This days brick was relatively comfortable, compared to previous weeks. First, the weather was in the high 40's/low 50's, and the wind was light. Big difference from low 30's with 15-20 mph winds. I did a large part of the Wachusett reservoir loop, stopping about halfway through for a quick 5 minute stretch of the quads, hamstrings, and back bend. I'm thinking that I should probably get used to such a stretch every 20-25 miles or so - partially to help prevent a sprain injury like I had a few years ago, and partially to help keep muscles feeling at least somewhat fresh.
I also fueled up a bit more than I had before other bricks - a protein bar, chocolate milk and a banana. I'm sure that had something to do with the brick feeling rather good overall. I also had half an energy bar during the stretch break, and ate the other half when I got home, before the run, as well as made sure to drink adequately - I was probably a little lax on that last week.
Bike
For the run, I decided to up the distance by 0.75, instead of my typical 0.5, miles. Now that I'm past 5 miles (last week was 5.5), continuing with 0.5 mile increases is less than 10%, and for every mile I go beyond, the percentage increase gets less and less. So hopefully I'll be able to increase by 0.75 miles until around 8-9 miles or so, when I can push the increase to a full mile.
Run
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
3 mile run - 4/6/11
Just a quick 3 mile mid-week run. I wanted to try adding a short run in the middle of the week to see how much recovery had occured in the 3-4 days after the brick, and to see how the next brick would go only 2-3 days following.
Garmin Results
Garmin Results
Monday, April 4, 2011
Broken Body - 4/4
Well, I went and done did it. I busted myself up.
In a good way, fortunately. Last week I glanced through the shoulders and back portion of the P90X video, and saw it had a lot of push-ups and pull-ups. So I set up a pull-up bar in the basement so that I could get started on building strength to make it through the workout. I dont know how many push-up and pull-ups are in the workout, but I knew it was more than I could do. So once the pull-up bar was set up, I tried it out. I got about 3/4 of the way up, and realized I'm weak - I thought maybe I could do one or two - but I couldn't even get a full one out. So I did a few assisted ones (stepping on a chair), and a few where I start at the top and slowly lower myself down. The same night, I also did a bunch of push-ups - a set of 20 normal, 20 or so wide, 5 or so diamond, and then another attempt at 20 normal I think. I don't remember exactly what I did - but in both pull-ups and push-ups, I went until exhaustion.
At first I was a little disappointed because my muscles only felt tired, not yet sore. I went to bed Thursday night, and did a couple more sets of 20 push-ups on Friday morning. The muscles still felt just tired, not sore. That started to change halfway through Friday when the soreness started to set in.
When I got home on Friday, I decided to give the ab-ripper portion a shot. It's a series of sit-ups (and variations) equating to about 349 reps. I had to take frequent breaks, but I finished it. I think my form probably suffered a decent amount on some portions, but I hope to fix that. By this time, I still mostly just felt tired, not sore.
Friday night that all changed. I didn't sleep well because all night, whenever I turned over, my shoulders and arms ached. The soreness of Thursday night finally caught up with me.
Saturday came along, and I did my normal LSD workout (details in another post) of about 36 miles on the bike, and a 5.5 mile run. By the end of the run, the combination of soreness from Thursday, the ab workout from friday, and the tiredness of over 40 miles of self-propelled activity caught up with me. I was beat. I had aches literally from head to toe (neck had a kink, sore shoulders and pecs, sore abs, sore inner thighs, exhausted calves, and sore feet from over 5 miles of running barefoot).
So, Sunday was mostly a recovery day. I had thought about going to Yoga, but was still too wiped and too stiff, so I put that off until Monday.
In a good way, fortunately. Last week I glanced through the shoulders and back portion of the P90X video, and saw it had a lot of push-ups and pull-ups. So I set up a pull-up bar in the basement so that I could get started on building strength to make it through the workout. I dont know how many push-up and pull-ups are in the workout, but I knew it was more than I could do. So once the pull-up bar was set up, I tried it out. I got about 3/4 of the way up, and realized I'm weak - I thought maybe I could do one or two - but I couldn't even get a full one out. So I did a few assisted ones (stepping on a chair), and a few where I start at the top and slowly lower myself down. The same night, I also did a bunch of push-ups - a set of 20 normal, 20 or so wide, 5 or so diamond, and then another attempt at 20 normal I think. I don't remember exactly what I did - but in both pull-ups and push-ups, I went until exhaustion.
At first I was a little disappointed because my muscles only felt tired, not yet sore. I went to bed Thursday night, and did a couple more sets of 20 push-ups on Friday morning. The muscles still felt just tired, not sore. That started to change halfway through Friday when the soreness started to set in.
When I got home on Friday, I decided to give the ab-ripper portion a shot. It's a series of sit-ups (and variations) equating to about 349 reps. I had to take frequent breaks, but I finished it. I think my form probably suffered a decent amount on some portions, but I hope to fix that. By this time, I still mostly just felt tired, not sore.
Friday night that all changed. I didn't sleep well because all night, whenever I turned over, my shoulders and arms ached. The soreness of Thursday night finally caught up with me.
Saturday came along, and I did my normal LSD workout (details in another post) of about 36 miles on the bike, and a 5.5 mile run. By the end of the run, the combination of soreness from Thursday, the ab workout from friday, and the tiredness of over 40 miles of self-propelled activity caught up with me. I was beat. I had aches literally from head to toe (neck had a kink, sore shoulders and pecs, sore abs, sore inner thighs, exhausted calves, and sore feet from over 5 miles of running barefoot).
So, Sunday was mostly a recovery day. I had thought about going to Yoga, but was still too wiped and too stiff, so I put that off until Monday.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
5.5 mile run - 4/2/11
Once again, following on the heels of dismounting from the bike, I hopped in my sandals and started out on my run. Most of this loop follows my typical 6 mile course, but obviously with a minor modification to get the distance down to 5.5 miles.
I'm rather happy I've been able to keep the 9:00 - 9:30 pace during all of these LSD bricks. I'm certainly not blowing anyone's socks off with speed, but considering that each week I am pushing further along on the bike ride and tacking on running distance, I like the consistency. The last portion of the run, though, I am usually intentionally slowing down. After multiple hours of distance training, I decide that the last half to three quarters of a mile of the run will be slower, to keep the blood flowing but to reduce the intensity level just a bit in an effort to prevent shock to the muscles by stopping suddenly.
Garmin Results
One of the big questions in the back of my mind has been how long I keep up the half mile a week increase, and when/if I'll be able to bump that up a bit. For the most part, I've been keeping myself limited based on recovery time. I typically end these runs with a minor ache in my left foot that takes a couple days to go away. So I've been kind of using the timing of that recovery to provide me with an indication of when I'm at the point where a half mile increase is low enough, percentage-wise, that I can go up to 2/3 or 3/4 of a mile per week instead. If I am able to get to the point where I can bump up to even 3/4 mile per week, I'll be significantly less concerned about getting to 13 miles by June. As a bonus, if that happens, I'll even be able to do something on the order of 10-12 miles a couple times before then, which will really help with aerobic conditioning.
I'm rather happy I've been able to keep the 9:00 - 9:30 pace during all of these LSD bricks. I'm certainly not blowing anyone's socks off with speed, but considering that each week I am pushing further along on the bike ride and tacking on running distance, I like the consistency. The last portion of the run, though, I am usually intentionally slowing down. After multiple hours of distance training, I decide that the last half to three quarters of a mile of the run will be slower, to keep the blood flowing but to reduce the intensity level just a bit in an effort to prevent shock to the muscles by stopping suddenly.
Garmin Results
One of the big questions in the back of my mind has been how long I keep up the half mile a week increase, and when/if I'll be able to bump that up a bit. For the most part, I've been keeping myself limited based on recovery time. I typically end these runs with a minor ache in my left foot that takes a couple days to go away. So I've been kind of using the timing of that recovery to provide me with an indication of when I'm at the point where a half mile increase is low enough, percentage-wise, that I can go up to 2/3 or 3/4 of a mile per week instead. If I am able to get to the point where I can bump up to even 3/4 mile per week, I'll be significantly less concerned about getting to 13 miles by June. As a bonus, if that happens, I'll even be able to do something on the order of 10-12 miles a couple times before then, which will really help with aerobic conditioning.
36 mile bike ride - 4/2/11
This days ride I decided that instead of increasing by 10 miles over my previous long of 30, I'd only go with about 5. Partly because I'm significantly less worried about achieving the distance of 50 miles by June, and I'd rather save my efforts to make sure I am able to complete the run distance, as that build up is much slower. So I opted for about 35, which happens to be just about the distance from home to work and back.
The main difference in this ride vs others is that I started out heading east instead of west, and at this time of year I have found with the other rides that the winds out of the west and northwest can be a bit stiff. So whereas with other rides I was facing the wind initially (which didn't help temperatures much), this time I was with the wind during the first half. I definitely noticed a difference in overall comfort and ability to warm up the muscles without having to strain to much.
Garmin Results
The pace is noticibly slower then what I've typically done into the office. I am guessing it is largely due to conditioning from not biking as much, but it might also be related to running not using quads as much as before - those muscles may not be quite as strong and able to maintain a faster pace on the bike as I was able to before. I guess time will tell, but as my focus this year is to complete the training distances I've set forth to do, I'm not worried about time as much.
The main difference in this ride vs others is that I started out heading east instead of west, and at this time of year I have found with the other rides that the winds out of the west and northwest can be a bit stiff. So whereas with other rides I was facing the wind initially (which didn't help temperatures much), this time I was with the wind during the first half. I definitely noticed a difference in overall comfort and ability to warm up the muscles without having to strain to much.
Garmin Results
The pace is noticibly slower then what I've typically done into the office. I am guessing it is largely due to conditioning from not biking as much, but it might also be related to running not using quads as much as before - those muscles may not be quite as strong and able to maintain a faster pace on the bike as I was able to before. I guess time will tell, but as my focus this year is to complete the training distances I've set forth to do, I'm not worried about time as much.
Friday, April 1, 2011
P90X?
Over the past couple months, I have heard about the P90X system from a few different places. Initially it was just vague second and third hand things like facebook posts, but then one day at Yoga a couple months ago, I was talking with someone who said it was a really good workout system and they had excellent results. Then a few weeks ago I was travelling for work, and the person I was working with there sung the praises of it as well.
I have never been a bulk building person - I tried gym memberships and never stayed more than 3 months. I think part of it was expecting too much too soon, and part of it was a desire to settle back into something comfortable - usually some sort of endurance training.
However, now I'm a bit more mature and realistic about expectations, and I also view the prospect of strength training through the lens of being able to improve my tri performance.
So over the past week, I've been looking over the P90X system - the workouts, the nutrition guide, etc - and have been really impressed with how it is put together. I like the fact that there are options like bands vs dumb bells, the lack of need for a lot of equipment, variations on the exercises in the event you aren't able to do the exercises like the video host can, etc. Regarding the nutrition, it starts with a month of a protein heavy diet (about 60%), but eventually transforms into a more typical diet where carbs make up 60% of the foods. The reason I like that is because it is not protein heavy for a long period of time - just enough to burn through some fat, but not so protein heavy as to enter into Atkins diet territory.
Even with its degree of moderation, it is still a pretty intense looking workout system. The biggest issue I have is how to integrate it into what I'm already doing. With training for the half iron taking up from now until the end of June, followed by continued buildup of running to hopefully do a full marathon in October, I had envisioned next offseason being a lot of Yoga again for the flexibility benefits. However, it appears that there is actually a lot of flexibility stuff in the P90X system - either from the stretch days, or the Yoga, and even some amount in warmups and cooldowns for the various muscle group days. So it is possible that I could do the full P90X in the offseason next year and get away with Yoga only once or twice a week as a compliment.
I have never been a bulk building person - I tried gym memberships and never stayed more than 3 months. I think part of it was expecting too much too soon, and part of it was a desire to settle back into something comfortable - usually some sort of endurance training.
However, now I'm a bit more mature and realistic about expectations, and I also view the prospect of strength training through the lens of being able to improve my tri performance.
So over the past week, I've been looking over the P90X system - the workouts, the nutrition guide, etc - and have been really impressed with how it is put together. I like the fact that there are options like bands vs dumb bells, the lack of need for a lot of equipment, variations on the exercises in the event you aren't able to do the exercises like the video host can, etc. Regarding the nutrition, it starts with a month of a protein heavy diet (about 60%), but eventually transforms into a more typical diet where carbs make up 60% of the foods. The reason I like that is because it is not protein heavy for a long period of time - just enough to burn through some fat, but not so protein heavy as to enter into Atkins diet territory.
Even with its degree of moderation, it is still a pretty intense looking workout system. The biggest issue I have is how to integrate it into what I'm already doing. With training for the half iron taking up from now until the end of June, followed by continued buildup of running to hopefully do a full marathon in October, I had envisioned next offseason being a lot of Yoga again for the flexibility benefits. However, it appears that there is actually a lot of flexibility stuff in the P90X system - either from the stretch days, or the Yoga, and even some amount in warmups and cooldowns for the various muscle group days. So it is possible that I could do the full P90X in the offseason next year and get away with Yoga only once or twice a week as a compliment.
5 mile run - 3/27/11
Keeping with the pace of increasing by 1/2 mile a week, todays run was a 5 miler. I am finally able to get out and do some of my normal loops, which is nice because I've spent a month and a half running around my little neighborhood, and eventually, that gets boring.
I wasn't able to put this run immediately on the tail of the bike ride, since I required some thawing out - but it was done about 30 minutes afterwards.
I am finding that after about a mile and a half, my calves start to really feel it when running 'barefoot'. It is the kind of feeling that makes me think 'oh boy I'm really going to feel sore later', and while I am sore, I'm not as sore as one would think when there is still 3.5 miles to go after that thought occurs to me. But still, that is a potential bottleneck, and a governor to make sure not to increase distance too much at once. The other factor that keeps me from increasing too much is my left foot. It tends to develop one of those aches and pains of running in the middle of the foot, on the outside. It just feels a little uncomfortable for a couple days - but usually by around the fourth day after a run, its not noticable anymore. I figure days 5 and 6, before the next run, is just bonus healing time - although at some point I'm thinking I'll try a short run in the middle of the week and see how that goes.
Garmin Results
I wasn't able to put this run immediately on the tail of the bike ride, since I required some thawing out - but it was done about 30 minutes afterwards.
I am finding that after about a mile and a half, my calves start to really feel it when running 'barefoot'. It is the kind of feeling that makes me think 'oh boy I'm really going to feel sore later', and while I am sore, I'm not as sore as one would think when there is still 3.5 miles to go after that thought occurs to me. But still, that is a potential bottleneck, and a governor to make sure not to increase distance too much at once. The other factor that keeps me from increasing too much is my left foot. It tends to develop one of those aches and pains of running in the middle of the foot, on the outside. It just feels a little uncomfortable for a couple days - but usually by around the fourth day after a run, its not noticable anymore. I figure days 5 and 6, before the next run, is just bonus healing time - although at some point I'm thinking I'll try a short run in the middle of the week and see how that goes.
Garmin Results
24 mile bike ride - 3/27/11
The original intent for this weekend was to do about 35 miles on the bike, following last weeks inadvertant 30 miler. I wanted to head out on Saturday, but with the temperatures showing ~28 in the morning (the only time of the day I could really go) - I decided it'd be a bit cold, what wind normal wind, and then the breeze of moving on the bike.
So instead I set out on Sunday late morning, when it was a tad warmer - in the 30's I think. After about 1.5 miles, I seriously thought about heading home - it was still pretty cold. But I decided to give it a go for a bit more in the event I warmed up and was comfortable. I did warm up a bit - apparently enough, because I kept going.
I got to about the 12 mile mark before I decided to head back. At that point, I could tell my feet were getting numb, and I still had half the ride to go, although I was hoping the wind direction was such that it wouldn't be too awful cold on the way back. As it turned out, the wind was a bit in my favor, because the trip back was about 6 minutes faster.
Garmin Results
So, in the end I was pretty happy - after wanting to bail before the two mile mark, I stuck with it until 24 miles. When I got back, I
So instead I set out on Sunday late morning, when it was a tad warmer - in the 30's I think. After about 1.5 miles, I seriously thought about heading home - it was still pretty cold. But I decided to give it a go for a bit more in the event I warmed up and was comfortable. I did warm up a bit - apparently enough, because I kept going.
I got to about the 12 mile mark before I decided to head back. At that point, I could tell my feet were getting numb, and I still had half the ride to go, although I was hoping the wind direction was such that it wouldn't be too awful cold on the way back. As it turned out, the wind was a bit in my favor, because the trip back was about 6 minutes faster.
Garmin Results
So, in the end I was pretty happy - after wanting to bail before the two mile mark, I stuck with it until 24 miles. When I got back, I
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