Monday, February 20, 2012

Training Week In Review

Last week I must admit was not a good training week.  I am still recovering from my calf and I just didn't want to push it.  It is really hard for someone like me whose almost never injured to recover from injuries.  No patience.  Not willing to see day on the calendar with zeroes.

As I said in other posts I am a serious creature of habit and when I do not have a good workout I feel sluggish and my day isn't complete.  This week, I had a push day.

I am about 4 weeks out from the marathon and the nerves are really beginning to get frayed. I will discuss that later.

Monday - Started my workout week with a great swim.  Yes I said a great swim.  I am feeling so much more confident in the water.  I have devoted a great deal of time to this and I am truly seeing the results of it.  My swim this morning was a 300 Warm up - 800 swim free and 150 cool down.  Took it easy.  Time 37:00

Cycling at lunch.  This ride was tough.  I think I must have chosen the toughest course for my training ride.  It was a 25 mile ride out and back.  While its a fun ride, it is also a tough ride.  I was slow for the ride and finished in 1:31.

Tuesday - Another pretty good swim.  This one was longer.  My longest swim to day.  Started with a 500 warm.  I remember when 500 was all I could do.  This was followed up with 5 X 100s and then 10 X 50 kick.  The kick board isn't a friend so I used flippers to try and help with this.  Still a work in progress.  Finished with a 250 free cool down.

Run at lunch.  I was afraid for this run so I took it easy.  I wasn't sure how I was going react if the pain in my calf made me stop.  But it was good.  I was able to maintain a decent pace all things considered.  Ran 7 miles in 57:01 mins.

Wednesday - 30 miles on a trainer.  Much fun (not).

Thursday - Had a swim lesson.  It was awesome.  I have made serious progress.  Looking at the video from my earlier swims and comparing it to now is great.  I can definitely see how my body position has improved. I am not quite up to endurance swimming but I am getting there.  

After my swim lesson, still had a swim workout scheduled.  It was a 500 warm up, 4 X 200 free and 200 cool down.

I was supposed to have a 7 mile run.  It was raining and I wasn't near a treadmill so I couldn't get this run in.  It really sucked.  I was not happy.

Friday - Six mile run.  I was actually able to run this a little better than my run on Tuesday.  I didn't chose a tough route but I knew that anything would be tough considering.  Was able to maintain a 7:40 pace.  Finished 46:08

Saturday - I am supposed to have a long bike ride on Saturdays but with the promise of rain on Sunday, I decided that I would get my run in today and ride tomorrow on the trainer in necessary.

20 mile Run. Well this run was the pits.  No rhythm, no pace, no fun.  It was slow and painful.  I wanted to quit about 1000 times during the run.  I guess I didn't do myself any favors with the course but still this was miserable.  I was so slow.  I just kept thinking this is going to get better.  I would get into a groove and then things would pick up.  Well it never happened.  Ended up 2:47:51 for a pace of 8:24.

Sunday - 45 miles on a trainer.  Oh my goodness.  I wanted to pull my hair out.  This was dreadful.  Couple of things that went wrong with this ride.  First I couldn't get the trainer setup correctly.  I either had too much tension on the tire or not enough.  So I had to keep stopping to adjust it.  Then I was hot and then cold and hot and cold.  I know I know, I am just complaining because I hate the trainer so much.  But this was not a good time.

If I had to guess a moral to my weekend workouts it would be intestinal fortitude.  Even though I was not very happy with my time or position, I did hang in there and complete the exercises.  I am hoping that this week I will get some speed back in both running and cycling.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Terrific Tuesday

So happy that I have a Valentine to spend today with.  It's tough to be a triathlete without a supportive spouse or significant other.

It's hard to explain how much time we spend swimming, riding and running.  The early mornings, the early nights.  The meal plans and the carb loads.  The odd smells coming from the bathroom.  They put up with so much.

I am not sure about everyone else, but I have to favorite gear.  I am pretty much a creature of habit.  I know what to wear to be warm, comfortable and safe.  I know because I wear the same things over and over again.  And I am a typical male who thinks laundry is a 4 letter word.  But the magical laundry fairy ensures my gear is always ready.

This is just for a "sprinter".  Just imagine how much more challenging it will be once I step up to the next level.  I spend on average 10 hours a week now training.  Imagine that number being 20 hours.  Even earlier morning.  Even more time on the weekend devoted to riding and running.  Makes my head spin just thinking about how she is going to handle it.  lol.

Thank you for all the help and encouragement.  Thanks for being my Valentine.

Monday, February 13, 2012

And Then It Happened (Injury Bug)

Happy Monday everyone.  Well not really a happy Monday for me.  The ugly injury bug bit me hard on Friday.  Let me just preface the story with the fact that I am a big baby when I am hurt.

Friday was a normal easy run day.  It was scheduled to be 8 miles at an easy pace.  Well as soon as I hit the road to start my run, I felt a slight pain in my left calf.  I ignored it thinking that I was just still tight and that the pain would go away.   And mostly it was just a dull throb for the first 3 miles.  Then it started to flex its control.

It felt like a cramp.  So I just did what you normally do when you have a cramp while running.  Run it quickly while still moving.  Well it didn't work.  So I decided that I would take it easy for a couple of blocks.  Well this still didn't help.  In fact it started hurting more.

Now on the verge of panic, I tell myself to just continue slowly.  Not racing so time is not important.  So I finish the run.  By now my calf is screaming bloody murder.  It hurts like crazy.  So I decide to R-I-C-E it.  I immediately get everything together.  I get an ice pack and  ace bandage.  I wrap it and sit there with it elevated for the rest of the afternoon.

It still feels a little tight but I know that I have a 45 mile ride on Saturday.  I caution myself against getting upset.  I say the worst thing that could happen is that I would just have to cancel the weekend workouts.  Well the ride went really well.  No issues.  So now I am thinking that maybe the pain will go away once I start running.  Sunday I had a 16 mile run scheduled.  So again my plan was to just take it easy and go as far as I could.  Well I didn't get very far.  I started to run and the pain immediately returned.

So I went back inside and decided to just take the day off.  Well its Monday now and there is still pain there.  I am not very happy with it but what can you do.  I just have to face the reality of age.  I am not going heal as quickly as before and I just have to accept that.

I have to trust that I have built a solid base and I will be ok.  Tomorrow is a 7 mile run.  I am going to start it on the treadmill and see how it goes.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Wednesday

Well today was a much better day.  Not feeling as blah today.

Today was a 25 mile ride.  It was cold and misty but I got it in.  the story for today's ride and you know there is always a story, was an older gent riding as well.

For some reason my cycling time has been declining.  Today I averaged about 17.2.  When I look at the course it doesn't seem that daunting but it is totally kicking my butt.  This is the forth time in the past week that I have ridden this course and it's not getting any easier.

Oh well, I will get it.  I am going to continue this route and work it out.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Dragging Butt

Today my energy level has totally tanked.  I am not sure what's going on but I just want to go somewhere and sleep and sleep and sleep.

I know that over the past couple of days I have put in some hours training and running around and just doing different things but in the grand scheme of things, it hasn't been much more than I would normally do.  I am not sure what the deal is.

Am I getting sick?

Is it just old age?

Bad diet?

I don't know but I seriously have to kick this.  This morning I went to the pool.  Everything felt normal.  I was actually out of the house relatively quickly.  I made it to the pool by 6:15.  I only had to wait a minute for a lane.  Nothing major.  Today was the second straight day of speed work.  Ha, imagine me talking about speed work in the pool.  Well after my warm up, I was spent.  I had zero energy left.  I was bankrupt.  but I had to get my workout in, so I soldiered through it.  I wouldn't want to compare my time with a snail but it was all completed. Every lap and the cool down.

I left the pool and wanted to head home and find my pillow.  Well we all know that that will not happen.

At lunch today, I had an 8 mile run.  Where have all these 8 miles runs come from.  The distance is just so odd.  Also and probably more importantly it is really hard to map from the office.  I finally figured out a course (remember my energy level is still low).  I take off for the run and tell myself to just get it in.  Remember you are building.  That is my new mantra.  So I get the run down and still zero energy.

Now I struggling through the remainder of the afternoon.  And to make things even better, I have a meeting tonight which will probably last until 9 pm. Yeah.  Well at least I get to sleep until 6:30 tomorrow morning.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Weekend Recap

This weekend was really good. Was able to get everything in and also enjoy some down time.  Loved it.

On Saturday, I went for a ride with the Tour De Cure team.  We were riding 50.  It was fun.  I totally miss riding with groups.  I say that after every group ride.  It's amazing how much group riding helps.  We started with a group of about 7 and ended with 4.  The 3 that dropped wanted to ride a shorter distance.  The pace was really good.  these guys are really strong riders.  I was dropped at about the 30 mile mark, but they waited for me to catch up.  The hills on this ride, while not to intense in their grade, just keep moving up.  Then I look at it on the map and you can barely discern the tough climbs.

On Sunday, went for a run.  It was 8 miles.  Unfortunately I hadn't prepared so I had to run around the block at the end in order to make the distance.  The run was ok.  I feel like I really took it easy.  I have been really concentrating on relaxing while I am running.  Just accept the time I am told and not try to push it each mile to ensure that I make a specific pace. This works for the first half.  Then the second half I always pick  it up.

This morning was a swim.  While the swim was good, I am still tense in the pool.  This makes the swimming tougher than it should be.  Still working on that.  Today was speed work.  I do not think you should ever put speed and swimming in the same sentence with me.  It wasn't very fast.  Oh well.  Something else to work on.

For lunch today I went on a 25 mile bike ride.  This has totally sapped my energy.  Right now its a struggle just to stay awake.


Friday, February 3, 2012

Great Week

This has been a great training week.  Mostly because the weather has been absolutely perfect. Was able to get outside for every workout.

The past two days were seven mile runs.  They both were supposed to be easy runs.  One ended up at about 7:30 pace and the second was at a 7:42 pace.  I really hope that is my easy pace.  I am not complaining, just hoping that I am able to maintain that over 26.2 miles.

Looking forward to a group ride on Saturday.  Possibly 50 miles.  But we are expecting scattered showers tomorrow, hoping they will not come until much later in the day.  Sunday is a "short" 8 mile run.  Sunday's have been my long days this run will be perfect.  My legs really need the rest.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Wonderful Wednesday

I entitled this Wonderful Wednesday because today's temp was in the mid sixties.  That is completely awesome for Feb 1.  This entire week has been above the average temps.  So I have been able to get outside everyday without bundling up.

With that in mind, I was about to get out for rides on both Monday and today.  Both rides will good rides, were incredibly slow.  I guess I can blame it on tired legs.  I have been working them really hard lately.  I have ridden every other day and ran the other days.

It really surprises me that they still ache this much.  I feel like I have been resting them when not working out.  But at my age, it does take longer to recover.  Oh well, enough whining.