The past few days I've been thinking about my approach to training and trying to think of ways to refine it. Seems like this happens every so often as I learn more and my capabilities change as time passes. Or maybe thats just what I tell myself to justify altering a regime that has been working.
Long story short, I decided I want to maintain doing a tempo run once per week. However I had to shift my training schedule around slightly, and it seemed like doing the tempo run on Tuesday, and pushing the legs workout to Saturday, was the best option. Since I probably won't be doing any 20 mile runs or 100 mile bike rides for the rest of the season, and concentrating more on the quality of the outings, I should be able to manage a strength session after the days endurance workout.
Last week I did this run and sorta made things up as I went along. Get going, decide on trying to maintain about 160 for a while, and mid-tempo-run decide that 3 miles was enough. This time I was more measured about it. I knew I wanted to keep the tempo time around the 20-25 minute mark, so 3 miles was good. But I wanted to really try and peg 160 during that stretch, and in order to do that, I'd have to warm up first. So this time the goal was a one mile warm up, nice and easy and not paying attention to pace. Then 3 miles at a HR of 160 (about 10-15 bpm faster than what I do my LSD runs at). I had no particular reason at going for that HR except that I felt like it was something I could maintain for that period of time without going too far. Then, the last two miles would be at more of a recovery HR, about 145-150 or so.
So thats what I did. It seemed to have worked out pretty well - the first mile definitely gave my HR a chance to settle into a workout pace, so it quickly went up to 160 at the conclusion of the first mile. I managed to stick to 160 pretty closely, slowing down a bit when necessary, speeding up when necessary, to maintain that intensity. And having a < 8 min/mile pace during that doesn't suck either.
The tricky thing is figuring out what that all means. During the Worcester half, my average HR was 163 - so the initial thought is that perhaps that HR of 160 is what my half marathon intensity pace should be, even though the pace would likely slow over time. I'm not sure if that slowing pace over time means that the HR of 160 is actually still a little too intense for my proper half marathon pace, though. But either way, I'm not about to attempt 160 for the full marathon, instead probably staying closer to the 145-150 bpm that I've been doing the 20 mile runs at.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
The 20 miler that wasn't. 11 Miles - 8/27
Today was supposed to be the third and final 20 mile run. My original thought was to use September to extend beyond 20 miles (23 miles, then 26 miles, then begin a taper), but I've recently been debating whether to do that or not. More on that later.
Regardless, I had intended today's run to be 20 miles. However, after only a few miles, it was apparent that I still was not fully recovered from this past weeks activities of 150 miles biking and an extra tempo run on Monday. My legs felt fine, and I was pleased at my HR, which spent a lot of time in the 130's as opposed to the mid-upper 140's - but my foot turnover just seemed sluggish and I didn't feel quite as fleet of foot as I normally do. Typically, when I get my cadence up, I look at my watch and see an 8:30 min/mile pace or better - today when I felt like I was doing all the right things, I was seeing over 9 min/mile. It's not that a slower pace is necessarily a problem in and of itself - but I took it as a subtle sign that my legs were not as recovered as they usually are.
It is not uncommon when I first wake up to feel my left IT band. The majority of the time, after I've been up and been moving around, it goes away - the only time it may be more persistent is after a legs workout. However that is to be expected, so I don't mind that, especially since it never conflicts with the upcoming weekends' workout. So this morning when I woke up and could feel the IT band a bit, I figured it'd be one of those situations where after a mile or two, muscles would warm up and it would go away. That is a fairly common occurance of events. Unfortunately, today it just didn't seem to go away that easily. There were times when it would, but then it would come back. Then I'd realize my cadence slipped, which led me to think that my legs were not recovered enough to maintain cadence, and thus I probably should not go through with the full 20 miles. At around mile 3 or 4, I decided I'd just do the loop I was on, end up at 10 to 11 miles, and call it a day. My thinking was the following - having done 20 miles before, the mental aspect of my doing another 20 today was not a necessity. Therefore, if I did a full 20 miles today, there'd be little if any benefit. However, the downside of continuing on, and potentially igniting ITB issues has major implications. So, it was actually a simple choice. It turned out to be a good one, I think - because at mile 10 I was feeling the IT band rubbing - and so far this year when I've felt it like that, I've been best served by stopping.
So, at the moment I'm a mix of being disappointed, but also acceptance. I have put a good amount of stress on my legs this week with the riding, and the extra day of running - not to mention that some of the riding and running took place on the same day. Thursday morning I woke up and knew I was too drained to have made the bike ride, and I was hoping that the extra day of rest would suffice - apparently, it did not. The other thing is that not just this week has been stressful, but the entire month has been. Two 20 mile runs sandwiched in between two century bike rides, and when I look back and July and August, they each had about 30 hours and 330 miles of training each. It has been an intense couple months. I remember when following Galloways training plan, he basically had one day of rest between LSD runs per mile, rounded up to the next week cycle. So, for a 15 mile run, it would be three weeks before the next LSD run. By only going two weeks between 20 mile runs, I haven't been giving myself as much rest, nevermind the bike rides. Then, in Daniels book, he goes less by mileage and more by time, to help account for the different speeds of different people. In his view, a train to complete plan caps out at 2.5 hour long runs, although there are several of them. In other words, regardless of how you slice it, for someone just trying to complete the event, there is no question that the past two months have been stress-inducing.
Now the question is what to do from here on out. I may shoot for the 20 miles again next weekend, or I may wait a couple weeks and do something like a 23 mile run in mid-September. No matter what, I think one thing I learned recently is that I should grant myself a good three weeks of taper before the marathon in October. I was going to do two no matter what, but a third would probably be better.
Regardless, I had intended today's run to be 20 miles. However, after only a few miles, it was apparent that I still was not fully recovered from this past weeks activities of 150 miles biking and an extra tempo run on Monday. My legs felt fine, and I was pleased at my HR, which spent a lot of time in the 130's as opposed to the mid-upper 140's - but my foot turnover just seemed sluggish and I didn't feel quite as fleet of foot as I normally do. Typically, when I get my cadence up, I look at my watch and see an 8:30 min/mile pace or better - today when I felt like I was doing all the right things, I was seeing over 9 min/mile. It's not that a slower pace is necessarily a problem in and of itself - but I took it as a subtle sign that my legs were not as recovered as they usually are.
It is not uncommon when I first wake up to feel my left IT band. The majority of the time, after I've been up and been moving around, it goes away - the only time it may be more persistent is after a legs workout. However that is to be expected, so I don't mind that, especially since it never conflicts with the upcoming weekends' workout. So this morning when I woke up and could feel the IT band a bit, I figured it'd be one of those situations where after a mile or two, muscles would warm up and it would go away. That is a fairly common occurance of events. Unfortunately, today it just didn't seem to go away that easily. There were times when it would, but then it would come back. Then I'd realize my cadence slipped, which led me to think that my legs were not recovered enough to maintain cadence, and thus I probably should not go through with the full 20 miles. At around mile 3 or 4, I decided I'd just do the loop I was on, end up at 10 to 11 miles, and call it a day. My thinking was the following - having done 20 miles before, the mental aspect of my doing another 20 today was not a necessity. Therefore, if I did a full 20 miles today, there'd be little if any benefit. However, the downside of continuing on, and potentially igniting ITB issues has major implications. So, it was actually a simple choice. It turned out to be a good one, I think - because at mile 10 I was feeling the IT band rubbing - and so far this year when I've felt it like that, I've been best served by stopping.
So, at the moment I'm a mix of being disappointed, but also acceptance. I have put a good amount of stress on my legs this week with the riding, and the extra day of running - not to mention that some of the riding and running took place on the same day. Thursday morning I woke up and knew I was too drained to have made the bike ride, and I was hoping that the extra day of rest would suffice - apparently, it did not. The other thing is that not just this week has been stressful, but the entire month has been. Two 20 mile runs sandwiched in between two century bike rides, and when I look back and July and August, they each had about 30 hours and 330 miles of training each. It has been an intense couple months. I remember when following Galloways training plan, he basically had one day of rest between LSD runs per mile, rounded up to the next week cycle. So, for a 15 mile run, it would be three weeks before the next LSD run. By only going two weeks between 20 mile runs, I haven't been giving myself as much rest, nevermind the bike rides. Then, in Daniels book, he goes less by mileage and more by time, to help account for the different speeds of different people. In his view, a train to complete plan caps out at 2.5 hour long runs, although there are several of them. In other words, regardless of how you slice it, for someone just trying to complete the event, there is no question that the past two months have been stress-inducing.
Now the question is what to do from here on out. I may shoot for the 20 miles again next weekend, or I may wait a couple weeks and do something like a 23 mile run in mid-September. No matter what, I think one thing I learned recently is that I should grant myself a good three weeks of taper before the marathon in October. I was going to do two no matter what, but a third would probably be better.
Friday, August 26, 2011
P90X Chest, Shoulders & Triceps - 8/26
The plan was that yesterday I'd return the truck to my parents, and then ride my bike the 50 miles back home. The problem was that as soon as I woke up, I knew with fairly good certainty that it wasn't going to happen. If I really needed to, I could have done it, but my legs were still too fatigued from the past several days workouts they had seen. They felt fine for normal everyday stuff, but I could tell they just didn't have it in them for a comfortable enough 50 miles of hills. So, I ended up deciding to take the day as a rest day. I knew I had a long run coming up this weekend, and due to the approaching hurricane, that run would have to take place on Saturday. While I already had today (Friday) as a legs rest day, I didn't want to add stress on top of noticably fatigued muscles in my legs that might cause ITB issues. So, that was that.
Sometime between yesterday and today, I decided that come winter time, when I do more strength training (which would probably take the form of a couple days of certain P90X routines), that the upper body workout I'd probably end up doing on a weekly basis is the Chest, Shoulders and Triceps. The other options would be Back & Biceps, but that would be limited to one upper body muscle, and the back would already be covered in the Legs & Back routine I am currently doing on Tuesday. I could do Chest & Back, the routine I've probably done the most, but again the back is redundant. So that left Chest, Shoulders & Triceps.
This was the third time doing the routine, and there are certainly segments that are tough. The chest portion is a lot of variations on traditional push-ups - slow-mo pushups, plange pushups (like military, but the hands are more towards your ribcage), pike presses, 2 twitch speed pushups, and the super-psycho plyo (clap) pushups. The clap part isn't that psycho - but when Tony launches his whole body into the air at the top of the pushup, and claps his hands - well, that is psycho. Especially when it is something like exercise 20 out of 24 in the routine and your arms are already wasted. I can only manage the clapping part if I am on my knees, at this point. Most of the shoulders and triceps exercises involve using weights, and I'm pretty much limited to 8 lb and 4 lb weights. More and more, I'm thinking I'll have to scrounge some weights for cheap off craigslist or something. But then again, I still manage to fatigue myself, so I don't know. It's a rough enough routine that all three people in the video can't finish strong - so it is definitely a strength workout that will work you.
Sometime between yesterday and today, I decided that come winter time, when I do more strength training (which would probably take the form of a couple days of certain P90X routines), that the upper body workout I'd probably end up doing on a weekly basis is the Chest, Shoulders and Triceps. The other options would be Back & Biceps, but that would be limited to one upper body muscle, and the back would already be covered in the Legs & Back routine I am currently doing on Tuesday. I could do Chest & Back, the routine I've probably done the most, but again the back is redundant. So that left Chest, Shoulders & Triceps.
This was the third time doing the routine, and there are certainly segments that are tough. The chest portion is a lot of variations on traditional push-ups - slow-mo pushups, plange pushups (like military, but the hands are more towards your ribcage), pike presses, 2 twitch speed pushups, and the super-psycho plyo (clap) pushups. The clap part isn't that psycho - but when Tony launches his whole body into the air at the top of the pushup, and claps his hands - well, that is psycho. Especially when it is something like exercise 20 out of 24 in the routine and your arms are already wasted. I can only manage the clapping part if I am on my knees, at this point. Most of the shoulders and triceps exercises involve using weights, and I'm pretty much limited to 8 lb and 4 lb weights. More and more, I'm thinking I'll have to scrounge some weights for cheap off craigslist or something. But then again, I still manage to fatigue myself, so I don't know. It's a rough enough routine that all three people in the video can't finish strong - so it is definitely a strength workout that will work you.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
50 mile bike ride, 1.2 mile swim, 6 mile run - 8/24
Today was one of those days when multiple factors combined and resulted in pretty much one workout after another, all day long.
In order to get rid of a sofa that we are replacing, I needed a truck. My dad has a truck, but my parents live 50 miles away. They also live on a lake that I do most of my open water swimming on. And being Wednesday, I was due for my mid-week run. Oh, and I am taking this week off from work as vacation. So I didn't really have anything else to do (well, thats not true - there are always house chores to do).
So I got the wonderful idea - why not ride my bike out to my parents, go for a dip in the lake, borrow the truck and return home, and then do my mid-week run? Sure - lets bust out nearly a half iron triathlon randomly. And why not make it a few days after a century, two days after a newly incorporated running day, and one day after a legs workout, and then the following day return the truck and ride my bike back home. What could go wrong?
After I was done with the first of the morning chores of walking the dogs, I set out on the bike. The last time I did this route, I was surprised at how hilly it was - almost 3k feet of climbing. I was a little surprised at the time - just over 3.5 hours, and was pretty certain it was due to fatigued legs and lack of a real energizing breakfast. This time around, I was pretty certain I'd be able to knock at least a few minutes off. That turned out to not be true. A few minutes slower than last time. I guess the ride from this weekend, Monday's run and yesterdays leg workout took more out of my legs than I thought. And while I remembered it was hilly, I didn't remember how hilly it was. That was the big thing this time around - now that I had done the course once, there were certain hills I remembered - but others I had completely forgotten. It seemed like every time I crested a hill, it was either flat briefly before another hill, or it was downhill only to be followed by another up hill. Very few flat miles, it seemed. It occured to me it may be a better hill training route than I thought - while it doesn't have the single, more intense uphill that Placid has, it certainly is persistent.
Once at my parents, it was probably an hour or so before getting in the water. I was ok with that - I had no problem with the extra time to recover before jumping in. I had somewhat limited time, so I did a single loop around the lake, which is usually 1.2-1.3 miles in length, depending on how close to the edge I stay. As typical, the first half mile was the fastest pace - but once I made the turn at the far end of the lake, I found out why - the wind was definitely blowing waves that I was now going to be fighting against. It felt like the high seas - I could feel waves over my head, crashing over me. A few times I'd go to get a breath and get a mouthful of water, and would have to spit that out and just hold on until the next breath cycle. At least I felt like I was hauling ass, with all that water moving against me. One other challenge I had today, which I had last time, was that I tend to hook to the left again. I suspect I'm probably reaching too far with my right arm when it extends. This happened before and the fix was to make sure to keep my hands shoulder width apart, as opposed to allowing a hand to reach across the centerline of my body. So I've probably slipped back into a bad habit, with all the focus I've been putting on my leg work.
After the swim was done, and I was driving home - I decided I'd take it easy on the run by not going the normal 90 minutes, and by going at an easier pace. I have another 50 mile ride tomorrow, plus it was going to be 7:30 by the time I got home, and it would be getting dark soon. So I ended up doing my 6 mile route. I wanted to keep my HR under 150, preferrably under 145 - but of course there are certain sections where that is just about impossible unless I stop to walk. For the most part, I was able to keep my HR down, so my hope is that the run didn't add stress to my quads and IT band, and if I'm lucky may actually help keep the stiffness down that I usually experience 48 hours after a leg strength workout. I'll have a better idea on that tomorrow.
In order to get rid of a sofa that we are replacing, I needed a truck. My dad has a truck, but my parents live 50 miles away. They also live on a lake that I do most of my open water swimming on. And being Wednesday, I was due for my mid-week run. Oh, and I am taking this week off from work as vacation. So I didn't really have anything else to do (well, thats not true - there are always house chores to do).
So I got the wonderful idea - why not ride my bike out to my parents, go for a dip in the lake, borrow the truck and return home, and then do my mid-week run? Sure - lets bust out nearly a half iron triathlon randomly. And why not make it a few days after a century, two days after a newly incorporated running day, and one day after a legs workout, and then the following day return the truck and ride my bike back home. What could go wrong?
After I was done with the first of the morning chores of walking the dogs, I set out on the bike. The last time I did this route, I was surprised at how hilly it was - almost 3k feet of climbing. I was a little surprised at the time - just over 3.5 hours, and was pretty certain it was due to fatigued legs and lack of a real energizing breakfast. This time around, I was pretty certain I'd be able to knock at least a few minutes off. That turned out to not be true. A few minutes slower than last time. I guess the ride from this weekend, Monday's run and yesterdays leg workout took more out of my legs than I thought. And while I remembered it was hilly, I didn't remember how hilly it was. That was the big thing this time around - now that I had done the course once, there were certain hills I remembered - but others I had completely forgotten. It seemed like every time I crested a hill, it was either flat briefly before another hill, or it was downhill only to be followed by another up hill. Very few flat miles, it seemed. It occured to me it may be a better hill training route than I thought - while it doesn't have the single, more intense uphill that Placid has, it certainly is persistent.
Once at my parents, it was probably an hour or so before getting in the water. I was ok with that - I had no problem with the extra time to recover before jumping in. I had somewhat limited time, so I did a single loop around the lake, which is usually 1.2-1.3 miles in length, depending on how close to the edge I stay. As typical, the first half mile was the fastest pace - but once I made the turn at the far end of the lake, I found out why - the wind was definitely blowing waves that I was now going to be fighting against. It felt like the high seas - I could feel waves over my head, crashing over me. A few times I'd go to get a breath and get a mouthful of water, and would have to spit that out and just hold on until the next breath cycle. At least I felt like I was hauling ass, with all that water moving against me. One other challenge I had today, which I had last time, was that I tend to hook to the left again. I suspect I'm probably reaching too far with my right arm when it extends. This happened before and the fix was to make sure to keep my hands shoulder width apart, as opposed to allowing a hand to reach across the centerline of my body. So I've probably slipped back into a bad habit, with all the focus I've been putting on my leg work.
After the swim was done, and I was driving home - I decided I'd take it easy on the run by not going the normal 90 minutes, and by going at an easier pace. I have another 50 mile ride tomorrow, plus it was going to be 7:30 by the time I got home, and it would be getting dark soon. So I ended up doing my 6 mile route. I wanted to keep my HR under 150, preferrably under 145 - but of course there are certain sections where that is just about impossible unless I stop to walk. For the most part, I was able to keep my HR down, so my hope is that the run didn't add stress to my quads and IT band, and if I'm lucky may actually help keep the stiffness down that I usually experience 48 hours after a leg strength workout. I'll have a better idea on that tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
P90X Legs & Back plus Ab Ripper - 8/23/11
Just the normal workout I'm trying to make a routine for Tuesdays. My main point of interest today was to see how the workout went after running a tempo run yesterday, and then to see how sore I get if I did an ice bath after the legs workout. Typically, I've only done ice baths after a long or strenuous run or bike ride. However, after a few legs and back sessions which ended in soreness that crept into the following Saturday (start to appear on Wednesday, be in full effect on thursday, start decreasing on Friday, and still some remnants on Saturday), I thought it'd be worth trying the ice bath trick. I guess it never really occured to me before, because while my legs feel fatigued after the workout, nothing else ever gave the impression that they were incredibly taxed until it was too late.
We'll see how it goes. I'd be very happy if I experience markedly reduced soreness. For one, it'd make me a little less nervous about Wednesday mid-week runs, and it make me feel better about doing a hard workout on Saturday. Even though I've managed to not have an issue with either of them so far, the more room for error I can give myself, the better.
We'll see how it goes. I'd be very happy if I experience markedly reduced soreness. For one, it'd make me a little less nervous about Wednesday mid-week runs, and it make me feel better about doing a hard workout on Saturday. Even though I've managed to not have an issue with either of them so far, the more room for error I can give myself, the better.
Monday, August 22, 2011
3 miles tempo with 3 miles normal pace - 8/22
With taking this week as vacation from work, I thought it might be a nice opportunity to get some extra workouts in, so long as they weren't going to derail my normally scheduled training. My initial fantasy thought was to do a few century rides, but that thought was fleeting, and after Saturday, I decided there was no way it was going to happen. But I am still thinking that I'll do a few extra bike rides - maybe some shorter distance ones in the 40-50 mile range to play around with intervals.
The other thing I've been considering recently is my running training. Those who have been following saw me go through running once/week leading up to the half, then once every two weeks for about a month, followed by adding in a mid-week run for the last four weeks or so. However, that mid-week run made my running schedule three runs every two weeks - as I have been not running at all on weekends when I do long bike rides. As I've pondered the wisdom in the article I mentioned in my last post, and as the weeks go by and I'm now about two months away from the Baystate Marathon, I'm thinking that one option may be to cut back to 50 and 70 mile rides on weekends, which should allow for a run every weekend instead of every other weekend. In other words, I can start squeezing in a 2nd run every week, and I'd have somewhat of a two week cycle of running - a LSD run, a mid-week run, and a 'tweener' that would take place the next weekend along with a bike ride, and the following weeks mid-week run.
So then the question is - what to do with that extra run? I've already got the LSD run covered, and the mid-week runs tend to be threshold pace runs. Adding another threshold pace doesn't seem like it'd reap much of any benefits, so that leaves something like a tempo run, in my mind, as the next option. However, the problem with a tempo run is it's intensity - I have to make sure I don't overdo it and cause excess tightness in my quads that can aggrevate the IT band. I've done real well so far this season with managing that, so if I'm going to go with this tempo run experiment, I have to be prepared to jump ship at the first sign of trouble.
With all that in mind, I decided today would be a good day for this first trial. First of all, I had yesterday as a full rest day, and two very good nights of rest. Second, tonight is my normally scheduled Yoga - so I'll have a chance to stretch out. Third, tomorrow is legs strength day, and I don't want to run and do squats on the same day. Wednesday is the mid-week run, and then I want to leave Thursday and Friday as legs rest because this weekend is another 20 miler. So, today seemed the best option for this run.
The next question is what pace I should be doing this at. I had been toying around with 5 minutes at 8 min/miles during a couple of my mid-week runs, to no ill effect - so I knew I could probably start somewhere around there. What I ended up doing was just initially concentrating on keeping my cadence around 180, and moving at an effort level that was slightly higher than normal - and wherever the pace was, so be it. I was somewhat surprised when I consistently saw my pace reading around 7:40 to 8 min/mile. But I felt like I could maintain that for quite some time. As the run progressed, and I got towards the two mile mark, after maintaining < 8 min/miles, I decided I'd slow up a bit at mile three. I just felt like that was going to be enough - I was in no danger of not being able to finish the full 6 miles, but I just felt like maintaining that pace throughout all 6 miles might end up pushing it too much.
So once I hit three miles, thats what I did - I slowed up a bit to let my HR, which was getting into the 160's, calm down a bit. As it turns out, upon reading about tempo runs when I got back - the timing was perfect. Apparently a common practice to is to tempo runs for about 20 minutes - and with the 3 mile distance I did, I was at tempo for about 23 minutes and change. It also coincided with the part of the loop that starts a gradual uphill, so even though I slowed up to my normal pace of 8:30-8:50 min/mile, my HR stayed in the high 150's and 160's. I was less worried about HR, and more concentrating on making sure my legs were recovering and feeling good, and not feeling like I was stressing them.
The other thing I started paying attention to during this run was breathing. I normally just breath however I breath, without thinking about it, but I decided to try deeper breathing, similar to the pranayama deep breathing from yoga. I ended up finding a 4 breath inhale 4 breath exhale pattern worked pretty well. The only issue I had is that when I was concentrating on that, my concentrating on foot placement and mechanics got a little sloppy - and placement and mechanics is something I pay particular attention to in order to avoid IT band issues. So I found myself bouncing between concentrating on one thing, then the other. But you have to start somewhere.
Overall, this was as fast as I've done that loop. The next fastest time was a few years ago, when I did it in +5 seconds as compared to today. It would barely be worth mentioning, except for the fact that it was right before my IT band issues started - so that naturally has me paranoid in a superstitious way.
The other thing I've been considering recently is my running training. Those who have been following saw me go through running once/week leading up to the half, then once every two weeks for about a month, followed by adding in a mid-week run for the last four weeks or so. However, that mid-week run made my running schedule three runs every two weeks - as I have been not running at all on weekends when I do long bike rides. As I've pondered the wisdom in the article I mentioned in my last post, and as the weeks go by and I'm now about two months away from the Baystate Marathon, I'm thinking that one option may be to cut back to 50 and 70 mile rides on weekends, which should allow for a run every weekend instead of every other weekend. In other words, I can start squeezing in a 2nd run every week, and I'd have somewhat of a two week cycle of running - a LSD run, a mid-week run, and a 'tweener' that would take place the next weekend along with a bike ride, and the following weeks mid-week run.
So then the question is - what to do with that extra run? I've already got the LSD run covered, and the mid-week runs tend to be threshold pace runs. Adding another threshold pace doesn't seem like it'd reap much of any benefits, so that leaves something like a tempo run, in my mind, as the next option. However, the problem with a tempo run is it's intensity - I have to make sure I don't overdo it and cause excess tightness in my quads that can aggrevate the IT band. I've done real well so far this season with managing that, so if I'm going to go with this tempo run experiment, I have to be prepared to jump ship at the first sign of trouble.
With all that in mind, I decided today would be a good day for this first trial. First of all, I had yesterday as a full rest day, and two very good nights of rest. Second, tonight is my normally scheduled Yoga - so I'll have a chance to stretch out. Third, tomorrow is legs strength day, and I don't want to run and do squats on the same day. Wednesday is the mid-week run, and then I want to leave Thursday and Friday as legs rest because this weekend is another 20 miler. So, today seemed the best option for this run.
The next question is what pace I should be doing this at. I had been toying around with 5 minutes at 8 min/miles during a couple of my mid-week runs, to no ill effect - so I knew I could probably start somewhere around there. What I ended up doing was just initially concentrating on keeping my cadence around 180, and moving at an effort level that was slightly higher than normal - and wherever the pace was, so be it. I was somewhat surprised when I consistently saw my pace reading around 7:40 to 8 min/mile. But I felt like I could maintain that for quite some time. As the run progressed, and I got towards the two mile mark, after maintaining < 8 min/miles, I decided I'd slow up a bit at mile three. I just felt like that was going to be enough - I was in no danger of not being able to finish the full 6 miles, but I just felt like maintaining that pace throughout all 6 miles might end up pushing it too much.
So once I hit three miles, thats what I did - I slowed up a bit to let my HR, which was getting into the 160's, calm down a bit. As it turns out, upon reading about tempo runs when I got back - the timing was perfect. Apparently a common practice to is to tempo runs for about 20 minutes - and with the 3 mile distance I did, I was at tempo for about 23 minutes and change. It also coincided with the part of the loop that starts a gradual uphill, so even though I slowed up to my normal pace of 8:30-8:50 min/mile, my HR stayed in the high 150's and 160's. I was less worried about HR, and more concentrating on making sure my legs were recovering and feeling good, and not feeling like I was stressing them.
The other thing I started paying attention to during this run was breathing. I normally just breath however I breath, without thinking about it, but I decided to try deeper breathing, similar to the pranayama deep breathing from yoga. I ended up finding a 4 breath inhale 4 breath exhale pattern worked pretty well. The only issue I had is that when I was concentrating on that, my concentrating on foot placement and mechanics got a little sloppy - and placement and mechanics is something I pay particular attention to in order to avoid IT band issues. So I found myself bouncing between concentrating on one thing, then the other. But you have to start somewhere.
Overall, this was as fast as I've done that loop. The next fastest time was a few years ago, when I did it in +5 seconds as compared to today. It would barely be worth mentioning, except for the fact that it was right before my IT band issues started - so that naturally has me paranoid in a superstitious way.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Some thoughts about approach to training
Earlier this year, when I was training primarily for the Patriot half iron, most of what I was doing was brick workouts - starting with a short 15 mile (or so) bike ride, then a mile or two run. Each week I increased the distance of each activity a bit, and I'd visit the pool once or twice a week for about half hour or so to work on swim technique, but for the most part that was all I really did for the triathloin disciplines. If someone were to ask me how much time I spent per week training, I'd have responded with 'around 8'. In my mind, there was the two to three hours on the bike, the one to two hours running (both times varying greatly depending on whether it was still March, or closer to May), and maybe an hour swimming. Even on the high side of the estimate, that is two hours short of 8. However, I considered the hour and a half of yoga per week, plus the one or two P90X workouts into my overall time calculations as well.
It's come to my attention recently that when discussing how much time is taken to train, most people are only talking about time in the three disciplines - in other words, not counting cross training that might help with triathlons (either via strength or flexibility improvements). When thinking of training time in those terms, I started to think about how much time I actually spend training now, as I prepare for a full iron.
In my mind, I'm spending virtually all my free time on training.
Saturday/Sunday: LSD run (3.5 hours) or ride (7 hours) with the other day being rest
Monday: swim (30 minutes)*, yoga (90 minutes)
Tuesday: Lower body and core strength (90 minutes)
Wednesday: swim (30 minutes)*, mid week run (90 minutes)
Thursday: Upper body and core strength (90 minutes)
Friday: swim (30 minutes)*, rest
* - sometimes the swim takes the form of a long swim, in which case on those weeks I have been doing fewer pool sessions that week.
Obviously, a significant chunk of time is spent on yoga and strength training, which normally wouldn't consider into overall training time - but they are things that I am finding helpful in order to avoid injury.
That led me to thinking - am I taking a minimalist approach to training? I feel like I have little extra time to put into this effort, yet it only tallies up to either 6 or 10 hours per week, depending on whether its a run or bike weekend. And while there is actually more time on the weekends and Friday, we all know that rest is important.
So in my pondering, I came across this article regarding minimalist training. There are five main points:
1) Swim is about technique, not power
2) Swim isn't that important
3) Cycling fitness crosses over to running
4) Cycling indoors at a high intensity is time efficient
5) Doing a lot of century rides isn't necessary
One of the main reasons why this article was of interest to me was that I immediately found #1-#3 to be true, based on my experience. My whole focus in swimming, ever since I discovered Total Immersion, has been how to move through the water more easily, as opposed to building up the muscles to power myself through the water. A main focus of my swimming over the winter was swimming about one mile per session until I got to the point where my stroke and body positioning was efficient enough that I wasn't fatigued coming out of the water. Contrast this to my first triathlon, when I was heavily winded and already fatigued getting out of the water after only 1/4 mile. Earlier this year I rented a wetsuit for the first time, and I'm glad I did - because I found that with my current form, swimming the 2.4 miles was going to be quite a bit easier than I had thought.
Regarding #2, there can be some debate. I've heard it said that you don't win a triathlon in the water, but you can lose one. Well, I'm just not good enough to be worrying about winning one any time soon - but I've always reasoned that the difference in swim times between those who might win are usually fairly small. In a mile swim (for olympic distances), that difference seems to only be 2-3 minutes or so, unless a race has a particularly strong swimmer that day. Generally, I find that a strong swimmer is usually overtaken by a strong cyclist. Furthermore, the longer the event, the lower the ratio of swim time to overall time.
For #3, I feel as though I definitely discovered that this spring. In my attempts to avoid running too much, on account of my IT band, I limited myself to once/week, and no speed work. The only runs I did were distance extending, yet I still managed to PR a half marathon in early June, on a hillier course than my previous PR a few years ago when I ran 4-5 times per week and did speedwork. The biggest difference was that I had built up to 2-3 hour long bike rides that I was doing on a weekly basis - so there was a huge degree of cardio conditioning that I felt helped with the running abilities.
#4 is something I can't do directly, but I can leverage some of the concepts. I've tried cardio training indoors - it bores me to tears. I had a set of rollers, but I sold them because even 30 minutes on a bike indoors makes me want to shoot myself. So I decided that this offseason, when I can't run or bike any longer, I'd concentrate on the strength training and yoga/flexibility. However, there is still a valuable takeaway from #4 - specifically the high intensity interval sessions of 45 minutes. As the days get shorter, and the temps get cooler and my ability to be out on the bike for 5-7 hours comes to an end - I can still bust out a quick 30-45 minute, high intensity ride. I may have to contend with pauses at traffic lights and what-not, but as I'm not a world class athlete, I'm willing to bet there are still significant gains to be made. This touches on something I mentioned in my last post regarding my 2nd century, when I mentioned I made a conscious effort to keep spinning and not allow myself to take coasting breaks. The one benefit of indoor trainers is that there is no free ride provided by gravity - so I was trying to simulate that by not allowing a lackadaisical coast on a downhill.
#5 - the timing of reading this article couldn't be better. My intention for the remainder of this season was to do a century every other week to build up the endurance, and do that as long as possible into the fall season until snowfall or low temps finally forced me off the road. However, reading this makes me think that I might be better off figuring out logistical stuff for long rides (like fuel and so forth) by doing another one or two before the end of the year, and spending the new-found weekend time working on either high intensity rides (ala #4) and/or more running.
The other nice thing about this article and its approach is that it might also be helpful in the spring, when I'll only have about 4 months (March to about June) to build back up to the distances required for a full iron. If the higher intensity workouts on the bike are that helpful - and if I'll be coming out of the off season stronger due to the strength training - my legs may just be able to handle the interval work without aggrevating the IT band.
It's come to my attention recently that when discussing how much time is taken to train, most people are only talking about time in the three disciplines - in other words, not counting cross training that might help with triathlons (either via strength or flexibility improvements). When thinking of training time in those terms, I started to think about how much time I actually spend training now, as I prepare for a full iron.
In my mind, I'm spending virtually all my free time on training.
Saturday/Sunday: LSD run (3.5 hours) or ride (7 hours) with the other day being rest
Monday: swim (30 minutes)*, yoga (90 minutes)
Tuesday: Lower body and core strength (90 minutes)
Wednesday: swim (30 minutes)*, mid week run (90 minutes)
Thursday: Upper body and core strength (90 minutes)
Friday: swim (30 minutes)*, rest
* - sometimes the swim takes the form of a long swim, in which case on those weeks I have been doing fewer pool sessions that week.
Obviously, a significant chunk of time is spent on yoga and strength training, which normally wouldn't consider into overall training time - but they are things that I am finding helpful in order to avoid injury.
That led me to thinking - am I taking a minimalist approach to training? I feel like I have little extra time to put into this effort, yet it only tallies up to either 6 or 10 hours per week, depending on whether its a run or bike weekend. And while there is actually more time on the weekends and Friday, we all know that rest is important.
So in my pondering, I came across this article regarding minimalist training. There are five main points:
1) Swim is about technique, not power
2) Swim isn't that important
3) Cycling fitness crosses over to running
4) Cycling indoors at a high intensity is time efficient
5) Doing a lot of century rides isn't necessary
One of the main reasons why this article was of interest to me was that I immediately found #1-#3 to be true, based on my experience. My whole focus in swimming, ever since I discovered Total Immersion, has been how to move through the water more easily, as opposed to building up the muscles to power myself through the water. A main focus of my swimming over the winter was swimming about one mile per session until I got to the point where my stroke and body positioning was efficient enough that I wasn't fatigued coming out of the water. Contrast this to my first triathlon, when I was heavily winded and already fatigued getting out of the water after only 1/4 mile. Earlier this year I rented a wetsuit for the first time, and I'm glad I did - because I found that with my current form, swimming the 2.4 miles was going to be quite a bit easier than I had thought.
Regarding #2, there can be some debate. I've heard it said that you don't win a triathlon in the water, but you can lose one. Well, I'm just not good enough to be worrying about winning one any time soon - but I've always reasoned that the difference in swim times between those who might win are usually fairly small. In a mile swim (for olympic distances), that difference seems to only be 2-3 minutes or so, unless a race has a particularly strong swimmer that day. Generally, I find that a strong swimmer is usually overtaken by a strong cyclist. Furthermore, the longer the event, the lower the ratio of swim time to overall time.
For #3, I feel as though I definitely discovered that this spring. In my attempts to avoid running too much, on account of my IT band, I limited myself to once/week, and no speed work. The only runs I did were distance extending, yet I still managed to PR a half marathon in early June, on a hillier course than my previous PR a few years ago when I ran 4-5 times per week and did speedwork. The biggest difference was that I had built up to 2-3 hour long bike rides that I was doing on a weekly basis - so there was a huge degree of cardio conditioning that I felt helped with the running abilities.
#4 is something I can't do directly, but I can leverage some of the concepts. I've tried cardio training indoors - it bores me to tears. I had a set of rollers, but I sold them because even 30 minutes on a bike indoors makes me want to shoot myself. So I decided that this offseason, when I can't run or bike any longer, I'd concentrate on the strength training and yoga/flexibility. However, there is still a valuable takeaway from #4 - specifically the high intensity interval sessions of 45 minutes. As the days get shorter, and the temps get cooler and my ability to be out on the bike for 5-7 hours comes to an end - I can still bust out a quick 30-45 minute, high intensity ride. I may have to contend with pauses at traffic lights and what-not, but as I'm not a world class athlete, I'm willing to bet there are still significant gains to be made. This touches on something I mentioned in my last post regarding my 2nd century, when I mentioned I made a conscious effort to keep spinning and not allow myself to take coasting breaks. The one benefit of indoor trainers is that there is no free ride provided by gravity - so I was trying to simulate that by not allowing a lackadaisical coast on a downhill.
#5 - the timing of reading this article couldn't be better. My intention for the remainder of this season was to do a century every other week to build up the endurance, and do that as long as possible into the fall season until snowfall or low temps finally forced me off the road. However, reading this makes me think that I might be better off figuring out logistical stuff for long rides (like fuel and so forth) by doing another one or two before the end of the year, and spending the new-found weekend time working on either high intensity rides (ala #4) and/or more running.
The other nice thing about this article and its approach is that it might also be helpful in the spring, when I'll only have about 4 months (March to about June) to build back up to the distances required for a full iron. If the higher intensity workouts on the bike are that helpful - and if I'll be coming out of the off season stronger due to the strength training - my legs may just be able to handle the interval work without aggrevating the IT band.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Century #2 - 8/20/11
Today was the second century bike ride I've done, and there were certainly some interesting takeaways and things to ponder.
For the route, I had debated between doing a modified Wachusett Reservoir loop, with multiple, possibly concentric loops around the reservoir. However, I ended up doing an out and back to Londonderry, NH. I do the Wachusett loop enough that I figured I mine as well take advantage of the opportunity to do something else - especially since a 50 mile radius provides for checking out new roads and routes I might do in the future.
Before I left, I had a couple scrambled eggs and a banana, plus some water to rehydrate after a nights sleep. This was something I was lax on during my last century ride - I didn't have much of anything to eat beforehand. The first 20 or so miles I was already somewhat familiar with, as I had ridden my bike along that route a few years ago once or twice, but after that I was dependant on my GPS HR monitor to tell me where to go based on the route I created and loaded the night before.
As is typical, I wasn't too great about hydrating during the first part of the ride. I feel plenty hydrated enough at the start, and I don't want to use up my water too quickly, especially on a route where I don't know how often I'll come upon a store where I can buy water. This is something I have to get better at, though - either via having more water with me, or eventually doing these real long rides on routes I've done before where I know about where stores are that I can leverage.
The trip up went by pretty well. I made sure to stop and eat half a protein bar at the 25 mile mark, but with todays course definitely being flatter than the previous 100 miler I did, I felt stronger. At the halfway mark, I stopped for a bit to rest up and refill my bottles. The return trip was where things became more of a roller coaster. I felt fine for the first 20 or so miles back, but stopped at about mile 73 to finish the protein bar, because I was getting pretty fatigued. That helped a bit, but I decided to stop at a general store I had passed at mile 25 on the way up - so I expected to see it around mile 75 on the way back. I started really looking forward to a bag of potato chips and a bottle of chocolate milk. The problem was that I thought I remembered seeing it at a different intersection. So, I ended up passing it without realizing it (but I didn't realize that yet). As I was going along, and the cyclometer was getting towards 77, 78, 79, 80 miles - I started wondering how on earth I hit it at mile 25 on the way up, but hadn't seen it on the way back yet. It then dawned on me that I must have passed it, and misremembered the intersection it was near. Fortunately I knew there was a Dunkin Donuts coming up in the next few miles. They wouldn't have the chips, but they'd have the chocolate milk. And with a 100 mile bike ride, I could afford the calories of a baked good. Actually, I was getting to the point I was depending on them.
After coming upon the Dunkin Donuts, I got my chocolate milk and a coffee roll. My taste buds were incredibly appreciative of the non-gatorade flavor beverage, and my stomach was grateful for the solid food. When I started up again, I just kept the legs moving to keep blood flowing - they were feeling really fatigued at this point and I was damn near out of the metaphorical matches - I needed to conserve whatever energy I could.
The other thing I should briefly mention was that on the way up, I tried to make a conscious effort to keep the legs spinning, especially in places where I'd normally coast (like on a downhill) - even if I wasn't providing propulsion. The reason for this I'll explain in my next post - because it touches on a philosophical approach to cycling and particular discipline, but it was something I wanted to experiment with today. Unfortunately, on the way back after I started becoming fatigued, that practice kinda went by the wayside. It's funny, and unfortunate, how when we are fatigued we abandon the form that is supposed to conserve energy.
So - the main takeaway from this ride is that I have to figure out nutrition and eating habits for these distances. Up to 70 miles, I can survive solely on gatorade. However, with longer distances, especially when considering that I'll have to add on 12 more miles and then do 26.2 more miles on foot - it is clear that gatorade and a protein/energy bar alone won't do the trick. I just hit a wall and my speed bogs down.
I can think of a few factors that might play into it:
(1) Hydration levels - the last ride (due to accelerade being annoying to drink) and this ride (due to just habit), I probably didn't drink enough water. Part of that is because I have this mental block against stopping on the first half of the ride. That may have to change.
(2) Food intake during the ride itself - I think this is a major contributor. I had been thinking that during the IM event, I'd have bananas offered at the aid stations throughout the bike ride, so perhaps when the day comes, the problem will just solve itself. However, I'd like to experiment and see, rather than just hope and cross my fingers.
(3) Weather - today was definitely warmer than my last ride. However, the weather will be what it'll be at Lake Placid, so I can't depend on the weather being in the 60's with cloudy skies.
(4) Too long a rest at the halfway point - both times I stopped for about an hour at the half way point. That might be causing part of the problem, or it might actually be helping to avoid a bigger problem. Only way to see is to do a ride without a big mid-way break.
I'm not sure what my solution will end up being, but I'm thinking my next century will be loops around Wachusett - that'll let me toy with the long rest at halfway point and hydration issues variables - as I can stop at a store each time I go around the loop.
For the route, I had debated between doing a modified Wachusett Reservoir loop, with multiple, possibly concentric loops around the reservoir. However, I ended up doing an out and back to Londonderry, NH. I do the Wachusett loop enough that I figured I mine as well take advantage of the opportunity to do something else - especially since a 50 mile radius provides for checking out new roads and routes I might do in the future.
Before I left, I had a couple scrambled eggs and a banana, plus some water to rehydrate after a nights sleep. This was something I was lax on during my last century ride - I didn't have much of anything to eat beforehand. The first 20 or so miles I was already somewhat familiar with, as I had ridden my bike along that route a few years ago once or twice, but after that I was dependant on my GPS HR monitor to tell me where to go based on the route I created and loaded the night before.
As is typical, I wasn't too great about hydrating during the first part of the ride. I feel plenty hydrated enough at the start, and I don't want to use up my water too quickly, especially on a route where I don't know how often I'll come upon a store where I can buy water. This is something I have to get better at, though - either via having more water with me, or eventually doing these real long rides on routes I've done before where I know about where stores are that I can leverage.
The trip up went by pretty well. I made sure to stop and eat half a protein bar at the 25 mile mark, but with todays course definitely being flatter than the previous 100 miler I did, I felt stronger. At the halfway mark, I stopped for a bit to rest up and refill my bottles. The return trip was where things became more of a roller coaster. I felt fine for the first 20 or so miles back, but stopped at about mile 73 to finish the protein bar, because I was getting pretty fatigued. That helped a bit, but I decided to stop at a general store I had passed at mile 25 on the way up - so I expected to see it around mile 75 on the way back. I started really looking forward to a bag of potato chips and a bottle of chocolate milk. The problem was that I thought I remembered seeing it at a different intersection. So, I ended up passing it without realizing it (but I didn't realize that yet). As I was going along, and the cyclometer was getting towards 77, 78, 79, 80 miles - I started wondering how on earth I hit it at mile 25 on the way up, but hadn't seen it on the way back yet. It then dawned on me that I must have passed it, and misremembered the intersection it was near. Fortunately I knew there was a Dunkin Donuts coming up in the next few miles. They wouldn't have the chips, but they'd have the chocolate milk. And with a 100 mile bike ride, I could afford the calories of a baked good. Actually, I was getting to the point I was depending on them.
After coming upon the Dunkin Donuts, I got my chocolate milk and a coffee roll. My taste buds were incredibly appreciative of the non-gatorade flavor beverage, and my stomach was grateful for the solid food. When I started up again, I just kept the legs moving to keep blood flowing - they were feeling really fatigued at this point and I was damn near out of the metaphorical matches - I needed to conserve whatever energy I could.
The other thing I should briefly mention was that on the way up, I tried to make a conscious effort to keep the legs spinning, especially in places where I'd normally coast (like on a downhill) - even if I wasn't providing propulsion. The reason for this I'll explain in my next post - because it touches on a philosophical approach to cycling and particular discipline, but it was something I wanted to experiment with today. Unfortunately, on the way back after I started becoming fatigued, that practice kinda went by the wayside. It's funny, and unfortunate, how when we are fatigued we abandon the form that is supposed to conserve energy.
So - the main takeaway from this ride is that I have to figure out nutrition and eating habits for these distances. Up to 70 miles, I can survive solely on gatorade. However, with longer distances, especially when considering that I'll have to add on 12 more miles and then do 26.2 more miles on foot - it is clear that gatorade and a protein/energy bar alone won't do the trick. I just hit a wall and my speed bogs down.
I can think of a few factors that might play into it:
(1) Hydration levels - the last ride (due to accelerade being annoying to drink) and this ride (due to just habit), I probably didn't drink enough water. Part of that is because I have this mental block against stopping on the first half of the ride. That may have to change.
(2) Food intake during the ride itself - I think this is a major contributor. I had been thinking that during the IM event, I'd have bananas offered at the aid stations throughout the bike ride, so perhaps when the day comes, the problem will just solve itself. However, I'd like to experiment and see, rather than just hope and cross my fingers.
(3) Weather - today was definitely warmer than my last ride. However, the weather will be what it'll be at Lake Placid, so I can't depend on the weather being in the 60's with cloudy skies.
(4) Too long a rest at the halfway point - both times I stopped for about an hour at the half way point. That might be causing part of the problem, or it might actually be helping to avoid a bigger problem. Only way to see is to do a ride without a big mid-way break.
I'm not sure what my solution will end up being, but I'm thinking my next century will be loops around Wachusett - that'll let me toy with the long rest at halfway point and hydration issues variables - as I can stop at a store each time I go around the loop.
Friday, August 19, 2011
P90X Chest & Back plus Ab Ripper
Although there is likely little benefit to working the chest and back for triathlons, I spend so much time working the legs that I feel like I should work the upper body as well, in order to keep at least somewhat proportional. I tried a little bit to convince myself that it would help with swimming by strengthening the pulling muscles, but at the end of the day the major improvements with swimming are due to form and streamlining, and not by brute strength.
I originally wanted to do this workout yesterday and have today as a rest day, but other obligations came up and I had to push this workout to today. I decided that was ok, though, since this weekends bike ride wont be working the upper body - so any fatigue introduced should not really hamper me at all.
This is probably the 8th time or so doing this workout, and while I'm still not very strong at it, I've definitely improved. When I first started, I couldn't do a single pull up. I may have been able to do a chin up - but I don't think so. I had to start with my legs on a chair, supporting a significant portion of my weight as I went through the range of motion. Now I can do 5 or 6, but I take a 5 second break in between each one - and its not like the routine is a single set of pull ups and then you are done. It alternates between things like pull ups and push ups - so throughout the 45 minute workout, there are about 8-10 sessions of pull/chin ups. I decided to stop using the chair, in an effort to see if that would help speed things up by exhausting the muscles more quickly. I think the jury is still out on that - it could be that while the muscles are too exhausted to complete a full next rep, they'd still get benefit from using a chair and lifting at least some weight. I guess we'll see after I've gone through a few sessions.
The Ab Ripper workout is something that I think it definitely more beneficial - and something beneficial no matter what the activity is that you do. It's a pretty fast paced series of exercises that completely exhausts one portion of your core (starting with hip flexors, for me) and then move on to the next part (lower abs, oblique's, etc). The nice thing about it is that it only takes about 16 minutes. I still can't keep up with all reps of the exercises - I still have to take a handful of breaks or cut a series of 25 down to 20 because I'm just not as fast as the people in the video are. One day, though.
I originally wanted to do this workout yesterday and have today as a rest day, but other obligations came up and I had to push this workout to today. I decided that was ok, though, since this weekends bike ride wont be working the upper body - so any fatigue introduced should not really hamper me at all.
This is probably the 8th time or so doing this workout, and while I'm still not very strong at it, I've definitely improved. When I first started, I couldn't do a single pull up. I may have been able to do a chin up - but I don't think so. I had to start with my legs on a chair, supporting a significant portion of my weight as I went through the range of motion. Now I can do 5 or 6, but I take a 5 second break in between each one - and its not like the routine is a single set of pull ups and then you are done. It alternates between things like pull ups and push ups - so throughout the 45 minute workout, there are about 8-10 sessions of pull/chin ups. I decided to stop using the chair, in an effort to see if that would help speed things up by exhausting the muscles more quickly. I think the jury is still out on that - it could be that while the muscles are too exhausted to complete a full next rep, they'd still get benefit from using a chair and lifting at least some weight. I guess we'll see after I've gone through a few sessions.
The Ab Ripper workout is something that I think it definitely more beneficial - and something beneficial no matter what the activity is that you do. It's a pretty fast paced series of exercises that completely exhausts one portion of your core (starting with hip flexors, for me) and then move on to the next part (lower abs, oblique's, etc). The nice thing about it is that it only takes about 16 minutes. I still can't keep up with all reps of the exercises - I still have to take a handful of breaks or cut a series of 25 down to 20 because I'm just not as fast as the people in the video are. One day, though.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
90 minute mid-week run - 8/17
Back to the normally scheduled 90 minute mid week run. They are slowly improving, but this past weekends 20 miles has me somewhat convinced that the benefit of these mid-week runs is not improvement of them from one week to the next, but rather improvement of longer runs. I may look into it, but perhaps I am running these midweek runs at or near the lactate threshold.
Actually, plugging in my Worcester half result (1:53:00 or so) into the vdot calculator at runbayou.com, it comes back telling me my marathon pace is 8:57, which is almost exactly what my pace was during the 20 miler this past week, and that my threshold pace is 8:22, which is very close to what I end up running for various segments on these mid-week runs. Not sure what that all means - maybe it means I'm doing something right for a change, and running based on what I'm capable of rather than trying to run to meet a certain goal (and pushing myself too much). That could explain some of the steady improvement I've been seeing all year.
Not a whole lot to say about todays run, though. My legs were still sore from the legs and back workout yesterday, so in a way I'm happy with todays result, coming off 20 miles a few days ago, and a strength workout from yesterday. I think that was all evidenced a bit by a slightly higher avg HR of 150 today, vs the 145 from a couple weeks ago (yet still better than the 158 from a couple weeks before that - but that was after a particularly intense weekend).
Actually, plugging in my Worcester half result (1:53:00 or so) into the vdot calculator at runbayou.com, it comes back telling me my marathon pace is 8:57, which is almost exactly what my pace was during the 20 miler this past week, and that my threshold pace is 8:22, which is very close to what I end up running for various segments on these mid-week runs. Not sure what that all means - maybe it means I'm doing something right for a change, and running based on what I'm capable of rather than trying to run to meet a certain goal (and pushing myself too much). That could explain some of the steady improvement I've been seeing all year.
Not a whole lot to say about todays run, though. My legs were still sore from the legs and back workout yesterday, so in a way I'm happy with todays result, coming off 20 miles a few days ago, and a strength workout from yesterday. I think that was all evidenced a bit by a slightly higher avg HR of 150 today, vs the 145 from a couple weeks ago (yet still better than the 158 from a couple weeks before that - but that was after a particularly intense weekend).
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
P90X Legs & Back - 8/16
I haven't really posted about anything I've done regarding strength training or P90X routines, but as I work out in my mind what I'm going to do for the 3 months or so where cycling and running will be largely off the table, I'm settling in on the idea of going through the P90X routine (at least a large portion of it). I've mentioned that in passing in a post or two, but more and more, it looks like a certainty.
There are a few workouts in the P90X routine that I think are beneficial in some way for triathlons - even if they don't directly lead to performance improvement. The biggest at the moment is the legs and back, specifically for the legs.
So with doing a long run or bike ride on the weekend, and going to Yoga on Monday nights as a recovery workout, Tuesday makes the most sense to put the next large amount of stress on to my legs, as I'll have 3-4 days of recovery before the next weekend. Today was, I think, the 4th week I've done the legs and back routine. I did it once before, prior to the Patriot half, but it resulted in such soreness and tightness that it was a few days before I felt better again, and it was close to the event itself, and I did not want to screw with anything. However, the fact that it was so soreness inducing made me realize it was something beneficial that I'd have to come back to.
And why is that? Because the lunges and squats help with the one-legged balance and hip strength that is often one of the root causes of IT band issues - at least, according to PT and the exercises they prescribe. Also, the routine works the quads as well, and I'm thinking that if I can strengthen the quads more, they won't get quite so tight during a run, further helping to minimize IT band issues. The other nice thing about it is that the legs routine really doesn't require much for weight - so if I'm travelling for work one week - I can still get a good session in, albeit slightly less intense without dumb-bells.
Of course, when I did it the second time, with it having been several weeks since the first time, it made me real sore again. But each time I've done it, it has gotten better. So my goal with it for this month is to get it to the point where I'm not sore for more than about a day. It is also a reason why I'm holding at the 20 miles run/100 mile bike distance this month - to give my legs a chance to catch up with regards to this workout.
Other than that - there's not a whole lot to say about this workout, other than I did my best, and forgot the rest.
There are a few workouts in the P90X routine that I think are beneficial in some way for triathlons - even if they don't directly lead to performance improvement. The biggest at the moment is the legs and back, specifically for the legs.
So with doing a long run or bike ride on the weekend, and going to Yoga on Monday nights as a recovery workout, Tuesday makes the most sense to put the next large amount of stress on to my legs, as I'll have 3-4 days of recovery before the next weekend. Today was, I think, the 4th week I've done the legs and back routine. I did it once before, prior to the Patriot half, but it resulted in such soreness and tightness that it was a few days before I felt better again, and it was close to the event itself, and I did not want to screw with anything. However, the fact that it was so soreness inducing made me realize it was something beneficial that I'd have to come back to.
And why is that? Because the lunges and squats help with the one-legged balance and hip strength that is often one of the root causes of IT band issues - at least, according to PT and the exercises they prescribe. Also, the routine works the quads as well, and I'm thinking that if I can strengthen the quads more, they won't get quite so tight during a run, further helping to minimize IT band issues. The other nice thing about it is that the legs routine really doesn't require much for weight - so if I'm travelling for work one week - I can still get a good session in, albeit slightly less intense without dumb-bells.
Of course, when I did it the second time, with it having been several weeks since the first time, it made me real sore again. But each time I've done it, it has gotten better. So my goal with it for this month is to get it to the point where I'm not sore for more than about a day. It is also a reason why I'm holding at the 20 miles run/100 mile bike distance this month - to give my legs a chance to catch up with regards to this workout.
Other than that - there's not a whole lot to say about this workout, other than I did my best, and forgot the rest.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
20 mile run - 8/14/11
The week of recovery and rest comes to an end :(
Today was the second (of probably three) 20 mile run for the month of August. I decided that once reaching this distance, I'd repeat it a few times as a way to acclimate to it. I picked this distance for a few reasons: (1) it seems many marathon training plans use the 20 mile distance as a plateau of some sort; (2) it took me from March to June (3 months) to go from one to 13 miles - and I went from 13 to 20 in half that time (about six weeks) - so it seemed like a good time to let things catch up a bit; (3) it coincided with my doing 100 miles on the bike; (4) it gives me a chance to really integrate a mid-week legs strength workout in, so that I'm not running on quite so fatigued and possibly still stiff and sore muscles and (5) August can be hot, so waiting until September to continue extending distance, when it'd be a bit cooler, seemed like a good idea.
The previous 20 mile run I did was pretty satisfying. I had taken a walk break for about 0.05 miles every mile, and felt fairly strong throughout, and my pace per mile of about 9:30 was noticably faster than previous long runs (usually > 10 min/mile). Today improved on that, as my average pace was closer to 9 min/mile, yet I was able to maintain my normal long slow distance HR of about 150. I'd like to think that I improved that much, but it was overcast today, and so I have to probably come to grips with the fact that the cooler weather today probably played a significant part in the performance improvement.
But not to give the weather all the credit - I am noticing my target cadence of 180 foot strokes per minute is getting easier. A couple years ago, when I found out that the ideal cadence is about 180, I tried quickening my pace and shortening my stride (I was at about 165-170 at the time), and although I found some benefits, I also found it drove my HR up 5-10 bpm. I guess it is just a matter of getting used to it, or maybe the aerobic conditioning helped in large part by long bike rides has made it so that I can maintain that higher cadence now without driving the HR up. The end result is good news, because the shorter stride definitely helps keep the IT band issues at bay (I notice that if I get sloppy, and my cadence slows down and my stride becomes more labored, I start to feel it rubbing. So in a way a tight IT band is helpful because it is a reminder to shape up and fix my form!) for one, as well as reduces the effort load on the quads. Finally, it ends up resulting in a faster pace - it seems like it forces form to be such that more of the expended effort is put into forward movement, so when I push off, I'm pushing more forward, instead of both up and forward. Efficiency!
The first 10-11 miles were surprisingly comfortable. It was a nice mental place to be, knowing that I was halfway through and hadn't yet started to feel like I was slogging through it. It dawned on me that the 1.5 hr midweek runs recently may have a part to play in that - I do them with no walk breaks - so when I do a long run and actually do take walk breaks every mile, my muscles have been getting used to running for 90 minutes with no break, so running for 8-9 minutes between every break is a cake-walk! Unfortunately that didn't last much past 11 miles, as I started to meet up with the old friend, tightness. I stretched out a bit, but from miles 11-20, each mile got progressively more difficult. At mile 19, I was thinking 'one more mile...', Rocky-style ("one more round"). It was still not a terribly difficult mile, just annoying because the hips were tightening up. All in all, though - it was a pretty comfortable long run.
Today was the second (of probably three) 20 mile run for the month of August. I decided that once reaching this distance, I'd repeat it a few times as a way to acclimate to it. I picked this distance for a few reasons: (1) it seems many marathon training plans use the 20 mile distance as a plateau of some sort; (2) it took me from March to June (3 months) to go from one to 13 miles - and I went from 13 to 20 in half that time (about six weeks) - so it seemed like a good time to let things catch up a bit; (3) it coincided with my doing 100 miles on the bike; (4) it gives me a chance to really integrate a mid-week legs strength workout in, so that I'm not running on quite so fatigued and possibly still stiff and sore muscles and (5) August can be hot, so waiting until September to continue extending distance, when it'd be a bit cooler, seemed like a good idea.
The previous 20 mile run I did was pretty satisfying. I had taken a walk break for about 0.05 miles every mile, and felt fairly strong throughout, and my pace per mile of about 9:30 was noticably faster than previous long runs (usually > 10 min/mile). Today improved on that, as my average pace was closer to 9 min/mile, yet I was able to maintain my normal long slow distance HR of about 150. I'd like to think that I improved that much, but it was overcast today, and so I have to probably come to grips with the fact that the cooler weather today probably played a significant part in the performance improvement.
But not to give the weather all the credit - I am noticing my target cadence of 180 foot strokes per minute is getting easier. A couple years ago, when I found out that the ideal cadence is about 180, I tried quickening my pace and shortening my stride (I was at about 165-170 at the time), and although I found some benefits, I also found it drove my HR up 5-10 bpm. I guess it is just a matter of getting used to it, or maybe the aerobic conditioning helped in large part by long bike rides has made it so that I can maintain that higher cadence now without driving the HR up. The end result is good news, because the shorter stride definitely helps keep the IT band issues at bay (I notice that if I get sloppy, and my cadence slows down and my stride becomes more labored, I start to feel it rubbing. So in a way a tight IT band is helpful because it is a reminder to shape up and fix my form!) for one, as well as reduces the effort load on the quads. Finally, it ends up resulting in a faster pace - it seems like it forces form to be such that more of the expended effort is put into forward movement, so when I push off, I'm pushing more forward, instead of both up and forward. Efficiency!
The first 10-11 miles were surprisingly comfortable. It was a nice mental place to be, knowing that I was halfway through and hadn't yet started to feel like I was slogging through it. It dawned on me that the 1.5 hr midweek runs recently may have a part to play in that - I do them with no walk breaks - so when I do a long run and actually do take walk breaks every mile, my muscles have been getting used to running for 90 minutes with no break, so running for 8-9 minutes between every break is a cake-walk! Unfortunately that didn't last much past 11 miles, as I started to meet up with the old friend, tightness. I stretched out a bit, but from miles 11-20, each mile got progressively more difficult. At mile 19, I was thinking 'one more mile...', Rocky-style ("one more round"). It was still not a terribly difficult mile, just annoying because the hips were tightening up. All in all, though - it was a pretty comfortable long run.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Extending swimming distance to 1.77 miles - 8/13
I was originally thinking I might end up waiting until later in the year, when I get a wetsuit, to extend my swimming distance beyond about 1.25 to 1.3 miles. Reason being is that when I rented a wetsuit, and felt how much easier and faster it is - I realized that my original plan of slowly building up to 2.4 miles over the winter in the pool was more conservative (and boring) than it needed to be. After a 1.3 mile swim in the wetsuit, I felt like it wouldn't take much to get the endurance to do a full 2.4 miles. Actually, it was one of those things where I could have done it that day, but my goal is to try and get 2.4 miles to the point where fatigue in any part of my body other than arms is minimal - and that would still need some work.
But today, other life events happened in such a way to allow me the luxury of being at the right place (open water) at the right time (before boats), with plenty of time - so I decided to take advantage of it and extend my swim distance a bit.
As is typical, I still started out a bit fast. I knew this before the first 1/10th mile or so, because I was starting to breath heavier, so I had to slow down a bit to catch my breath. And then, as usual, it took a good 10-15 minutes to feel like I finally settled into a rhythm. That whole transition from muscle sugar burning to fat burning is still something that I feel and notice during swimming.
It didn't help that my stomach had not been at its happiest for a while. I ate way too much at lunch on Friday, and on Friday evening my dinner consisted of about 2/3 of a bell pepper and a couple tomatoes. I think that was the only time I've ever had 100% vegetables for a meal, unless you count a baked potato. Anyhow, when I went to bed last night my stomach wasn't upset, but it wasn't really sure what to do with all that nutrition and fibre without other stuff to dilute it a bit. This morning I had a balance bar (as usual), but also had a bit of a fruit smoothie (homemade recipe). Unfortunately my stomach still wasn't feeling digestive. So, long story short, twisting and turning and ingesting pond water wasn't #1 on my list of things to look forward to.
BUT - I managed. Predictably, my pace started to drop off right around the 1.25 mile mark, which both is and is not a surprise. It is a surprise because I felt for sure - during this swim and others - that after about 3/4 mile, my form really starts to noticably suffer. My rotation starts to get more sloppy, my kick gets sloppier, and my legs start to drag. So it is a surprise to see my pace for miles 0.75 - 1.25 maintaining a sub 8:30 pace. However, it is not a surprise to see my pace fall off after that simply because I've done very few, if any, swims beyond about 1.4 miles. If what I've found to hold true for running and biking (its that distance when pushing beyond already established limits that is the slowest and worst) holds true for swimming, that would be right about the exact time that I'd start to slow down.
During that last couple 1/4 miles, though - I did have a change in my form that I was toying around with. I was just trying to maintain better streamlining, but in the process I think my arm turnover dropped, which could certainly account for the drop in pace. I felt more streamlined, so I think there is a valuable takeaway to be had - it is just a matter of putting it all together.
One last thing I found about this swim - Terry Laughlin (TI developer/coach/whatever) talks about having mental endurance during a swim. Yeah there's the physical endurance of moving your arms and having the core strength to keep the body aligned, but there is also mental endurance in consciously thinking about every stroke to make it as efficient as possible. I felt like I started to make some headway with regards to that mental endurance. So far my mental endurance has been limited to just being able to zone/phase out and let time pass, keeping a high level overview of my stroke to make sure it is coming out as I'd like. But I feel like I made some progress in the area of sensing what it should be like to really analyze every stroke on the fly - so I'll have to work on developing that part of mental endurance.
But today, other life events happened in such a way to allow me the luxury of being at the right place (open water) at the right time (before boats), with plenty of time - so I decided to take advantage of it and extend my swim distance a bit.
As is typical, I still started out a bit fast. I knew this before the first 1/10th mile or so, because I was starting to breath heavier, so I had to slow down a bit to catch my breath. And then, as usual, it took a good 10-15 minutes to feel like I finally settled into a rhythm. That whole transition from muscle sugar burning to fat burning is still something that I feel and notice during swimming.
It didn't help that my stomach had not been at its happiest for a while. I ate way too much at lunch on Friday, and on Friday evening my dinner consisted of about 2/3 of a bell pepper and a couple tomatoes. I think that was the only time I've ever had 100% vegetables for a meal, unless you count a baked potato. Anyhow, when I went to bed last night my stomach wasn't upset, but it wasn't really sure what to do with all that nutrition and fibre without other stuff to dilute it a bit. This morning I had a balance bar (as usual), but also had a bit of a fruit smoothie (homemade recipe). Unfortunately my stomach still wasn't feeling digestive. So, long story short, twisting and turning and ingesting pond water wasn't #1 on my list of things to look forward to.
BUT - I managed. Predictably, my pace started to drop off right around the 1.25 mile mark, which both is and is not a surprise. It is a surprise because I felt for sure - during this swim and others - that after about 3/4 mile, my form really starts to noticably suffer. My rotation starts to get more sloppy, my kick gets sloppier, and my legs start to drag. So it is a surprise to see my pace for miles 0.75 - 1.25 maintaining a sub 8:30 pace. However, it is not a surprise to see my pace fall off after that simply because I've done very few, if any, swims beyond about 1.4 miles. If what I've found to hold true for running and biking (its that distance when pushing beyond already established limits that is the slowest and worst) holds true for swimming, that would be right about the exact time that I'd start to slow down.
During that last couple 1/4 miles, though - I did have a change in my form that I was toying around with. I was just trying to maintain better streamlining, but in the process I think my arm turnover dropped, which could certainly account for the drop in pace. I felt more streamlined, so I think there is a valuable takeaway to be had - it is just a matter of putting it all together.
One last thing I found about this swim - Terry Laughlin (TI developer/coach/whatever) talks about having mental endurance during a swim. Yeah there's the physical endurance of moving your arms and having the core strength to keep the body aligned, but there is also mental endurance in consciously thinking about every stroke to make it as efficient as possible. I felt like I started to make some headway with regards to that mental endurance. So far my mental endurance has been limited to just being able to zone/phase out and let time pass, keeping a high level overview of my stroke to make sure it is coming out as I'd like. But I feel like I made some progress in the area of sensing what it should be like to really analyze every stroke on the fly - so I'll have to work on developing that part of mental endurance.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
5 Mile mid week run - 8/10
The past couple weeks I've done a mid-week run of about 90 minutes. However, given how much I've put my legs through over the past few weeks, I figured this would be a good week to give things a bit of a rest. It also coincided with a week where I was travelling for work Sunday night through Wednesday. Even though I could have done the P90X legs routine in the hotel room, if I was going to give myself a bit of a rest, that meant no strength training that might result in muscle tightness.
As it turned out, I think I needed it. My legs definitely felt fatigued on Monday, and although better on Tuesday, they still didn't feel 100%. It was a very subtle not-quite-recovered-feeling - one that I'd have underestimated, except for the fact that this morning, it was pretty much gone. I guess it gets chalked up to 'The things you learn about how your body speaks to you..'
So instead of the 90 minute run, I just did a quick 45 minutes or so after I got home. I wanted to do something to keep my running legs, after having not run since the 20 miler the other weekend, but I certainly didn't want to do more than I could recover from between now and this weekend, when I plan on doing another 20 miles.
In my head, I still have this idea that a warm up mile or two, for me, should be done at 9:30 or 10 minute miles, a solid effort that can be sustained for a half marathon distance is about 9 minute miles (maybe closer to 8:40), and my threshold pace should be about 8:20 minute miles (based on the Daniels vdot calculation). However, ever since I started these midweek runs, and paying attention to cadence - I'm finding that the 8:45 min/mile pace puts my heartrate at or below 150 bpm - which for me tends to be my target for long and slow distance type running (ie, 9:30 min/miles). I guess I'm mostly shocked at how the combination of exercises I do, and the relatively low amount of running actually still translates to improved performance without having to do any real speed work. Or it could be that for the first time since high school, I've been able to run on a somewhat regular basis for more than about three to four months without reaching the end of the season, or being sidelined due to IT band issues.
Of course, part of the faster pace for tonights run was that I did two stints of an 8 min/mile pace for 5 minutes - just to throw a little something in.
As it turned out, I think I needed it. My legs definitely felt fatigued on Monday, and although better on Tuesday, they still didn't feel 100%. It was a very subtle not-quite-recovered-feeling - one that I'd have underestimated, except for the fact that this morning, it was pretty much gone. I guess it gets chalked up to 'The things you learn about how your body speaks to you..'
So instead of the 90 minute run, I just did a quick 45 minutes or so after I got home. I wanted to do something to keep my running legs, after having not run since the 20 miler the other weekend, but I certainly didn't want to do more than I could recover from between now and this weekend, when I plan on doing another 20 miles.
In my head, I still have this idea that a warm up mile or two, for me, should be done at 9:30 or 10 minute miles, a solid effort that can be sustained for a half marathon distance is about 9 minute miles (maybe closer to 8:40), and my threshold pace should be about 8:20 minute miles (based on the Daniels vdot calculation). However, ever since I started these midweek runs, and paying attention to cadence - I'm finding that the 8:45 min/mile pace puts my heartrate at or below 150 bpm - which for me tends to be my target for long and slow distance type running (ie, 9:30 min/miles). I guess I'm mostly shocked at how the combination of exercises I do, and the relatively low amount of running actually still translates to improved performance without having to do any real speed work. Or it could be that for the first time since high school, I've been able to run on a somewhat regular basis for more than about three to four months without reaching the end of the season, or being sidelined due to IT band issues.
Of course, part of the faster pace for tonights run was that I did two stints of an 8 min/mile pace for 5 minutes - just to throw a little something in.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Thinking about fuel/electrolytes for Lake Placid
After volunteering at Lake Placid this year, I found out that Ironman has been replacing Gatorade Endurance for Powerbar Perform as the sports drink of choise. This is somewhat concerning to me, because I have been training with the Gatorade for a few years now (ever since my friend Dave introduced it to me, having seen it at the aid stations at IMLP '04 and '08). Most people probably figure a sports drink is a sports drink - but as in the words of John Pinette, 'nay, nay!'. The issue of concern to me is not necessarily the amount of sodium, but rather the amount of potassium. The Gatorade Endurance formula has a significant amount of potassium - if I remember correctly the ratio of sodium to potassium is close to 2:1, whereas other gatorade formulas (and many other sports drinks) are closer to 3:1, and even 4:1.
Ironman Perform? The ratio is a whopping 19:1.
Granted, part of that is because the sodium content is boosted, but the potassium representation is virtually nonexistent. I could be fretting over nothing, though. For one thing, when I use endurance, a LOT of salt is lost through sweat -significantly more than normal. That lends me to believe that the endurance formula is probably providing me with more than enough sodium and/or potassium (even at 2/3 strength). So there is potentially some validity to the thought that I simply don't need as much potassium as I might think. The other thing is that I have to have faith in the idea that if everyone else is using it successfully, and crossing the finish line, that the Perform drink is probably perfectly adequate.
Still, until I actually do some long runs and rides without the potassium, I'm hesitant to just assume it'll work on the spot come July 22, 2012. As a result, starting this past weekend, I'm toying around with some different fuel and nutrition possibilities. It also helped that my endurance formula happened to just run out.
Late last week I picked up a bottle of Accelerade. This is a sports drink product with protein, going on the idea that having some protein in a sports drink helps speed hydration, and help performance by allowing some regeneration (or slow down degeneration - whichever) of muscle tissue during exercise. Part of the reason I wanted to try it was because I thought I might be able to get away with not having to eat a protein bar periodically during my rides/runs. I tried the Accelerade during my ride this weekend, and I almost immediately remembered why I didn't pick up more after using a trial package of it a few years ago - the damn protein makes a mess. First off, it doesn't always dissolve well and easily - but that was the least of the concerns. The biggest concern is that the protein sticks to the side of my water bottle, leaving a residue. I know from experience that when this happens, if it gets really dried out, it is a bitch to remove. It is mildly annoying on the side of the bottle, but a real pain in the ass when it sticks to the nozzle part of the bottle. Lastly, it's just not incredibly palletable - which is not something you want in a product that you are supposed to consume rather large quantities of in order to keep energy and muscle function from bottoming out. Oh, and even with the protein, I eventually craved solid food.
So, Accelerade is off the table. I ended up going to BJ's and getting some regular Gatorade - it doesn't have as high an absolute level of sodium as the endurance formula, but it has a higher sodium to potassium ratio than endurance. Still not quite as high as the perform drink, but it will give me a chance to see if I end up feeling like the lower potassium content affects me negatively.
One idea I had thought of was taking advantage of the aid stations and eating half a banana every 10 miles on the bike ride. It would provide fuel, lots of potassium., and very importantly - the taste of something different! However - I'm hesitant to do so without training in that fashion, and its not like I'm going to ride with a backpack full of bananas. But who knows - maybe I can work something out, like doing a century comprised of 2 x 50 mile loops, or 3 x 33 mile loops around the house, giving me an opportunity to pick up two halves of a banana from the house. Or plan stops at convenience stores that sell individual bananas.
Another option that came to mind was using electrolyte tablets, such as nuun, as a supplement. In my experience, the sugars and carbs in a sports drink are incredibly important to sustaining energy output, and with nuun providing basically no calories, it can't be the one trick pony. I also wouldn't want to mix it with a sports drink either, as that would shoot the sodium content through the roof. So maybe one idea is to alternate between a bottle of gatorade and water/nuun. The appealing thing about that is that after a while, just having gatorade by itself gets tiring, so sometimes plain water is a nice change of pace.
Ironman Perform? The ratio is a whopping 19:1.
Granted, part of that is because the sodium content is boosted, but the potassium representation is virtually nonexistent. I could be fretting over nothing, though. For one thing, when I use endurance, a LOT of salt is lost through sweat -significantly more than normal. That lends me to believe that the endurance formula is probably providing me with more than enough sodium and/or potassium (even at 2/3 strength). So there is potentially some validity to the thought that I simply don't need as much potassium as I might think. The other thing is that I have to have faith in the idea that if everyone else is using it successfully, and crossing the finish line, that the Perform drink is probably perfectly adequate.
Still, until I actually do some long runs and rides without the potassium, I'm hesitant to just assume it'll work on the spot come July 22, 2012. As a result, starting this past weekend, I'm toying around with some different fuel and nutrition possibilities. It also helped that my endurance formula happened to just run out.
Late last week I picked up a bottle of Accelerade. This is a sports drink product with protein, going on the idea that having some protein in a sports drink helps speed hydration, and help performance by allowing some regeneration (or slow down degeneration - whichever) of muscle tissue during exercise. Part of the reason I wanted to try it was because I thought I might be able to get away with not having to eat a protein bar periodically during my rides/runs. I tried the Accelerade during my ride this weekend, and I almost immediately remembered why I didn't pick up more after using a trial package of it a few years ago - the damn protein makes a mess. First off, it doesn't always dissolve well and easily - but that was the least of the concerns. The biggest concern is that the protein sticks to the side of my water bottle, leaving a residue. I know from experience that when this happens, if it gets really dried out, it is a bitch to remove. It is mildly annoying on the side of the bottle, but a real pain in the ass when it sticks to the nozzle part of the bottle. Lastly, it's just not incredibly palletable - which is not something you want in a product that you are supposed to consume rather large quantities of in order to keep energy and muscle function from bottoming out. Oh, and even with the protein, I eventually craved solid food.
So, Accelerade is off the table. I ended up going to BJ's and getting some regular Gatorade - it doesn't have as high an absolute level of sodium as the endurance formula, but it has a higher sodium to potassium ratio than endurance. Still not quite as high as the perform drink, but it will give me a chance to see if I end up feeling like the lower potassium content affects me negatively.
One idea I had thought of was taking advantage of the aid stations and eating half a banana every 10 miles on the bike ride. It would provide fuel, lots of potassium., and very importantly - the taste of something different! However - I'm hesitant to do so without training in that fashion, and its not like I'm going to ride with a backpack full of bananas. But who knows - maybe I can work something out, like doing a century comprised of 2 x 50 mile loops, or 3 x 33 mile loops around the house, giving me an opportunity to pick up two halves of a banana from the house. Or plan stops at convenience stores that sell individual bananas.
Another option that came to mind was using electrolyte tablets, such as nuun, as a supplement. In my experience, the sugars and carbs in a sports drink are incredibly important to sustaining energy output, and with nuun providing basically no calories, it can't be the one trick pony. I also wouldn't want to mix it with a sports drink either, as that would shoot the sodium content through the roof. So maybe one idea is to alternate between a bottle of gatorade and water/nuun. The appealing thing about that is that after a while, just having gatorade by itself gets tiring, so sometimes plain water is a nice change of pace.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Century bike ride (100 miles) - 8/6
Today marked the first 100 mile bike ride I've done. Four weeks ago, I did an 82 mile ride, and then two weeks ago did the Lake Placid 56 mile course twice over two days as an intermediary step towards a full century in one day. For a few weeks, I've been debating what course to follow: I could do my ~50 mile Wachusett Reservoir loop twice, I could do the 72 mile Wachusett Mountain loop, and find a way to add 30 miles to it, I could go to my parents in Sturbridge and back (provided I could find a decent route), or I could blaze a new trail that I hadn't ever done before.
I ended up deciding to head to my parents place and back, for multiple reasons. I really wasn't feeling in the mood to do the Wachusett Reservoir loop, then be back home, and head out again. I didn't want to do the Wachusett Mtn loop because I didn't want to put the climb stress on my legs, after they've been beat on pretty good over the past couple weeks. I almost did a course that brought me to the base of the mountain, and then continued on instead of heading up, but at that point known water stops were few and far between. Finally, I didn't want to go on a whole new trail because of the water supply issue, plus the 82 mile loop was forging a new trail, and there was enough to not like about that course that I was hesitant to do it again. True, I'd be going on a new course to my parents, but at least there was a sure water filling stop half way, and knowing a way to get there could prove useful in the future.
Right off the bat I kinda screwed up by not taking the time to get some food in my stomach before leaving. I had thought about scrambled eggs, but opted not to since we didn't have any milk. Usually if nothing else, I have a Clif bar, but it just kinda skipped my mind. I think I was in too much of a rush to get out the door, as it was pushing 6:30 am. Adding to the disappointment within the first two miles was the realization that my legs were still not recovered from the run on Thursday. This was going to be a long 100 miles.
I ended up reverting to being conservative - doing my first century on already somewhat fatigued legs that had been showing some IT band rubbing over the past day, plus it being an unknown course in terms of difficulty (all I knew was that Sturbridge is a hill town - so I had no idea what to expect in terms of climbing), and not having breakfast - I decided I was going to be ok with it being a little slow. Hell, I'd probably have to take a good length rest break in Sturbridge. I was ok with that - I've still got plenty of time in my training schedule that I wasn't going to worry about it too much on the first century go around.
Once out on the road, it was a typical ride. I stopped at 25 miles for a quick break to munch on half a protein bar. It was somewhere around that point that I started thinking about the elevation changes - I knew that Sturbridge is higher than Framingham, but not a more than about 700' or so. However it seemed like I was already having to climb a good number of small hills. The problem was that I knew there were bigger hills coming up getting into Sturbridge. So that meant that the course must be hillier than I anticipated - maybe not a huge net elevation change, but a good amount of ups and downs. That did not bode well, considering I was only 1/4 through the ride on already tired legs. I managed to plod through it, though - but the last 10-15 miles just seemed like a lot of uphill. Not necessarily steep (although there were moments) - but unrelenting. It crossed my mind whether this would be decent training for Lake Placid - certainly not quite as intense, but maybe a worthwhile option.
I eventually rolled into Sturbridge after about 3.5 hours, with an elevation gain of 3000' - a full 600' more than Lake Placid. I don't know how much stock I put into that estimate - GPS altitude estimates are notoriously inaccurate. However, I'd think it would be in a similar ballpark. Once in Sturbridge, I refilled the water bottles, and got lucky as there was some chocolate milk available (those who know me know I love that stuff - it's fantastic). I also grabbed some blueberry cobbler - figuring some solid food would be good.
After about an hour and fifteen minute break, I headed back out. I did feel revitalized, which was good - and I was surely hoping that while I knew some good uphill climbs were coming, it'd be more downhill than up on the way back. I'm not sure whether it was the food I ate, or the rest, or the downhill (probably a combination of all three), but the trip back seemed noticably easier than the trip out. Although I did stop at about 82 miles for a quick break to finish the protein bar I had started earlier in the day.
I also think the mental aspect of 'only 30 miles to go', 'only 20 miles to go' helps as well. Because at that point, after having been on a bicycle seat and propelling yourself, you look for anything to make yourself feel better, because your body starts to feel like shit. Feet get tired of having so much weight on them constantly, hands get tired of being jarred into the handlebars (although this depends on traffic and road conditions), back gets tired of leaning forward. It doesn't matter how comfortable a position may be - after 6 hours, it starts to get uncomfortable. Hell, even laying down in bed during the night people flip over from side to side, and your not even conscious of the discomfort that creeps in!
Surprisingly (in consideration of how I felt when I left in the morning), I actually managed a negative split for the return. Not by much, but I'll take what I can get.
I ended up deciding to head to my parents place and back, for multiple reasons. I really wasn't feeling in the mood to do the Wachusett Reservoir loop, then be back home, and head out again. I didn't want to do the Wachusett Mtn loop because I didn't want to put the climb stress on my legs, after they've been beat on pretty good over the past couple weeks. I almost did a course that brought me to the base of the mountain, and then continued on instead of heading up, but at that point known water stops were few and far between. Finally, I didn't want to go on a whole new trail because of the water supply issue, plus the 82 mile loop was forging a new trail, and there was enough to not like about that course that I was hesitant to do it again. True, I'd be going on a new course to my parents, but at least there was a sure water filling stop half way, and knowing a way to get there could prove useful in the future.
Right off the bat I kinda screwed up by not taking the time to get some food in my stomach before leaving. I had thought about scrambled eggs, but opted not to since we didn't have any milk. Usually if nothing else, I have a Clif bar, but it just kinda skipped my mind. I think I was in too much of a rush to get out the door, as it was pushing 6:30 am. Adding to the disappointment within the first two miles was the realization that my legs were still not recovered from the run on Thursday. This was going to be a long 100 miles.
I ended up reverting to being conservative - doing my first century on already somewhat fatigued legs that had been showing some IT band rubbing over the past day, plus it being an unknown course in terms of difficulty (all I knew was that Sturbridge is a hill town - so I had no idea what to expect in terms of climbing), and not having breakfast - I decided I was going to be ok with it being a little slow. Hell, I'd probably have to take a good length rest break in Sturbridge. I was ok with that - I've still got plenty of time in my training schedule that I wasn't going to worry about it too much on the first century go around.
Once out on the road, it was a typical ride. I stopped at 25 miles for a quick break to munch on half a protein bar. It was somewhere around that point that I started thinking about the elevation changes - I knew that Sturbridge is higher than Framingham, but not a more than about 700' or so. However it seemed like I was already having to climb a good number of small hills. The problem was that I knew there were bigger hills coming up getting into Sturbridge. So that meant that the course must be hillier than I anticipated - maybe not a huge net elevation change, but a good amount of ups and downs. That did not bode well, considering I was only 1/4 through the ride on already tired legs. I managed to plod through it, though - but the last 10-15 miles just seemed like a lot of uphill. Not necessarily steep (although there were moments) - but unrelenting. It crossed my mind whether this would be decent training for Lake Placid - certainly not quite as intense, but maybe a worthwhile option.
I eventually rolled into Sturbridge after about 3.5 hours, with an elevation gain of 3000' - a full 600' more than Lake Placid. I don't know how much stock I put into that estimate - GPS altitude estimates are notoriously inaccurate. However, I'd think it would be in a similar ballpark. Once in Sturbridge, I refilled the water bottles, and got lucky as there was some chocolate milk available (those who know me know I love that stuff - it's fantastic). I also grabbed some blueberry cobbler - figuring some solid food would be good.
After about an hour and fifteen minute break, I headed back out. I did feel revitalized, which was good - and I was surely hoping that while I knew some good uphill climbs were coming, it'd be more downhill than up on the way back. I'm not sure whether it was the food I ate, or the rest, or the downhill (probably a combination of all three), but the trip back seemed noticably easier than the trip out. Although I did stop at about 82 miles for a quick break to finish the protein bar I had started earlier in the day.
I also think the mental aspect of 'only 30 miles to go', 'only 20 miles to go' helps as well. Because at that point, after having been on a bicycle seat and propelling yourself, you look for anything to make yourself feel better, because your body starts to feel like shit. Feet get tired of having so much weight on them constantly, hands get tired of being jarred into the handlebars (although this depends on traffic and road conditions), back gets tired of leaning forward. It doesn't matter how comfortable a position may be - after 6 hours, it starts to get uncomfortable. Hell, even laying down in bed during the night people flip over from side to side, and your not even conscious of the discomfort that creeps in!
Surprisingly (in consideration of how I felt when I left in the morning), I actually managed a negative split for the return. Not by much, but I'll take what I can get.
Friday, August 5, 2011
90 minute run - 8/4
After the 20 miler from this past weekend, I was out of town from Sunday night until Wednesday afternoon for work. Normally I try to make Monday my yoga night, but obviously that wasn't going to work. However, I did bring the P90x DVD's with me - so I did the legs routine on Tuesday, leaving me with the question of whether to do yoga Wednesday night, or go for a run. I opted to go to yoga instead, taking the more conservative approach of giving my legs an extra day of rest after the legs routine, in addition to giving myself a chance to stretch back out from the 20 miler on Sunday.
That left Thursday for the 90 minute mid-week run. I was a little concerned right off the bat, because no more than 1/4 mile into it, I could feel the IT band rubbing. Damn it - still a bit stiff from P90x before. I actually thought about stopping right then and there, but decided to continue on based on two factors: I've had this happen before, and found that with some slow pace running, the muscles eventually open up and the rubbing goes away; and I've also found that if I keep my cadence up, thus assuring I don't heel strike, I can keep IT band rubbing at bay.
Sure enough after a couple miles, things started to loosen up a bit. I still took a few minutes at mile 3 to stretch out a bit. All in all, things felt pretty good and strong, which was a little bit of a surprise. I guess I was expecting to feel some residual fatigue from the 20 miles on Sunday, plus the legs routine on Tuesday.
With it now being a day after, unfortunately I'm feeling that things are still tight, which has caused me to feel the IT band a few times throughout the day. So at this point, I'm thinking I'll skip on the weekend run, as I'm planning a century bike ride for tomorrow, and don't want to over stress the muscles. My thinking is that the benefits of the legs routine are great enough to warrant holding back on the running a bit until my legs are used to all the squats and lunges, and can do them without getting as sore and tight.
But for right now, time for a hot bath and some good stretching time (I was stupid and neglected the ice bath and post-run stretching yesterday after I got back home).
That left Thursday for the 90 minute mid-week run. I was a little concerned right off the bat, because no more than 1/4 mile into it, I could feel the IT band rubbing. Damn it - still a bit stiff from P90x before. I actually thought about stopping right then and there, but decided to continue on based on two factors: I've had this happen before, and found that with some slow pace running, the muscles eventually open up and the rubbing goes away; and I've also found that if I keep my cadence up, thus assuring I don't heel strike, I can keep IT band rubbing at bay.
Sure enough after a couple miles, things started to loosen up a bit. I still took a few minutes at mile 3 to stretch out a bit. All in all, things felt pretty good and strong, which was a little bit of a surprise. I guess I was expecting to feel some residual fatigue from the 20 miles on Sunday, plus the legs routine on Tuesday.
With it now being a day after, unfortunately I'm feeling that things are still tight, which has caused me to feel the IT band a few times throughout the day. So at this point, I'm thinking I'll skip on the weekend run, as I'm planning a century bike ride for tomorrow, and don't want to over stress the muscles. My thinking is that the benefits of the legs routine are great enough to warrant holding back on the running a bit until my legs are used to all the squats and lunges, and can do them without getting as sore and tight.
But for right now, time for a hot bath and some good stretching time (I was stupid and neglected the ice bath and post-run stretching yesterday after I got back home).
Open water swim with two beat kick - 7/30
Towards the beginning of July, I rented a tri wetsuit to see what effect it would have on my swimming (since I was only one of three people in my age group at the Patriot that did not have a wetsuit, and I knew that I'd want one for the full iron), as well as to get an idea for what features/model I'd be looking for. The difference was startling - details of which I'll put into another post - but the main takeaway for now is that it fixed two of my major problems in becoming more streamlined in the water: disjointed hip/shoulder rotation (especially after fatigue sets in), and leg drag.
Up until this point, I knew that I was doing either a 4-beat (two kicks per stroke) or 6-beat (three kicks per stoke) kick, and knew that at some point I needed to transition to a 2-beat kick for energy conservation purposes - but what I didn't know was how much my kick was actually affecting my ability to streamline through the water. Once I felt what it was like to swim without all that fluttering, a couple things became obvious: it was time to work on the two beat kick, and that the two beat kick would actually help fix the two major issues at hand. I had avoided working on the 2-beat kick in the past because I felt like I had other, more important things to work on at the time - bilateral breathing, head positioning, swimming straight, etc.
So the past couple weeks, I've been hitting the pool more frequently, doing another round of starting over with regards to swimming, in an effort to sink the two beat kick into muscle memory. At first it was just 50 yds, then 100, then a couple 200's. While at Lake Placid, we swam the 1.2 mile course, and after about a mile, when I was sufficiently fatigued, I actually found I was able to relax a bit and settle into somewhat of a rhythm.
Feeling a little more comfortable with swimming in open water using the two beat kick, I took advantage of another opportunity, doing a 1.3 mile session.
Garmin Results
The water on this day was a bit choppy, and since it was in the afternoon, there were a couple boats in the water, which added to the waves I had to contend with. Annoying, but then again, swimming in open water during a tri is just as bad, if not worse. So I rolled with it, taking it in as part of conditioning.
Overall I am pretty happy with the results - mostly that I was able to do 1.3 miles with the two beat kick, but also because at this point, I'm not significantly slowed down. If anything, I might be slightly faster - but I don't have a swim to compare against. All I know is that I'll naturally speed up, and with the wetsuit I'll speed up even more.
Up until this point, I knew that I was doing either a 4-beat (two kicks per stroke) or 6-beat (three kicks per stoke) kick, and knew that at some point I needed to transition to a 2-beat kick for energy conservation purposes - but what I didn't know was how much my kick was actually affecting my ability to streamline through the water. Once I felt what it was like to swim without all that fluttering, a couple things became obvious: it was time to work on the two beat kick, and that the two beat kick would actually help fix the two major issues at hand. I had avoided working on the 2-beat kick in the past because I felt like I had other, more important things to work on at the time - bilateral breathing, head positioning, swimming straight, etc.
So the past couple weeks, I've been hitting the pool more frequently, doing another round of starting over with regards to swimming, in an effort to sink the two beat kick into muscle memory. At first it was just 50 yds, then 100, then a couple 200's. While at Lake Placid, we swam the 1.2 mile course, and after about a mile, when I was sufficiently fatigued, I actually found I was able to relax a bit and settle into somewhat of a rhythm.
Feeling a little more comfortable with swimming in open water using the two beat kick, I took advantage of another opportunity, doing a 1.3 mile session.
Garmin Results
The water on this day was a bit choppy, and since it was in the afternoon, there were a couple boats in the water, which added to the waves I had to contend with. Annoying, but then again, swimming in open water during a tri is just as bad, if not worse. So I rolled with it, taking it in as part of conditioning.
Overall I am pretty happy with the results - mostly that I was able to do 1.3 miles with the two beat kick, but also because at this point, I'm not significantly slowed down. If anything, I might be slightly faster - but I don't have a swim to compare against. All I know is that I'll naturally speed up, and with the wetsuit I'll speed up even more.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Quick catchup
I guess it makes sense to establish a baseline of where I am at this point, and to do this requires going back about six weeks.
On June 18, I did the Patriot Half Iron. I finished in about 6:30 - considering I had no real time goal, I was pretty happy about that. I think earlier in the year I was just wanting to finish under seven hours. A quick recap of each part, based on what I remember:
Swim - Finished in about 43 minutes, if I remember correctly. A little disappointing - I had been doing a mile (36 laps, up and back, in a 25 yd pool) consistently in about 30-31 minutes - so I was hoping for a swim time closer to 36-37 minutes. In retrospect, I think part of the problem may have been that I had been training using bilateral breathing, on the idea that on race day I'd just breath from the right side. The thought was that I'd be breathing more, and thus have more oxygen available to muscles and be able to perform better. I think this backfired on me, and caused some directional issues (not a lot, but enough), as well as breakdown of form, since I was not as symmetrical on both sides.
About 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through, I got a mild sprain on my upper left quad. Not sure whether it was because of water temps (71 degrees) and lack of a wetsuit or what - but fortunately it was just an annoyance and nothing debilitating.
Bike - Finished in just over 3 hours, averaging close to 18 mph (more precisely, 17.7). The first loop I think I averaged 18.1 mph, and on the second it was close to 17.4 mph. I took about 3-5 minutes halfway through to stretch and down a clif bar. But overall, I was pretty happy with the bike performance for a first go around at a half iron.
Run - My game plan was simple - stop every half mile and walk for 0.05 miles (about 30-40 seconds). If I remember correctly, when I hit 9 miles during my training, I switched from running once/week to once every other week, but increased the distance by two miles - so on one week I did 9, and then two weeks later I did 11. It was probably two weeks after that when I did a single 12 miler. Then, about two weeks before the Patriot, at the beginning of June, I ran the Worcester Half in about 1:53, a PR for me. That was my last long run before the Patriot half. My legs were definitely quite gassed - I couldn't even manage to bring home the last 1.2 miles without having to take a walk break. However on the last 1/2 mile I was able to get to an 8 minute mile for the finish line. My run time was around 2:20 or so. Considering that during last years Cranberry olympic my legs were so shot I could barely run the last 300 feet, I was just happy to have finished this run fairly strong - even if it was short lived.
So overall, I was reasonably happy. I got a time under my expected goal of 7 hours, I managed to keep any IT band issues at bay, and I was able to walk and function afterwards.
From July 22 to July 25, my friend Dave and I went up to Lake Placid to volunteer for the Ironman there. By this time I was due for a 100 mile bike ride (having done 84 miles two weeks prior), so I figured I'd do the IM bike course twice. We set out on Friday anticipating being out all day, but after Dave got a flat followed by a full on blowout of a replacement tube at mile 20, and a flat I got at mile 46 - we were out of CO2 canisters, so we called it a day. As it turned out, I was still fairly fatigued from the P90x legs and back routine I had done on Tuesday, as my legs were still stiff and sore from that workout - so even that first loop felt like I had already put on 30-40 miles.
We ended up doing a 2nd loop on Saturday, so I still got 112 miles in for the weekend, but just not all in one ride. In the end I decided that this was fine and that I was ok with the more conservative approach before doing a full on century in a single ride. It would give me a couple weeks to get acclimated to the P90x legs and back - a routine with a lot of exercises similar to what was prescribed in PT for my IT band - and thus something I wanted to work in on a regular basis into my training regiment.
On Sunday, after catching the start of the race, we headed back to the hotel and did a 90 minute run. I ended up doing around 9 miles or so, keeping the pace relatively light, as it was already a legs-heavy week. Also, it was decently hilly - so I wanted to make sure I didn't do anything to cause undue tightening of my quads (thus giving me IT band issues).
In part due to that 90 minute run, I decided it was about time to bring a 2nd day of running per week into my routine. What I had done before was fine for the half, but being able to sustain a full 26.2 miles after 112 miles of that bike course was going to need much stronger running legs than running once/week (which actually fell to every other week, as I had been alternating weeks between long bike rides and long runs). It seemed like Wednesday or Thursday would be the best days to do this second run, as it would give a few days before and after to recover before going through either the upcoming long bike or long run. That would maintain Monday as the Yoga/recovery day, Tuesday as the P90x legs workout (which, in time, would hopefully not result in such soreness), Wednesday or Thursday as a mid-week run with the other day and Friday being flex days (either rest, or an upper body P90x workout).
Oh, and I started going to the pool M, W and F mornings to work on getting my two beat kick sorted out. So some days are double training sessions. I'm still amazed I've been able to get my ass out of bed early enough to do that - because getting out of bed early is so not me.
So that is what I've been trying to maintain.
This past weekend saw a 20 mile distance-extending run on Sunday, where I started taking a 0.05 mile walk break every mile instead of every half mile, as I had before on my distance extending runs. The mid-week runs seem to have helped, as my pace per mile on that 20 miler was 9:30 min/mile, whereas my other long runs were many times well over 10 min/mile. This coming weekend should see a full 100 mile bike ride. My thinking is that I'll pause here, at 20 miles run and 100 miles bike, for most of the month of August. By not extending the distance, I'm hoping it'll give my legs a chance to get used to that distance for a while, and allow things to catch up regarding that 2nd running day/week as well as the legs strength routine. Then, around September, I can start extending the distance again for the run, and making the bike more challenging by either bringing more terrain and hills into the rides, or trying for a faster pace.
My overall plan is to run and bike as long as possible into the winter - basically until either bitter cold or snow force me off the road - and then come spring get out as early as possible. During the 2-3 months of the winter where cycling is an impossibility and running is drastically reduced due to icy sidewalks, I'll continue with the yoga (maybe go to 2x per week), and hit the P90x, as I've wanted to go through the full 90 day cycle.
On June 18, I did the Patriot Half Iron. I finished in about 6:30 - considering I had no real time goal, I was pretty happy about that. I think earlier in the year I was just wanting to finish under seven hours. A quick recap of each part, based on what I remember:
Swim - Finished in about 43 minutes, if I remember correctly. A little disappointing - I had been doing a mile (36 laps, up and back, in a 25 yd pool) consistently in about 30-31 minutes - so I was hoping for a swim time closer to 36-37 minutes. In retrospect, I think part of the problem may have been that I had been training using bilateral breathing, on the idea that on race day I'd just breath from the right side. The thought was that I'd be breathing more, and thus have more oxygen available to muscles and be able to perform better. I think this backfired on me, and caused some directional issues (not a lot, but enough), as well as breakdown of form, since I was not as symmetrical on both sides.
About 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through, I got a mild sprain on my upper left quad. Not sure whether it was because of water temps (71 degrees) and lack of a wetsuit or what - but fortunately it was just an annoyance and nothing debilitating.
Bike - Finished in just over 3 hours, averaging close to 18 mph (more precisely, 17.7). The first loop I think I averaged 18.1 mph, and on the second it was close to 17.4 mph. I took about 3-5 minutes halfway through to stretch and down a clif bar. But overall, I was pretty happy with the bike performance for a first go around at a half iron.
Run - My game plan was simple - stop every half mile and walk for 0.05 miles (about 30-40 seconds). If I remember correctly, when I hit 9 miles during my training, I switched from running once/week to once every other week, but increased the distance by two miles - so on one week I did 9, and then two weeks later I did 11. It was probably two weeks after that when I did a single 12 miler. Then, about two weeks before the Patriot, at the beginning of June, I ran the Worcester Half in about 1:53, a PR for me. That was my last long run before the Patriot half. My legs were definitely quite gassed - I couldn't even manage to bring home the last 1.2 miles without having to take a walk break. However on the last 1/2 mile I was able to get to an 8 minute mile for the finish line. My run time was around 2:20 or so. Considering that during last years Cranberry olympic my legs were so shot I could barely run the last 300 feet, I was just happy to have finished this run fairly strong - even if it was short lived.
So overall, I was reasonably happy. I got a time under my expected goal of 7 hours, I managed to keep any IT band issues at bay, and I was able to walk and function afterwards.
From July 22 to July 25, my friend Dave and I went up to Lake Placid to volunteer for the Ironman there. By this time I was due for a 100 mile bike ride (having done 84 miles two weeks prior), so I figured I'd do the IM bike course twice. We set out on Friday anticipating being out all day, but after Dave got a flat followed by a full on blowout of a replacement tube at mile 20, and a flat I got at mile 46 - we were out of CO2 canisters, so we called it a day. As it turned out, I was still fairly fatigued from the P90x legs and back routine I had done on Tuesday, as my legs were still stiff and sore from that workout - so even that first loop felt like I had already put on 30-40 miles.
We ended up doing a 2nd loop on Saturday, so I still got 112 miles in for the weekend, but just not all in one ride. In the end I decided that this was fine and that I was ok with the more conservative approach before doing a full on century in a single ride. It would give me a couple weeks to get acclimated to the P90x legs and back - a routine with a lot of exercises similar to what was prescribed in PT for my IT band - and thus something I wanted to work in on a regular basis into my training regiment.
On Sunday, after catching the start of the race, we headed back to the hotel and did a 90 minute run. I ended up doing around 9 miles or so, keeping the pace relatively light, as it was already a legs-heavy week. Also, it was decently hilly - so I wanted to make sure I didn't do anything to cause undue tightening of my quads (thus giving me IT band issues).
In part due to that 90 minute run, I decided it was about time to bring a 2nd day of running per week into my routine. What I had done before was fine for the half, but being able to sustain a full 26.2 miles after 112 miles of that bike course was going to need much stronger running legs than running once/week (which actually fell to every other week, as I had been alternating weeks between long bike rides and long runs). It seemed like Wednesday or Thursday would be the best days to do this second run, as it would give a few days before and after to recover before going through either the upcoming long bike or long run. That would maintain Monday as the Yoga/recovery day, Tuesday as the P90x legs workout (which, in time, would hopefully not result in such soreness), Wednesday or Thursday as a mid-week run with the other day and Friday being flex days (either rest, or an upper body P90x workout).
Oh, and I started going to the pool M, W and F mornings to work on getting my two beat kick sorted out. So some days are double training sessions. I'm still amazed I've been able to get my ass out of bed early enough to do that - because getting out of bed early is so not me.
So that is what I've been trying to maintain.
This past weekend saw a 20 mile distance-extending run on Sunday, where I started taking a 0.05 mile walk break every mile instead of every half mile, as I had before on my distance extending runs. The mid-week runs seem to have helped, as my pace per mile on that 20 miler was 9:30 min/mile, whereas my other long runs were many times well over 10 min/mile. This coming weekend should see a full 100 mile bike ride. My thinking is that I'll pause here, at 20 miles run and 100 miles bike, for most of the month of August. By not extending the distance, I'm hoping it'll give my legs a chance to get used to that distance for a while, and allow things to catch up regarding that 2nd running day/week as well as the legs strength routine. Then, around September, I can start extending the distance again for the run, and making the bike more challenging by either bringing more terrain and hills into the rides, or trying for a faster pace.
My overall plan is to run and bike as long as possible into the winter - basically until either bitter cold or snow force me off the road - and then come spring get out as early as possible. During the 2-3 months of the winter where cycling is an impossibility and running is drastically reduced due to icy sidewalks, I'll continue with the yoga (maybe go to 2x per week), and hit the P90x, as I've wanted to go through the full 90 day cycle.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
BLOG REBOOT - Focus on IMLP 2012
I've obviously kinda been ignoring this blog for a while, but now that that Patriot Half Iron is finished, and I'm officially signed up for the full iron at Lake Placid in 2012, I thought I might start up again. Now that I actually have an end goal to write about, and it is a year away - it seems more purposeful to detail my training with that goal in mind, as opposed to an open ended 'this is what I did today', etc. Because really, who cares about that?
PS - and after trying to publish this post, I remember why I stopped - IE9 doesn't work so well with blogger, unless in compatibility mode. Unfortunately that makes me lose all the writing of my post, which is infuriating.
PS - and after trying to publish this post, I remember why I stopped - IE9 doesn't work so well with blogger, unless in compatibility mode. Unfortunately that makes me lose all the writing of my post, which is infuriating.
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