower (due to my number belt breaking) at 1min 21 seconds this year. The overall time improvement from 2007 race to 2009 race was 20 minutes and 4 seconds. Huge improvement in a short race. Obviously by percentage gain relative to time, my run was the most improved. I think that my pre-training half marathon and run base has really helped out looking at these numbers.

I ended up missing my scheduled long run on Sunday of 1h 40min and shortened that to a 40 min run before leaving Florida and heading back home.  The plan is to make up for that by making my brick run next Sunday 2 hours instead

Catching Up Part 3

August has brought along many challenges and has been a great month in the training cycle. As we inch a little closer to the race the long rides and runs are adding that last bit of length, the intervals on the short midweek work are getting longer and more challenging, but I feel like I am responding well to it. As I write this I am currently in the recovery week associated with August, so I have been a little worn out. Not to mention that I did compete in my first race of this year the Sandestin Triathlon (more on that later) .

The first two full weeks this August started stretching total workout times to 9-11 hours per week. The swimming is running 2200-2600 meters with a lot of speed intervals during the midweek and the longer constant swims on the weekend swim. Since the actual swim in the race will only be a little over 1930 meters I feel like my swims are there. These intervals now are all about adding speed. The runs are still the same midweek interval and speed runs, but those shorter runs are not 45min to an hour, with the longest run over these two first weeks of 1h 30min covering 8.5 miles. I am still a bit concerned about the run of 13.1 miles in the race, so I plan on extending a few of the long runs over the next weeks even longer. If I follow the training plan to a T, I will only max out at a 2h run, which will not be a full half-marathon at my pace. The bike is really starting to get long with a 3 hour and 2hour 45 min ride over these weeks as well. I have also tried to add a few runs if only for a 10min period just to keep the legs used to converting after such a long ride. In addition there was one decent length brick in there on 8/16 with an 1h 30min ride and 40 minute run. This was a day after a 2h 30 min ride and also after a morning swim of 2000 yards. Surprisingly I felt very strong on the brick. This brought me into last week which was a bit modified since I was adding a race on Saturday instead of a scheduled 3h 30min ride. More on that in the next Catching Up post.

Catching Up Part 2

July brought along the build phase of the plan and the workouts stepped up considerably. I also made a conscious effort to not miss any workouts if at all possible. If I did skip a workout it was normally the swim on Sundays since that would take me away from the house for a long period of time on the weekend time. Also, my swim is pretty well established so if I had to pick one discipline to skip that was the one. This new training period brought forth the schedule I have been on for the last 7 weeks as well. Tuesday and Thursday bike rides added speed work and hills to the 1 to 1:30 rides, and the Wednesday and Friday runs added intervals on Tuesdays and sprints on the end of the run on Fridays. The real work was on Saturday and Sunday mornings with the long rides in July extending from 2h 20min to 2h 50min where I was now covering close to 50 miles on the ride. The longer runs on Sundays started creeping into the 1h 20min range covering the mid 7 mile length depending on how I felt. Those long runs are a lot more difficult when you had a 3 hour ride the day before, and a swim on the same day as the run, but they call it the build phase for a reason. The end of July brought the first recovery week of the build phase to close the month out. Looking at July as a whole, the first three full weeks featured 8 workouts on average with total training time creeping from 6 hours the first week up close to 8:30 in the second and third week. The recovery week at the end was a nice break with the time brought down to a restful 5h 30 min of training to close out build period 1.

At the end of July I was tired, but felt very strong kicking into August. This was the first time I have really experienced what a recovery week can do for you in a training cycle as the beginning of Build 2 I felt much stronger than in previous weeks. As they say, rest is the key to adding endurance. Also, in July I finally got below the 200lb mark for the first time in almost 10 years, and can definitely see the difference now in body composition.

Catching Up Part 1

Another long timeframe between posts, but this one was at least warranted. The last 2 ½ months of training have run the gamut from being excited to being bored and being fresh, and most importantly being tired. Combine all that with the normal trappings of work, summer with the kids home, and the rest of a normal life it has been a grind, but an enjoyable one. However that grind has also kept me from staying on top of things here. Now that I am entering the peak phase over the next few weeks and tapering I will try to give a daily update again.

The workout plan I am using has the classic periodization format, and up until the end of June the work was all still in the base phase with lots of mid distance slower work. I was still a bit complacent during that month as well with the consistency of the work but felt good and established by the end of June for the tougher work ahead. My weeks were mostly in 2:30 to 5 hour total training times with the longest workouts being around an hour on the runs, 2 hours on the bike and 1700 meters in the pool. As the month closed out I was working to the annual Peachtree Road Race on July 4^th to get a gauge on where my run base was.

July started with an easy week leading up to the Peachtree Road Race on Friday July 4^th. This also coincided with the end of week 8 of the plan (the last week of the base period), so I was still taking it easy and not hitting every workout. My normal Peachtree time has always been between an hour to 1:10, partly because I always ran a 10min mile pace, and also because I normally ran with a group of people and our goal was to have a good morning, not necessarily a good time. My goal was a sub 56 minute time and I ended up running a 55 flat time which was an 8:52 pace. For me that was a good time and I was pleasantly surprised with a sub 9 min pace. Here is a view of the race from my watch, with elevation, HR and pace on the grid.