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.

I am alive!

Well, delays and a crazy spring have kept me very busy wrapping up the school year and heading into the summer.  The ING race went well with a final time I was a bit disappointed in of 2:20.  At the 9 mile mark I was right on pace and felt great, but the last four miles were mostly uphill, and my lack of hill training caught up to me and slowed the pace down.  All in all it was a good day and the run with my friends Dawn and Michelle was great.  My goal in the beginning was to try and become more proficient at the run, and enjoy it.  I can say unequivocally that I met those goals.  The main thing now is that I enjoy my running workouts and look forward to them.  I think that incorporating speed work for the first time has paid great dividends, and now 10 min per mile is my warm-up pace, not my race pace.

The past two months involved a nice week off in Florida after the ING, and two four week cycles of a build program in my triathlon training.  I am swimming about 4,000 yards a week, running about 4 hours and biking about 4 hours.  Next week begins the first real strenuous test in training and the updates will begin again.

I am officially entered in the Augusta Half Ironman, and have four other friends who are in the race along with me.  One of them is a full Ironman already, one has completed several half-Ironman's, and the other is a newbie (he is a 3:10 marathoner already).  Needless to say I am the least accomplished of the group.

I am also thinking about using the race as an opportunity to raise funds for a group who assists visually impaired athletes compete in triathlon.  The Augusta race will be the debut of Operation Refocus from the C Different Foundation .  This group will consist of visually impaired veterans and I think it is a great cause.  I will update a little later as to what the plan is, but I think that raising money for a group like this should be an easy ask.

Lastly, a health update.  I have finally broken the mythical 200 barrier.  I have not weighed less than 200 since before I was married (1998), and mostly stayed around the 205-210 region.  My “winter coat” this year had me at close to 220 in January before my run training began.  This week I clocked in at 199.6 lb.  That is a big milestone for me, and I would love to be close to 190 by race day.  I am also doing ab work as well as some quick circuit lifting while at the gym.  I feel great an look forward to the challenge that training will bring over the next few months.

Ready To Go

One day to go and all looks well for Sunday's half marathon. It has been raining for three days straight but the forecast calls for showers to end Saturday and race day low of 47 and high of 56, so good running conditions as long as we don't get any rain. I am shooting for a sub 2:10 time for my first half, and will be a bit disappointed if I come in over 2:15. I will take some photos and video along the run and post Sunday night.

One week to go

One week to go to the half marathon and then after a week of leisure at the beach the real training begins for Augusta this fall. I started with the idea of working on my worst discipline, running, and getting that base out of the way first. I can now say that I feel like this has been a good start to what will be challenging season this year. Employing some speeedwork for the first time ever in my running has allowed me to get my miles per minute average down below 10 min on all my runs, so I am shooting for a 2:15 half, and if I feel good I will pick it up at the end and try for 2:10. Overall my running and my attitude towards running has greatly improved in the past three months and I am actually enjoying it now.
My training has been on par and I had my first double digit run a week ago of 11 miles in 1h 55min. This last week is a few 2-3 milers with intervals to keep the legs fresh, then the ING Atlanta half marathon on Sunday.

March 11

Nothing big to report since the last update, just keeping the training up. I am scheduled to do my first double digit run Saturday or Sunday of 10 miles so that will be a milestone for me. I have also changed my diet a bit in the last week and a half since I seem to be stuck at the same weight since January. I was a big lunch/big dinner eater, and am trying the 5 small meals/snacks each day. Also have not had a Coke (or anything carbonated) since the month kicked off. So far it has helped me drop 4 more pounds.
I have my car back so that interruption is off, and spring is in the air in Atlanta with some 80 degree days this past week. And we had snow 9 days ago. Crazy weather. We are 2 ½ weeks to go to the ING half marathon then the real plan kicks off for the half-Ironman.

February 22

I got out on the bike for the first time in 2009 on The Silver Comet Trail west of Atlanta. Weather was great and I did a little over 38 miles in close to 2 hours. Temp was in the low 60’s and I felt great up to the last 10 miles. I think the spin classes have definitely helped keep my base thru the winter.

There are some great sections on the trail once you get outside of Atlanta. The Silver Comet was once a train from Birmingham, AL to Atlanta and they have converted the Atlanta to Anniston, AL portion to a ride that can stretch over 100 miles. If you start about 15 miles off the trailhead you don’t get near as much traffic and there are very few street crossings. One of the best rides you can do in this area if you are looking for a ride without any significant climbs. There are also some great trestle crossings over 100ft up from the ground and this 700 foot tunnel at Brushy Mountain.

Good ride to start off the year. Scheduled to do a 8 mile run today so we shall see how that goes following the ride today.