Bike/Swim

Today I got an early start after taking my little ones to school. I'm glad I did because about an hour after I finished my bike it started raining and I'm not sure if it's stopped since. I rode near my house and did 45 minutes covering 14 miles. I rode with my heart rate monitor and kept my HR below the magic 140 bpm. Average speed was 19.2 mph.

This evening I was able to do a short swim. I went to the fleet rec center 50m pool for some cruising. Here is what I did. Warmup 300m free, 200m kick, 100m free, 200m kick then, 300m pull (30s RI), 3x100m (15s RI), 300m free, cooldown 100m free, done. I only did 1800 meters and I checked my heart rate after every event. Of course I had to check it the old fashion way. Anyway it was right around 135 to 140 after each event. That is just where I want it so I'm thinking I'm on the right track. I'll know more for sure in January. I really hate waiting!!

Have a good day!

Brick day

Today I did my weekly brick workout. But before I get to that I should let you know that I've decided to check out www.markallenonline.com for some coaching. Just in case you don't know coach Mark is a six time Ironman world champion. Yes he won the Hawaii ironman six times! Anyway, I'm going to give his off season training plan a go for a few weeks and see how I like it. One thing that I have been reading about is the importance of using your heart rate as a measure of power. My magic number seems to be 140 bpm so for the next few months I'll be working out without going higher than 140 bpm to build a strong aerobic engine. The idea is that I'll get faster over time using the same HR. We'll see how it works.

So back to today's workout. I did a short bike followed by a short run. I'm racing this weekend so I didn't want to go that far. However, I did use a heart rate monitor for today's workout. I did 15 miles in 46 minutes and never let my heart rate get above 140 bpm for more than a few seconds. I'm not sure how that effected my bike but I'll keep track of my times and speeds while never getting my HR above 140 bpm. When I got off the bike and started my run I actually had to pick up the pace at first to get my HR up to 140 bpm. I did the 4.1 mile run in 31 minutes and my average HR was 139 bpm. That is a 7:33 minute mile. When I finished I felt great so maybe there really is something to HR training.

Have a good day!

Run - Crossfit - Swim

Today was a busy workout day. When I got to work today I had no plans of running since I just wanted to do crossfit and swim. But when a friend at work offered me a chance to run I just couldn't say no. I didn't have my running shoes but I did have my Teva sandals. Not the kind with two straps but the ones that look like regular shoes with a bunch of holes in them. My friend was running 7 miles but I really didn't need or want to go that far. So I turned around after 2 miles. Once on my own I did what I always do, I picked up the pace. I ended up running 4.1 miles in 31 minutes, which is around 7:30 per mile. The sandals were great and very comfy too.

When I finished the run I went to the our crossfit gym at work and did today's workout. Only I did the "light" version, basically I did half of the workout. Here is what I did: 5 rounds of 135 lb deadlift, 10 reps; pushups, 15 reps. I'm sure I'll feel that in my lower back tomorrow.

I then headed home around 4pm to meet up with some friends at chick's beach for an open water swim. However, no body showed up but me and I really didn't want to do an open water swim without somebody watching out for me. So I headed to the local rec center and ended up doing 2500 meters. Here is the workout: warmup 400m free then 4x400m (20s RI), 16x25m (20s RI, odds fast for 12.5m/easy for 12.5m, evens fast), 100m cooldown. Total time was 41:47, which is 1:40 per 100m. If I haven't said it enough I'm really starting to enjoy swimming.

Have a good day!

Thursday/Friday

OK where did I leave off? Oh yes, I was swimming on Thursday. I had plans to ride and swim but I only got around to swimming. The good thing is I had a great session in the pool. I only swam 2100 meters but I did it in 31:29. That my friends is an average of 1:30 per 100 meters. I'm thinking that all my technique swimming is starting to pay off. In contrast my Ironman swim time was 1:46 per 100 meter. I'm going to keep working on my swimming throughout the fall, winter and spring.

Today I did a very short slow run. I just wanted to get out and cruise along at 8 minute pace and that is just what I did. I only ran 4.3 miles but it was nice and my body is happy about it. I'm going to take it easy for the weekend and start again on Monday. I've decided that I'm going to probably only do one workout per day through the "off season". We'll see how that goes.

See you Monday!

Swim/Bike

Hello friends,

Today was a good day! I got lots of work done and I found time to swim and bike. I started with the swim this morning just before lunch. I swam a 300m free warmup then, 4x200m free, 600m pull, 16x25m fast free, 200m free cooldown. The total time was 38:18 which comes out to 1:40 per 100m. I'm working on my breathing while I swim. I will not allow myself to breath on one side only. If I can't bilateral breath then I slow down so that I can. I'm hoping that working on my breathing technique, swim technique and endurance I'll come out the other end a much better swimmer.

Before I headed home from work I took sometime for a bike ride. I rode 19.81 miles in 59:11. The wind was blowing pretty good today and it seemed to be coming from every direction. Which made me feel like I had a head wind all day. I have been told that since we ride on flat terrain the wind should be consider a hill workout. Well I can tell you I'd much rather be riding up hills than into a head wind, with hills you eventually reach the top.

Have a good day!

Monday/Tuesday

Hello Friends,

Well I survived my weekend and had a great time in the process. We went hiking, visited historical sites, got a personal tour of VMI and finished off with an afternoon at the D-Day memorial in Bedford, VA. It was a great weekend!!

On Monday I found some time to get my swim on in the am hours. Once I found a rec center with an open pool I was able to complete the following workout. Warmup 600m free then, 200m free (30s RI), 3x100m Free (15s RI), 200m free (30s RI), 3x100m free (1 min RI), 12x50m free (15s RI/Odd easy/even fast), cooldown 200m back/free. Total distance was 2400m in a time of 39:58. That is right at 1:40 per 100m which is about 8 seconds per 100m faster than my ironman time. My goal is to continue improving in the swim. I then spent the day flying and working. When I got home, I was planning to do a 1 hour run but traffic and the setting sun were working against me. So I did the best I could and managed to run 41:13 covering 5.31 miles.

Today I did my normal Tuesday brick. I started off on the bike by taking it easy for the first 30 minutes before picking up the pace. I finished the 18 miles in 1:01:08. Nothing special, just a good day on the bike. I then took off for a 30 minute run. I decided to run with my heart rate monitor to see how my ticker is working. I used the old 220 minus your age to get my max heart rate and then ran at 80% of that which is about 136 bpm for me. Surprisingly at 136 bpm I run a 7:55 mile. Amazing!! I ended up doing just over 30 minutes and covered 3.88 miles. Perhaps I'll give this heart rate training a chance to see what happens!

Have a great day!

Today I got to ride on my new (to me) wheels. I got them on eBay and they are a few years old but there in good shape. I did a 20 mile ride with Fat Frogs and the wheels performed as advertised by Zipp. I rode with a group and we covered the 20 miles in 1 hour. I then headed for the pool and did 1600 meters of drills and swimming. Total time was 26:55 for the 1600 meter swim.

I then picked up Lisa and we headed for Skyline drive in western Virginia for some hiking and sightseeing. The trees are starting to change color and look awesome. When we stopped to go hiking we only went about 10 minutes before we came face to face with a black bear on the trail. He looked at us like we were in his way. After about 2 minutes he finally turned and head back down the trail. As he turned to go I'm pretty sure I heard him say "really, can't y'all hike someplace else"?

Have a good weekend!

It's finally Thursday...Yeah!! Well since I last posted a note I've done a short bike and a short run. Yesterday I spent most of the day flying but I did manage to get in a short 30 minute bike. I covered a little over 10 miles during my bike. After my bike I headed over to the 50 meter pool at the fleet rec center hoping to get in a pool workout with the local masters group. However, they don't workout on Wednesday so I just headed home.

Today I did a lot of flying again but I found time to get in a short run. I ran 44:20 and covered 5.8 miles. When I got home I was planning to go get that swim in but much to my surprise I had a set of zipp 404 wheels waiting on my front porch. So I spent the early part of the evening putting my new wheels on my bike. I can't wait to ride on them tomorrow.

Have a good weekend!

Brick day

I'm sitting here writing this blog and I can't believe that it's only Tuesday. I'm not sure why but it just seems later in the week than Tuesday. I guess when you're busy working and working out you lose track of time. Tomorrow will be no different since I have a full day of flying planned, plus a bike and swim. Somehow I'll get it done and eventually get to Friday.

Anyway, today I started doing my brick workouts again. I'm going to try and do short brick workouts through the fall and winter. Today I did 16 miles in 47 minutes followed immediately by a 2.7 mile run in 20 minutes. It really felt good to get back on the bike after taking some time off but the run was the best part. My plan was to just go and cruise comfortably on the run and that's just what I did. I was surprised to see that my average pace was 7:26 per mile. My left calf only bothered me a little so I'll continue to take it easy for awhile. It's good to be back training!!

Have a good day!

Xfit and a swim

Today was a good day! I was able to fly most of the day at work, which was great. I was also able to get in an crossfit workout and a swim. I did the crossfit workout at work. Since I haven't been doing crossfit for a few months I started pretty easy. The workout of the day was 15-12-9 reps of 135lb thrusters and weighted pullups. Now I said I started easy so I didn't do 135lbs thrusters. I did 95lbs and that was plenty. I also did regular pullups and not weighted ones. It's been awhile and my legs were pretty shaky after the workout. I felt great!! My time was 8:40.

I did my swim in the Chesapeake bay near my house. This is a weekly group that I meet up with to do open water swims. We normally swim 800 meters but somebody decided to put up a fishing net about 200m from our turn around point. So we headed back to the start point. We ended up swimming 1200 meters and my time was 22:32. I'm pretty much concentrating on technique and bilateral breathing for right now. The speed will come with time.

Have a good day!

Recover is complete

Well tomorrow is Monday and I'm now 2 weeks post Ironman. It's officially time to jump back in to the world of training. I'll be doing some maintenance workouts for the next few months to maintain my fitness level. I'm planning to run a few 5K's, 10K's and half marathons this fall and winter. Plus I'll be riding the bike all winter solo and on group rides with guys much faster than me. Can you say "hang on!!"

I'm going to try and maintain my some of my fitness and improve my swim and bike at the same time. Starting in February I'll begin to build back up to Ironman Canada. My goal is to finish in the top of my age group. I'm not going to be so concerned about times before hand. I'm just going to train hard and race harder! I will leave my predicted event finish times on here just to keep me honest. It's hard to back out once you've told the whole world you're plan.

Most to follow.....

Have a good dad!!

Back to swimming

Today I finally got back to the pool. My left calf is still bothering me so I'm not running or biking just yet. Swimming however is no problem. I hit the pool and just mainly cruised along working on my stroke technique. I ended up doing 1300m of free style before calling it a day. My total time was 22:59 which comes out to 1:46 per 100m. My goal for next year is for my 100m average to be 1:35. That should put me somewhere in the area of 1:01:00 for an Ironman distance swim.

Everyone have a good weekend!

Well after all the training and racing I've finally injured myself. The injury is a deep muscle left calf pain. It's been bothering me off and on for about a month. After the 1/2 marathon on Sunday it tightened up and it's been hurting ever since. I still can't walk normal, actually Lisa says I walk like a drunken sailor. However, it hurts and I'm going to cut back on my biking and running for awhile to let it heal. I'll still be swimming but will back off the other two sports until the calf gets happy again. I'll keep you posted.

Have a great day!

Rock and Roll half marathon

Today I decided to do the rock and roll half marathon. Even though I'm only 7 days post Ironman. I intended to take it easy and just cruise along but I just felt so good. Much to my surprise my 5k time was 20:13 and I felt great. My 10k time was 40:36, still feeling good. I passed the 10 mile point at 1:06:34 and finally I finished the race at 1:28:40. Average pace was 6:46 per mile and that my friends is a new half marathon PR.

I'm going to throttle back a bit now and go into maintenance mode. I'll still be working out and posting those workouts, but the duration will be decreased. The intensity will remain the same.

Have a great day!

Today was a mostly lazy day. I had my girls and we just hung out at home most of the day waiting for Hurricane Earl to go away. It was the wimpiest hurricane I have ever seen in the area. I'm not complaining because it could have been very bad. In the afternoon I too the girls to there mom's house so I could go do a short swim. I didn't do anything crazy just some drills and builds. Here is what I did: warm up 300m free, 50m kick then 4x(4x25m catch up, 4x25m builds), 300m free, done. Total distance was 1450m and my total time was 29:08. I'm going to be doing a lot of drilling over the winter and next year I will be faster and stronger in the water.

Have a great weekend!

Today I did another easy workout. I rode the bike for 50 minutes covering 16 miles and then I did some split jerks. I've been reading that a lot of coaches recommend athletes take it easy for a few weeks after an ironman. Even though I feel great my body is still repairing from the damage of the race. They do recommend that I swim. Which is something I'm going to do a lot of this winter. So I'm going to pass on the Rock and Roll half this time around. I am going to head down and cheer for all the people running. I'll start running and biking again after next week. I'll just continue to do some swimming and light weights until then.

After that I'm going to go into a maintenance plan to help maintain my fitness and strength. Next year when I start gearing up for Ironman Canada on 1 Feb my body will be healthy and ready to go.

Have a great weekend!!

I'm Back!!

Hey friends,

Well l'm now 3 days post race and I just couldn't sit around anymore. So today I went for a short run to see how things are working. However, before I get to that I have to tell you that as of today I don't have any muscular soreness. Other than my throbbing left big toe I'm pain free. I guess that is as good of an indication as any that my training plan worked. I'll be doing the same plan for Ironman Canada with a few changes, but I'll get to that at a later date.

Anyway, back to today. So I went out thinking I'll just do a short, slow run. I started out and really felt great. I just cruised along like it was any other workout. When I got back to work 14:54 minutes/seconds later. I still felt great and was wondering just how far I had ran. I pulled up google earth and did a quick bit of measuring. Believe it or not I had ran 2 miles and it really felt good. Not bad to have a 7:30 pace just 3 days after that ironman. It just makes me wonder where that 7:30 pace was on Sunday. Perhaps it was hiding under my bed afraid to come out and play in the heat.

Have a good day!