Monday, August 31, 2009

T71 - Hammerhead Olympic Triathlon - Swim/Bike/Run

Camp Blanding, Florida

The training card called for a 15K run to finish off recovery week, but since this race was close to home, and, let’s be honest, probably a lot tougher than a 15k, I figured it would be a sufficient substitute. It was my first race since the abysmal Half-Iron in Orlando back in May. Three months without a race is a little long, I think. This was to be my first tuneup race for the Ironman, and I’d hoped to give in a personal best showing. Especially since training has definitely upped my speeds. In the swim and bike at least.

This had all been my intention. But sometimes in life we make some choices that derail us from out goals. After my phenomenal workouts Friday, I decided to celebrate by going to a party over at my friend Kirks. I figured I’d slowly drink some beers, leave by 2, take Saturday off to recover. Well, a few beers turned into large amounts of beer, jungle juice, and then – my personal favorite – straight vodka out of a plastic cup. Long story short, I drank way more than I should, and did some things I probably shouldn’t have. The accompanying hangover and stress allowed me to sleep all of about 3 hours Friday night. Which, for those who are familiar, is the most important night before a Sunday race. I spent the next day stressed out and nursing a hangover, and even though I went to bed at 8:30 for the 4:30 wake up, I only ended up sleeping about another 3.5 hours.

Point is, I didn’t get much sleep. But the 8th season of South Park, pretty good shit. I drove up to Camp Blanding Sunday morning hoping that my improved conditioning could make up for the lack of rest my body had gotten. I took 3 Sudafed on the way, just in case.

Swim - .9 miles – 30:41

2 Lipodrene
I was once again in the last wave, as is customary in the Fat Boy Division (they call it Clydesdale, but we all know). After my encouraging time trial, I decided that I would line up near the front and try to actually compete in this part of the race. The open water swim starts are always a cluster fuck, but since I’d decided I actually wanted to try and get ahead here. I didn’t mind. It was kinda fun pulling and kicking people as I went past them, and pretty soon I found myself with no one I could see in front of me except the green-capped ladies from the wave before. There may have been some other guys way out ahead or off to my side, but otherwise it looked good.

The outdoor goggles helped a lot, and though my sighting still needs improvement, I kept pretty far left so I wasn’t having to swim back to the buoys. At about the end of the backstretch, which is about 500 meters to go, this blue cap (that was the cap assigned to my wave and, consequently, my division)passed me on the inside of the buoy, and inched ahead of me. Usually I would just let this go, but fuck it, no, not this time. The guy was swimming at a pretty solid pace, and I had to really push it to keep up with him. I even got in front of him a few times, and we stayed pretty even all the way to the finish. I was proud of myself for actually pushing the swim and going fast, and learning to breathe enough to have the oxygen to do it. The guy ended up finishing the swim just ahead of me, as this is probably a result of my still not being competitive enough to give it the extra push at the end like he did. But I mean, I think he crossed the swim finish 5 seconds ahead of me, so I’m not too broken up about it.

T1 – 4:42

Bike - 24.9 miles – 1:13:37


1 Lipodrene, 3 Advil, Salt Tablet, gel
Transitions today were slow. I’m going to go ahead and say they were probably the only area that were slowed by my lack of sleep, but my brain was just not all there. Whatever, I got my shit on and hit the bike course determined to continue my solid performance from the swim. And the first mile, it looked as if that may not be the case. I couldn’t get up over 18, and while I wanted to blame a lack of warmup, I also realized this might be where my unrested muscles might not respond how I’d hoped. Now, the bike course at Blanding had a few pretty good sized hills, and by the time I finished climbing the first one (at mile 2, I might add) I was doing about 15. Things were not looking good.

But a funny thing happens when I hit the flats. Trevor told me during our last ride that on the flats I could pretty much keep up with anyone, and I repeated this to myself as I got down in aero and passed bike after bike after bike. I was going a solid 25 through most of the flats, and even ended up muscling up some hills at around 18-19. But not all of them. This course was a lot like Hawthorne in that it had some inclines and inclines that looked like flats, so much so that you’d be going down one on the way to the turnaround going 27, thinking you were the shit, only to be slowed to 16 on the way back. I didn’t feel a headwind, so I’m blaming optical illusions. I took a gel at the 45 minute mark, figuring a Cliff Bar would probably slow me down. I did notice though that I lose time on tight turnarounds like this one where I have to unclip because I feel like I’ll fall over, and when taking a drink or eating. These are things which require coordination, I suppose, and really my bike speed is not due to that at all. Not sure if this is something that will get worked out before the Ironman, but really, I’m not terrible concerned.

At any rate, I was only passed by two people on the bike, both of whom were going well over 25 and had bikes that cost more than a new Saturn. So I didn’t feel too bad. I passed a lot more than 2 people, and was averaging 20 right up until the last 5 miles, where the subtle inclines and wind got to me. And by this I mean I was doing about 17 until I hit the final few straightaways , where I ended up doing about 21-22. I looked at my computer at the end and my average speed was 19.8, which, if you do the math means I would have had to have finished in a lot more time than this. Later I looked, the course was only 24 miles. But whatever. I’ll just call it a confidence booster.

T2 – 3:17

Run -6.4 miles 1:09:02


1 Salt Tab, 1 Gel
Again, transition was slow, as I sat on my ass to put on my shoes and took my time getting on my running shoes and having another gel. I also downed another Vitamin Water and hit the road.

Well, I have come to realize that though I have learned to push it and be competitive when swimming and biking, running I just do not give a fuck. Maybe it’s because I’ve been miserable on so many runs over my life, but I just make no effort to run fast at all. The only people I passed on the run were either walking or puking, and I lost count of how many people passed me. Mostly thin, older women working off their child birth weight, I would guess. And then some older guys I had passed on the bike. Justin once told me watching me on the bike and run was like night and day, and today I fulyl understood it. I held to my 10-minute mile pace, even knowing I only had to run 6. The course had a couple of serious hills, which was not cool, but it was not impossible.

I took a gel at the 4-mile mark, and drank water at every aid station, although I only stopped to allow myself to drink the whole cup without spilling. I never felt tired or overheated or sore at all on the run. Maybe it was the Advil, or the adrenaline from all the supplements, but this was just like a nice late-morning jog. I thought about pushing it like I had on the other 2 events, and just couldn’t do it. I’m not sure why this is, but I think my focus during the last 8 weeks is going to be pushing the run a little. I’m not sure why, though, given that the run on the Ironman is more about survival than speed. But maybe I can make it a goal for my next tuneup race.

Final Time – 3:00:57 – 1st in Division (Clydesdale Under 39)


All in all, I was happy with how this race went. Shit, I mean I won my division, even though it only had five people. My events I felt strongest in, I did strongly, and I totally blew the run. I’m not a good runner. Weighing as much as I do will do that. So I guess today I just focused on doing what I do well really well, and saying fuck it to the rest. My final time was not a great improvement over the Escape t o Miami last fall, but my bike and swim splits were. Aside from someone inadvertently taking my right bike shoe, the event was pretty good. I’ll have to get new shoes and cleats before Tuesday, so we’ll see how that goes. But a satisfying tuneup to be sure. Just kinda scary to think it takes 4 of these to make an Ironman.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

T70 - This Workout Needs to Be Crushed - Bike, Swim

Gainesville

Bike - 90 Minutes

2 Lipodrene
Indoor workouts are all well and good. And so are trainer sessions. But I had not been out on the road on my bike in a couple of weeks, and given my uninspiring performances in Kona, I decided today's bike needed to be crushed. As in, I needed to go hard the whole ride and see what I had. And if I couldn't do it, some shit was going to have to change.

And so I did.

After a slow first block or so, I just decided to go all out, and made it to nigbridge (strangely, no nigs at nigbridge) in under 25. Which I believe is a record. Then I made it to the turnaround point from that ride where I kept up with Trevor in UNDER 30 minutes, which, as you may recall, was the time we hit that crossing. At any rate, I averaged about 19 on the way down. Took a gel and headed back home.

Sadly, the way back was not as inspiring. It took me 48 minutes to get back and I ended up averaging 18.8. Which is still good, and a record for a 90-minute ride. But I would like to have kept the pace up the whole time. Regardless, this was exactly the kind of ride I had been looking for.

Swim - 1000 meter time trial, 1000 meter cruise, RPE 3

2 Lipodrene
Again, I decided there was no point in not going all out on the time trial here, since it would be good to see exactly how much better I had gotten at swimming. I got to the GHFC pool at 9:30 PM on a Friday, aka the pool was glass and completely empty. Opted to skip the warmup for a sort-of race simulation, given that I had a race 2 days later. I ended up doing the 1000 in 17 minutes flat, or there about,s which is about 3-4 minutes faster than the time trials I did during half-Ironman training. Now, I might have lost count and skipped some laps, although I don't think so. I was very pleased when I looked up and saw the time.

The second 1000 felt about twice as long. It wasn't, obviously, ended up being about 24 minutes, but it's amazing how much longer things take when you're not fully focused on getting them done as quickly as possible. So despite the lackluster 2nd 1000 meters (I wasn't trying for luster anyway) I feel this time trial was also sufficiently motivating. The workouts today definitely lived up to what I was trying to do, and gave me a good boost of confidence going into my first tuneup race over the weekend.

Friday, August 28, 2009

T69 - Rainy Day Recess - Bike/Run Brick (Stationary Bike, Treadmill)

Gainesville

Fucking rain. I left Seattle to get away from the fucking perpetual gloom, but I forget occasionally summers in Florida provide a similar effect. Such was Thursday. The rain never let up all day, so my 90 minute light spinning ride became relegated to the exercise bike at GHFC. I wasn't about to do a 90-minute trainer session with a road ride the next day and a race on Sunday. And it's recovery week, so that's what exercise bike sessions are for. I opted to do a little bit of what I used to call "Fake Limited Triathlon" and do an Exercis Bike/Treadmill brick. Or, bascially, an incelement weather workout.

Bike - 90 Minutes (Stationary Bike)

2 Lipodrene
Because the Marlins had a noon game, there really wasn't much to watch on TV during a 90-minute exercise bike session other than reruns of "King of The Hill." Which was fine by me. I had exchanged the F-ed up headphones earlier in the day, and brought the iPod along. I decided on an all-Silversun Pickups set, including some older stuff that was on there from before I even liked the band. But it was suprisingly motivating, and aside from feeling a little worn out at about the 1-hour mark, the ride went pretty well. It's hard to gauge how good an exercise bike workout is, becasue you don't really go anywhere and the resistance is set. But I averaged about 17.5, which is not great, but not bad. I wasn't really pushing it, but I did get in some good sprints. I was also encouraged by the fact that I biked a lot harder that last 15 minutes than I had the rest of the session.

I took a gel at the one hour mark (didn't see the need for 2 during an indoor workout) and finished a full bottle of water. The exercise bike has a totally different seat than a regular bike, so my ass was surprisingly sore after about 50 minutes. When I finished up at the 90-minute mark, I seriosuly had trouble walking. I've developed saddle sore immunity from my bike, since I've ridden it so much, but this one left me seriosuly uncomfortable. And the walk to the treadmill was very awkward.

Run - 30 Minutes (Treadmill)
Went back to abuse the Summer Run 2009 mix, once again, but the first 5 minutes all I could think was "God damn, my ass is sore." But as with all extremety pain during a run, once I got going it pretty much went away. I mean, I still feel sore from the exercise bike seat now - 20 hours later - but at the time it wasn't an issue. This was a short, indoor run with an iPod, so obviously I crushed it. It felt so good that when I got to "Big Sky" at about the 28-minute mark, I opted to just run to the end of the song. I NEVER extend workouts past their assigned times unless I'm going slower than I should be. Ever. But I was motivated and felt like I wanted to keep going and so I did. Nice to crush a run, I hadn't had a real good workout in a while.

Recovery week is going well, and this is the kind of workout you do during recovery week. I just hope the rain lets up, as I can't really be subbing in the stationary bike during the next month. That was something I did a little too much last cycle, and we all know how that turned out. But I've been avoiding most of those habits this time around, and I feel like the results will reflect that.

T68 - Spinnin' for the Smokers- Bike (Trainer)

Gainesville

So I'm back in good ole Gainesville. The workout today called for 60 minutes of spinning, and given that I was still recvoering from the 20-hour trip home, I didn't much feel like hitting the road. So I opted to do an hour on the trainer. My headphones were still broken, so instead I turned up the Marlins game full blast, left the deck door open, and listened to the last three innings of the Marlins beating the Mets. Fortunately/unfortunately the bullpen pitched well, so the Fish closed out the game in about half an hour. Which forced me to listen to the postgame show for the last half of the ride. But as it turned out, the goings on at Jefferson 2nd were much more entertaining.

Bike - 60 minutes spinning (trainer)

2 Lipodrene
I forgot our building was a little more crowded that it was last year. I started out biking at about 18, and quickly notcied two black guys poking their heads out the window next door. I was wrapped up in the Marlins game, and did not acknowledge their presence. But they began to smoke and watch me ride, probably wondering what the fuck I was doing. Then the good old potheads from last year went out on their balcony to do what they always do when I'm on the trainer; smoke a bunch of weed. I think they must think I'm some sort of hallucination. "Dude, that guy's on a bike, but he's, like, not going anywhere! Whoa...."

Perhaps because of this larger audience, I was able to maintain a spinning speed of around 18 for the full hour. Like I never even felt like letting up, which I think is a good sign. It was nice to just push through a trainer workout without music, and know that it was better than it had been previously. Even when a group of about 8 guys pulled up a circle of chairs in the courtyard below and began passing the bong (causing plumes of weed smoke to reach the deck)I kept up my speed.

Not sure if I got a contact high from the in-stereo weed smoking around me, but it felt like a good session. I even went a little faster when two girls appeared on a previously-unoccupied patio on the fourth floor to my left. The black guys hollered at them for a while, which I also found entertaining. This courtyard is providing a much better show than it did last year. So even if headphones break and Marlins games are over early, I think I may have some good on-trainer entertainment for the rest of this cycle.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

T67 - That Little Girl Wore Me Out - Run

Kailua, Hawaii

So apparently it has all come full circle. Trevor did the Honolulu marathon, inspiring him to do the Ironman. I am then inspired to do the Ironman. Then I visit Cousin Jill and now her and her neighbor Claire have been inspired to run Honolulu. Always glad when I can encourage such behavior. Anyway, I was home alone Monday as Eric had to go drive Humvees and Jill was bartending. I looked accross the complex and saw that Claire's door was open, and she too was home alone with nothing to do. Now, given the title of this post, this probably sounds like a lead-in to a hot porno or something, right? Notsomuch. Despite Claire being extremely hot, she is married to a Marine on deployment. But this did not mean I couldn't try and motivate her to start marathon training, right?

Run - 45 minutes

2 Lipodrene
Claire felt it neccessary to preface our run by saying "I haven't run in 4 months, so there's no way I'm gonna keep up." This is the running equivalent of that person who leaves a test saying they totally f-ed it up, and getting a 98%. So I knew I was in for a rough afternoon. I needed to follow her for the route anyway (didn't really know my way around Kailua, nor did I know the local distances) so I told her I'd run at her pace for the first mile (it was a 2 mile down-and-back which I planned to do twice) then go on ahead once I knew my way around.

So we get to the street and she has her iPod on (I have grown to share Trevor's disdain for people who run in groups with iPods on) so I figured that the run would be easy since that gave me the go ahead to bring mine as well. Now, this girl was about all of 5'2", so I knew she would have to run fast to keep up with me and my long strides. And that she did. I mean she just has these short, fast strides like "zipzipzipzipzipzipzipzip," and next thing you know, she's about 50 yards ahead of me. I had to stride it out, and fast to keep up, and by the time we hit the one mile turnaround, she was about 30 seconds ahead. Mildly embarassing, I think.

Same happened on the way back, as she scurried ahead and I had to play catchup for the second mile. She stopped at the 2 mile mark, and I kept going another 2 miles, altohugh the last one was a joke. I was so tired out by keeping this girl's pace that the heat and humidity of Oahu got to me, and I pretty much dogged the last ten minutes. It didn't help the my headphones broke YET AGAIN and my iPod went out to beign Mile 3. Now, I understand that this girl ran half as far as I did, but still. Never fun to get smoked by a girl a foot shorter than you.

It is recovery week, so I'm not going to sweat the very mediocre run. If nothing else it gave me a good story, and hopefully gave Claire some confidence going into her marathon training.

Monday, August 24, 2009

T66 - Back in the Corps, Back in Open Water- Swim

Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii
North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii


I was back in Kailua and wouldn't you know it, the District Pool was closed on Sunday. So Eric was nice enough to take me over to the Base Pool at K-Bay and "sponsor" me to use it for training. Now I had not been in a Marine Corps Base pool in at least five years, but I thought the idea of combining the Marine Corps and the Ironman in the same training session seemed somehow appropriate. After all, they are probably the two things I am proudest of having done (or will be at least) so lining up at the red and yellow lane separators at the 50-yard base pool was pretty motivating.

Swim: 10 x 200 (50 Easy, 50 Build, 50 Easy, 50Hard)

2 Lipodrene
This workout is so much better in a 50-yard pool. This was the first time I'd trained in such a pool this cycle, and for EBEHs this length, it makes perfect sense. The first 3 sets were rough, and I thought maybe my trend of mediocre workouts was continuing. But it was just the lack of warmup. By set 4 I was going at a steady pace on the Easy sets, and the Build and Hard were good. I even kept up a solid sprint on the last 50s. Which is a lot easier to do when you are looking straight down the pool instead of having to constantly be turning around.

It didn't hurt that some unit was having a family day barbecue on one end of the pool, giving off a great grilled meat smell when I came up for air. Motivated me to swim faster to get to that side. And all the Marines in the pool also motivated me to show that a shaggy haired, unshaved civilian could still tear up the pool. Thoroughly enjoyed the nice outdoor pool at K-Bay, as it was empty and a great course.

1500 Meters - Open Water

Me and Eric, Cousin Jill's Husband, took a nice drive from Kailua through the North Shore to some beach I can't name. Apparently it holds a lot of surfing competitions as it has about a half-mile wide cove with sand that creates a natural amphitheater. And despite the fact that I'd had a pretty good swim earlier, I couldn't resist one trip to the open waters of Hawaii while I was here. So I left my jammer on, brought my cap and outdoor goggles to the beach, and hit the water.

It was amazing. It was like snorkeling and training at the same time. Every time I put my head in the water to breathe, there were interesting tropical fish and some coral to look at. I swam with the current from one end of the cove almost to the other, until the waves got so big I decided to head back. Swimming back was not so easy, as the current on the North Shore can be brutal. Several times I would see myself not move at all in relation to the ocean floor when I stroked. But I didn't really get tired, and I felt like the swim went very well. Especially considering I hadn't been in open water since the Orlando Half. Makes me feel pretty conifdent about the race this weekend at Camp Blanding (2 bases in 1 week!)

This was a great workout, and I love that I got to take advantage of some of the natural training environments Hawaii has to offer. The 1500 Meter open water (I estimated) was just a bonus workout, but I couldn't resist. I'll use that to replace half the workout tomorrow, which is 1200 with kickboard and pull work. I think the open water, especially on Oahu, is better training value. Especially as I open my next to last "recovery week."

T65 - The Unrelenting Hills Of Kona - Bike

Kona

There used to be this Gatorade commercial with this guy who passed out 500 yards from the finish line at Kona, and they showed that to demonstrate how proper hydration can prevent such things. It featured venerable College Football commentator Keith Jackson saying that “the unrelenting hills of Kona” were too much for this world-class athlete, who later went on to win some other Ironman in Idaho because he drank Gatorade. But as I biked about 70 miles of the Kona course, Keith Jackson’s voice kept running through my head, telling me about the “unrelenting hills of Kona.’ Keith Jackson does not lie.

Bike – 4 Hours

2 Lipodrene, 3 Advil
I would have liked to have gone 2 hours down the Ironman course, and then ridden back. This way I could see over half the course, and get a good feel for the race. Sort of. But the thing about the unrelenting hills of Kona is that the miles upon miles of lave fields are not exactly conducive to any commerce. As in there’s no place to buy water between the Kona airport and a resort 25 miles away. Which was a solid few miles off the course anyway. Point being, I decided it would be wiser to bike up about 19 miles, go back 15 to a coffee shop on the side of the road, refill, and head back out onto the course leaving enough time to get back in 4 hours. Again, I had no computer, so I had to just be on the bike 4 hours, essentially meaning I probably only got in about 3:45. Whatever, it’s Kona.

I left from the old airport park where I’d run 2 days ago, where I parked the rental jeep and headed out to the course. It was 6:45 a.m., and the road was considerably less crowded. And since I knew the course, I felt a lot better on this ride. I’m not sure how fast I was going, and couldn’t really pay too much attention to it since I was just focusing on the beautiful ocean view and the lava fields. I imagined how this race must be, especially hitting the airport hill with a fierce headwind at mile 104. Seriously, that would suck.

But as I did the ride, I realized that Kona, while unrelenting, is not as impossible as the Gatorade commercial made it look. I managed to get the only sun of my Kona trip on this ride, meaning that not only were the hills unrelenting, but so was the wind and the heat. I got to the top of several hills and tried to freewheel and couldn’t because the wind was pushing so hard. But it didn’t feel deadly. Maybe I was going on Kona adrenaline, maybe I just wasn’t going hard enough, or maybe I just am a better cyclist than people who had told me how awful the course was. But any way you cut it, the ride felt strangely good. I even let this Irish guy draft behind me for a while (he asked), maybe the island mentality was rubbing off. And when I stopped for water these people from Colorado asked me if I was training for the Ironman. “In Florida,” I told them. “We’ll see how that goes then maybe I’ll come back.”

At the 2 hour mark I took another Lipodrene and 3 more Advil, and had 3 gels (every 45) and a Cliff Bar at the 2:15 mark. The last hour I started to fade, as HPD had put up one of those “Here is your speed” signs on the highway, and I was going a solid 16 down a hill. I was getting insanely thirsty by then as the lone water break wasn’t enough for the lava-field, sun and hill combination. The thirst probably slowed me down. My back felt ok, and my legs got sore. But I’m sure the Advil minimized those effects. The views on this ride were amazing, and I even stopped a couple of times for a few seconds just to take them in. once you get out of town, the ride really is pretty amazing.

But the ride made me realize that I can have another goal after November. If this one doesn’t kill me, I want to do Kona. I would have to train in Kona, though, staying at my uncle’s house and basically doing nothing but preparing. But it’s a dream that I could probably make happen. And being on this course made me realize Kona is no more impossible to me now than an Ironman in Florida was to me 2 years ago. Kona 2011? Definitely a possibility.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

T64 - To Feel Safe Again, Look Over Your Shoulder - Bike, Run

Kona

I spent the morning diving with my friend Robyn from High School who works as a dive instructor out here. The dives were amazing, but both Robyn and her fellow tour guide Kelly were telling me they couldn’t believe I was going to go bike for 2 hours then run for an hour after a full day of diving. In the hot sun. Not because diving is particularly draining physically, but apparently you’re supposed to let yourself cycle off all the nitrogen before working out. Like why you’re not supposed to fly. But who was I to listen to them. It was Kona and I had a bike rented for 24 hours, I’m getting my fucking money’s worth.

Bike – 2 Hours

2 Lipodrene
So I’d had it in my head that biking the Kona course, which for the unaware is the original and official Ironman bike course, used in the race you see on Wide World of Sports. Of course, I wasn’t going to bike the whole thing, I only had 2 hours. But I had likened it to an amateur baseball player getting to play a game at Yankee Stadium. This would be the case if Yankee stadium were filled with Semi Trucks, mopeds, and right turn only lanes that force you to cut across traffic not once but twice about every half mile. This road wasn’t majestic. It was no magical experience. It was fucking Waldo Road with better scenery. Basically, this course was a busy highway with exhaust being blown in your face, with a fierce headwind and endless hills to boot.

I did ok on the ride. I needed to get used to the course, and the Dura Ace componentry on the Cannondale bike I rented was like shifting on silk. So I played around with the gears a lot. But again I had no computer and no aero bars, which made things kinda tough. I had no idea what my speed was, and there was nowhere to get water either. The first hour I spent more or less frustrated by the traffic constantly having to look over my left shoulder to make sure I didn’t end up as a permanent part of the Kona Ironman Bike Course. And I do not look over my right shoulder well, as more than once I have cut off an unsuspecting motorist. This is what led to me getting rear ended in Orlando, and will probably eventually result in a more serious injury. This is why I don’t like biking anywhere that’s not a continuous bike lane. I just can’t look over my shoulder.

The ride was good to familiarize me with the Kona course, but otherwise was very unimpressive. Because of the good componentry, I used the small ring a lot, more than in any other ride I think I’ve ever been on. The endless hills may have contributed to that too. So that was certainly different. But this was not the majestic experience I had expected.

Run – 1 Hour

1 Lipodrene
I had planned to brick this workout, but the Bike shop closed earlier than I thought so I couldn’t leave the bike there while I ran, and Jill had the Jeep, so I had to have her come pick me up and then run at home. For some reason she wasn’t excited to sit around an industrial shopping center while I ran for an hour. She was late getting me, and by the time I got back to the house in Captain Cook, it was 6:45. Uncle Steve’s house in Kona is on a steep, windy road in what looks like a cleaner version of Nicaragua. Just total jungle, a stark contrast to the Lava fields of the bike course. Also, because it’s Kona, and therefore “rustic,” there aren’t any sidewalks. It took my about 5 minutes to realize this run was probably not safe.

I started off running down the hill and approached a sharp curve about every hundred yards. With the IPod on, I couldn’t hear any cars, so I just had to cross the street every time I came up to one, having to constantly look behind me as I ran to make sure no cars were coming in the direction I was running. At one point a small VW Bug cam speeding around a curve and swerving between lanes. I’m not sure if they just wanted to play “Scare the Houle,” but it was quite disconcerting. After 20 minutes of constantly looking back and crossing the street, I decided this was not a safe run. Especially with an iPod on. So despite the return run being completely uphill, I turned the music off.

The run back was actually pretty good as I kept stride all the way up the hill, and made it back up in only a couple of minutes more than it took me to run down. So despite my cutting the run 20 minutes short (it was pitch black by the time I got home, I figured it was better to cut it short and live to train another day) I feel there was some training value there.

But man, 10 hours in the sun takes its toll. I finished dinner in the un-air conditioned house, and felt like I wanted to die. I took a cold towel, put in on top of myself like one might a blanket, and passed out by 8:30. I did however chug about 5 water bottles of ice water, as I knew the next day’s workout would take its toll.

T63 - I'm in Kona, Bitch - Swim/Run Brick

Kona

I’ve been in Hawaii for a day now, and since my first day I couldn’t find an open pool that fit my swim schedule in Kailua, I instead opted to go out with Cousin Jill and Eric and their friend Rich and get completely hammered at the bar Jill works at. Which might not have been so rough on training had I known that Hawaiians are not at A/C addicted as Floridians. Cousin Jill and her husband included. So instead of downing some water and being fully recovered when I woke up, I instead continued to sweat and lose water until I woke up at 7 feeling like a jackhammer had been taken to my head while I was roasting in a fire. I took some Advil as a cure. It helped a little as Jill and I flew to Kona arriving early afternoon.

Swim: 500, 5x100, 400, 4x100, 300, 3x100, 2oo, 2x100, 100

2 Lipodrene
The Kona aquatics center is a lovely municipal facility located right next to the old Kona airport in Kailua-Kona. Basically, it’s the city pool for Kona locals, and best of all it’s free. Gave me a little local feel and provided a pretty empty swimming course.
The hangover was readily apparent as the first ten laps felt like they took forever. This isn’t terribly uncommon when I don’t do a warmup, but the lackadaisical swimming continued into the 100s, which all felt really labored. It was about the third 100 where I decided to just go at the pace where I felt comfortable to get through them. The one saving grace of this swim was that I limited my intervals to ten seconds between 100s (really, because I wasn’t going that hard), but I was still doing 100s in lke 1:50. Which is faster than I had done in previous cycles, but is definitely too slow for me now.

So cool as it was swimming past a sign that read “Kona Aquatics Center) and seeing the fog-veiled mountains behind the far side of my lane, most of this swim pretty much sucked. I was not pleased, but was glad to at least get in some extra training in Kona.

Run – 1 Hour

1 Lipodrene
I took an extra gel, changed over in the Aquatic Center locker room, and ran out to the old airport for my run. The airport looks like it should serve as the Ironamn transistion area, as it’s about ¾ of a mile of black asphalt right on the shoreline. The view was amazing, and motivated me a lot to run well. I later learned that the airport neither serves as the transition area, nor is it even on the Ironman run course, but whatever. Running on the shoreline, and then through the town of Kailua-Kona was cool enough as it is. The iPod didn’t hurt either. Shitty as the swim had been, this run went very well.

Although whoever the asshole was who told me I’d love Hawaii because it was like Florida without the humidity was full of shit. I do love Hawaii, but its is humid as fuck here. It’s like Miami in the Spring and early Summer. So I was pretty dehydrated at the end. But all in all a very solid run.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

T62 - Regression Analysis - Bike

Gainesville

Bike: 120 minutes with long tempo work
wu: 15 minutes RPE 3 working to 4 by end
main: 90 minutes at RPE 5-7 steady mix of aero and non
cd: 15 minutes at RPE 2-3.


2 Lipodrene
I again include the speed instructions here to demonstrate that I did not follow them at all. In fact, I didn't follow much of anything at all. I got on the bike today and immediately knew it was going to be a bad ride. It may have been because my computer was now registering a speed of 8.2 when I headed down 2nd to Hawthorne. Now I know I'm not exactly Greg LeMonde here, but I do not bike 8.2 on a flat surface in my sleep. This computer malfunctioning continued throughout the ride as I would frequently look down and see speed like 9.5, 11.1, 5.6. Again, I was dogging it today, but I was not dead. I just fucking love when I pay people to fix something and they don't fix it. Unbelievable.

The point is, today's bike was a waste. I mean by the 1:30 mark all I was thinking is "When is this shit fucking done?" I thought maybe I'd turn it around at halfway, as I was going over 21 for a while after that. But soon my enthusiasm waned, and my speed did as well. I took 2 gels on the ride, so it wasn't nutrition. It wasn't hot (even rained a little) and despite my not making it to the end of Hawthorne I was never thirsty. I just straight up didn't bring it today. Averaged 16.9 over 2 hours. Actually, 2:06 as I dogged it just as bad on the way back.

I would like to chlalk this up to not being fully recovered form Saturday's grueling trainer session. My legs were sore the whole time. And I think this is the main cause. I also had turkey for lunch, and that tryptophan may have been a factor. Yeah, right. No, I was just flat out demotivated today. I started getting stressed about money at about the one hour mark, and I am usually pretty good at blocking the rest of the world out on the bike. But all that negativity didn't really make me ride any harder. And much as I hate to think it was a factor, I had sex the past couple of nights. I only note this because looking back I was crushing workouts for the whole week and a half I wasn't doing it, and when I am again the last two have been average and terrible. I don't know why it would be a factor. The exertion isn't very long, and it's not like I'm not taking care of things when I'm not getting any. This Hawaii trip, assuming I don't get any, should be a good indicator.

But I also realized 2 long bike days in a row is NOT a good idea for training, Form here on in when I have 2 long bikes scheduled in consecutive days, I will put a rest day in between, since I'll have about 14 to play with from September on. I think the lack of recovery time made today's workout useless at best, and I'd care not to repeat this. Alright, next ride is in Kona. This should be pretty fucking awesome.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

T61 - A Fine Line Between Pacing Yourself and Dogging It - Bike (Trainer)

Gainesville

B: 90 minutes at RPE 4 on trainer or road. Try to maintain aero posture
during middle 40 minutes.


2 Lipodrene
I figured the idea behind this workout was to get you comfortable in aero for long periods of time. And what better place to do it than the human sweatbox that is the bike trainer? Since it is move-in weekend here at Jefferson 2nd, I though it might be fun to be sweating my balls off on the trainer on the balcony as all the little 19-year-olds and their parents unloaded their U-Hauls into their respective "first Apartments." Sadly, only about 6 came by the whole hour and a half.

my bike computer was fixed, so I took my iPod and some Gatorades out on the deck and went for what would be the longest I'd ever spent on a bike trainer. In terms of mental exhaustion, it's about a 2:1 ratio to being on the road. Just tedious as fuck. And today was no exception. I started out going about 19-20, but within the first ten minutes I had slowed to about 18. And my speed kept dropping. I'm not sure if that was because I knew I had soooo long to go (you don't stop pedaling on the trainer, so you can't take those nice freewheling breaks like you can on the road) and I was pacing it, or if I was just being lazy. My speed slipped to about 16, and I kept shifting down to make it easier. Took a gel at the halfway mark, which seemed to help my energy. The long aero session was really not a problem. I took a few mini-breaks (like 5 seconds or so) to get water and wipe off sweat and whatnot, but no more than I would in a race. So definitely getting pretty comfortable in that position.

But as I got to the end of the ride, I was able to go over 18 pretty consistently. This is a lot slower than I go on the road, which is weird given the limited resistance. Someone could probably explain the physics of this to me, but I really don't get it. The point is this was tough, and really sweaty, and while I wasn't sad about my performance, I wasn't thrilled either. The music helped a lot (Swoon, seriously, is becoming the best non-trance workout CD I've ever owned for whatever reason)and when I got to the better music my speed went up.

But I was a little concerned. Do I need to be pushing harder the whole way through? I don't want to get comfortable at a slow pave like today (averaged 17.5) but at the same time keeping a higher pace up on the trainer for that long can start to fuck with your head early. It's a fine line, much like I wonder if my not being tired at the halfway point of runs is because I don't run very hard.

Oh, and my fucking iPod headphones broke because I kept them pinned under the aero bars for so long. That's 4 pairs, if you're keeping score at home.

T60 - Opening the Second Half Strong - Bike, Swim

Gainesville


Bike - 90 Minutes


2 Lipodrene
I had to literally go and pick my bike up from the shop for this ride, before it was fixed. Essentially borrowing my own bike, which was kinda weird, but highly necessary. This wouls also be my last ride without a computer, which I was glad to be able to tell myself.

Of course, because I woke up at my usual crack of 11:15 and dawdles around for a while before heading over to the bike shop and picking up my bike. Ran a few errands, watched Maury, then saw that at 3 the skies decided to open up. So I had to sit in my living room waiting for the rain to stop until I could go for my ride. It was nice, though, by the time the rain let up at 4, the air had cooled down a lot and I was able to really put some umph behind this ride. The week-or-so off of the bike had dome me well, and I felt like I was maintaining in the 18-20 range the whole time. Of course, I had to go by the clock on time, meaning I was probably out there less than 90 minutes, but the ride felt good. I think the highlight may have been staying in my bike clothes and taking it back to the shop before it closed at 6. Always fun to wear those kinds of outfits in public. But the ride felt strong and I'm looking forward to this bike-intensive "week." I put this in quotations because the week will span from this Wednesday to next Thursday with 2 extra rest days thrown in. These are mostly travel days, and days set aside for the big Poison/Def Leppard show in West Palm.


Swim: race-specific
wu: 2 x 75, last 25 in each is backstroke.
main: 3 x 600, first at RPE 4, 2 at RPE 8, 3 at RPE 4


2 Lipodrene
I'm not real sure what exactly about 3 sets of 600 meter swims was "race specific," but I'm sure whoever wrote these training cards had his reasons. I decided to split this workout into two and not even attempt to brick it, so I did the swim second. I only put the RPEs up here to denote that I did NOT in fact do the second set at RPE 8. This who swim felt terrific, as I continue to remind myself to use my right side in the manner in which it is supposed to be used. That being said, I wasn't going to be able to maintain RPE 8 for 12 laps after a bike ride. Should I have at least given it a shot? Yes, yes I should. And perhaps this will serve as motivation to try to sack up and do it that way the next time around. But whatever. Nothing particularly memorable about this swim except the fact that i had no problems with it.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

T59 - A Personal Record Put in Perspective - Run

Gainesville

Run - 2.5 Hours

2 Lipodrene
Today was the longest I've ever run. Ever. In my life. And not that I needed to go all codependant on this workout to get in the 15-or-so miles I'd be doing, but I had mentioned that I was doing this run the other day to Justin, and he is training for the Space Coast Marathon, and wanted to come along. Fine. He well knows that he runs faster than me, so he'd have to pace himself accordingly.

I decided that much as I like training with the heat, a run this long needed to be done in the evening. So I got a good parking spot for the Saturn Aid Station right by the run-in on the first floor, and hit the road about 5. Justin waited a while so that he'd catch me at the end (he runs a slightly longer loop as well). I used the iPod as I did a lap of the campus loop. Started out striding well, but the heat started getting to me by the hill on 2nd and I found myself chopping steps there. Justin caught up to me right around the stadium, and flew ahead to finish the loop in the Jefferson parking garage well ahead of me. My iPod, which had been skipping a lot during the loop, finally froze about ten minutes from the end of this loop. Annoying, but you can't use those thigns on the Ironman course, so good to do a run this long without it.

Justin had run a little faster than me, obviously. So when I got back to the garage he was definitely still in recovery mode. I started talking to him and he said "You shouldn't be talking right now. You obviously didn't run hard enough." Yeah, probably. But I had another 8-9 miles to go, so I prefer to think I was pacing myself. I had a gel and suggested we get going. he did not like this suggestion, but I guess this was my way of pushing him. He kept the pace a little faster than I wanted as we began the first of three trips down to the Stadium and back. I lagged a little behind for some of it, but it was good having someone to talk to.

I really enjoy doing the half-hour loops after the big campus loop, because I'm never more than 15 minutes from my next turnaround, and every half hour you get an aid station at the car with Powerade and gels, and a little chance to rest. I don't even look at it as pussing out either, becasue on the course you actually get one of those every mile, and they have more stuff. It also makes the run mentally a lot easier. Oh, and it's flat too. But so is the IM course.

By lap 2 to the stadium, my legs started to hurt. I mean, I guess at the 12-mile mark, that's to be expected. But I realized this is what pretty much the whole run is going to feel like in November. Best get used to the pain. Lap 2 was, again, a little faster than I would have run otherwise, and I kept stride well. I think we got called "fags" by some guys driving by in a car at one point. I just looked at them and said "Really?" Ok guys. I can't even take anyone like that seriosuly at this point, my guess is they probably would have fallen out halfway into the first loop.

Lap 3, Justin decided to run ahead at his own pace, and looped around and caught me at the stadium as I turned around. I still kept the pace we'd been running when I ran alone, and at the end Justin had been clocking it and said I'd kept 10-minute miles the whole time. Which, slow as that sounds, is about my goal for runs like this. Yeah, I'm fat. Leave me alone. And on the way back, a carload of girls stopped on 13th (right where that girl stopped me and asked for my number last year) were whistling and hollering at us as we ran by. I think they were cute. So I guess running with your shirt off invites different reactions from different people.

All in all, the longest run of my life went pretty well. Yeah, the iPod fucked up. Yeah, it hurt. And yeah, I wasn't setting any land speed marks. But I never felt like I wanted to die, I never thought about quitting, and if I'd been forced to I could have run more. And I think that is about what I should expect at this point. I kept to the gel-every-45 rule, even when I took one with 15 minutes to go. And I downed 64 oz. of Powerade as well as about half a bottle of water. Couldn't get enough fluid for a humid day like this, but the nutrition and hyration worked well today. We got back to the apartment and had some giant Muscle Milk shakes. Protein after a run that long, probably a good idea.

This was a solid way to end the first half of training for the Ironman. Yep, this workout marks he halfway point of the training cycle, and I don't think I could ask it to have gone better. But like I told Justin, I'm glad I have 3 months until race day. Because there's no way I coulda done 11 more miles. After a 112-mile ride. Really puts stuff in perspective, ya know?

Monday, August 10, 2009

T58 - Its Harder When You do it Right, Isn't it? - Swim

Gainesville

In unrelated news, I brought my bike in to be fixed today. They have to order a part for the computer so it will finally work. It's only going to cost about $30, considerable cheaper than the $65 pricetag a whole new one would have come with. The downside, though, is I have no bike until Friday. Which may be difficult since I'm going to West Palm Thursday and Friday. I may go into the shop and ask for the bike Wednesday to do my workout then. We shall see. Point is, looks like that's finally unfucked.

Swim: speed day
warmupu: 100swim, 100 pull, 100 kick, 100 swim
main: 8 x 100 EBEH (each 100 = 25Easy, 25Build, 25Easy, 25 Hard)


2 Lipodrene
These types of days are almost rest days. I'm not even sure what the training value is, but I'm at a point now that I need to do something almost every day, so a half hour swim didn't seem unreasonable. I will say focusing on keeping my right arm out during its stroke is making swimming a lot more unpleasant. My right hand actually starts getting real sore from the increased effort it has to put out. My whole right side in general is getting tired faster. These EBEHs didn't feel much faster than usual, but they did feel more controlled. And I'm guessing a lot of that has to do with the better form.

Again, my intervals were shorter, and again the "Easys" weren't rest lengths, but rather like race pace. I also got stopped between sets by some guy sitting by the pool asking if I was getting enough air when I brought my head up. I figured it was some unsolicited coaching, but actually it was just a guy who didn't swim because he felt like he couldn't get enough air. I wanted to explain to him that that was me 2 years ago, and that it's really not that hard once you learn. But then he asked me about my Ironman 70.3 swim cap, and I told him about it, and the full Ironman in November, and this cute redhead in the next lane stopped and started asking me about it too. But just like I never really talk to girls socially at the gym, nor do I in the pool. But she was cute, for the record. It was a nice distraction on an otherwise unremarkable training day. But it's good. Tomorrow's run is the longest I've ever done.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

T57 - Body Buzz - Run/Bike Brick

Gainesville

Well, you knew it was gonna happen eventually: The Hangover workout. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to stay out until 4, going hard the whole time up to and including chugging White Zin out of a plastic bag. And in addition to several drunk texts to various people, I somehow managed to text Justin "Hey, I'm pretty fucked up and going to bed now. So if you wanna go later than 10:30, that's cool." He was hapy to hear it, and showed up around noon for the workout. I drank a ton of water and Gatorade, and did my Advil/Sudafed/Lipodrene stack with breakfast, so I actualyl felt pretty good heading out to run.

Run - 60 Minutes


2 Lipodrene
2 Sudafed

I like running with Justin, because while he runs faster than I do, he keeps his pace with me as one I can keep too. I'm not sure if this is the case, or I"m just getting to be a better runner. Justin had to be at work at 4, so we opted to cut the run a little short. We didn't do the whole campus loop, instead running down University to 2nd past the Law school. This is usually my 45 minute run, but when we got to my usual turnaround, we had only been out 20 minutes. So the pace he kept it at was defintely a faster clip. As he said "I bet I save you a solid 2 minutes on the Ironman." If I keep up this pace, it'll be a lot more than that.

And the hill was tough going back up 2nd, but I didn't chop my steps at all so I could keep up. The heat wasn't feeling nearly as brutal as it has in the past, although the weather said it was just as hot. (Except that day it was 104). All in all the run went very well, and we got back in under an hour to do a quick bike transition.

Bike - 2 Hours

Took a gel and drank a bunch of Gatorade while we transitioned at the apartment. Again, because Justin had to be at work at 4, my dream of a shady, car-free Hawthorne ride was shot because he had to drop his shit off at Campus Lodge on the ride. Basically, we ended up riding Williston to 34th, then back to our old friend 441. After being off the bike since Monday, I felt great pedaling down. So great, in fact, I let Justin pull the whole way down to Micanopy, which made for a very pleasant ride. But I started feeling a little light-headed about 5 minutes into the ride.

First I though dehydration, but that wasn't it. Then I thought maybe it was my being a little sick, but I had no other symptoms. Then I started feeling a burn in my quads as we went up a hill, but oddly the burn felt good. The only time my body ever feels like this is when I'm on massive amounts of stimulants, or ecstasy. Serisouly, like every sensation just feels awesome. The wind on the bike course felt awesome. Any time my leg brushed the bike frame, it felt awesome. And let me tell you, biking with a body buzz is pretty fucking cool. We turned it around at Cafe Risque and here I took the lead.

Now my computer is broken, but as Trevor has told me you know your body and how certain speeds feel, and with my quads having orgasms every time I pushed them harder (kinda like those girls who get off on being smacked around, but slightly less fun)I'm pretty sure I was doing a solid 23-25 a good part of the way back. Really, it was incredible. Just pushing yourself faster every hill and every straightaway, and feeling great while you did it. It didn't hurt I got a good 50-minute warmup drafting behind Justin, and had enough energy to just go balls out for the ride back. I also might have had a little ephedrine in my system, I know. Justin kept up with me, which I have to say was a little surprising. I've dropped him on bikes before when I've pushed it, but he was right there behind me all the way back to 34th. He did tell me, though, when we turned "I don't think I've ever worked that hard drafting before." I felt a little bad, but I'm not gonna lie, I kinda smiled.

The slowdown actually kidna killed the body buzz, as I think I wasn't flooding my brain with adrenaline as I had been for the previous hour and a half. Still made it back from Micanopy in about 8 minutes less than it took me to get down. The whole ride ended up being slightly under 2 hours because of it, but whatever. If you're out there less time because you hauled ass back, you deserve it. Dare I say, this ride was up there with that hour I keep up with Trevor as my best ride of the cycle. And it came after an hour of running in the sun. Hungover.

Yeah, I'm definitely getting there.

T56 - Knee? What knee? - Run, Swim

Gainesville

I took an extra rest day because as I was getting into bed the other night I felt my knee kinda give out again. And it wasn't from sex or anything cool like that, just me getting into bed and feeling my knee give out. Kinda like how I initially fucked it up scuba diving. Anyhoo, I took the day off, and it still felt like every step I took might blow it out. Not really hurting, but like something just wasn't right. But I have an Ironman to do, so I did what any illogical athlete does and took a bunch of Advil so the pain signals my body was using to tell me something was wrong would be intercepted. Took 3, and 2 Sudafed, and 2 Lipodrene and hit the campus loop.



Run - 75 Minutes

2 Lipodrene
I had intended not to use the iPod today, but right before the run I was IMing an old student of mine about Lipodrene, and how great it makes you feel sometimes, and as I did it I decided I wanted to have a blow-up kinda run, so I brought the music. Whatever, I wasn't kicking myself for it. I was also a little tired because I had to wake up for graduation at like 7:30, take Trevor to the airport, sit through the graduation, which was mostly standing, actually, then eat and come back. HIt the loop about 3 and it was nice and hot.

But again, this was one of those runs where the heat felt energizing, not draining.I kept my stride really well until I got to the big hill on 2nd. I chopped my steps a lot going up it, but hey, it was really fucking hot. As I got to the top of the hill, I noticed the afternoon graduation letting out and the accompanying traffic clusterfuck leaving the O'Connell Center. I won't lie, the thought of hundreds of 22-year-old girls driving by when I ran got me to pick up the pace.

All in all it was a solid run that left me more tired than I thought. Sweat kept getting in my eyes to the point I had to stop running to wipe my face on my shorts. Don't envision it. But I don't run with a shirt on so that was my only option. And I REALLY don't wanna start wearing headbands. The only people who wear those are pro athletes and middle aged guys playing pickup basketball at the Health Club. Fuck that. Anyway, it was encouraging to have a longer run in heat where I kept stride almost the whole time. I am definitely much improved. And my knee? Well it was feeling fine the whole time. And really didn't bother me the rest of the day.But it still feels weird occasionally when I walk.

Swim: main: 1900 ladder (300, 275, 250…etc)

2 Lipodrene
I took a few hours off to do some work and hit the pool about 7:30. I skipped the warmup today too. This ladder was realyl easy for whatever reason. My guess is the 4 Lipodrene and massive amounts of Sudafed, but I like to think i've just become that awesome of a swimmer. I definitely used my right side the way it's supposed to be used, and I can really feel a difference. It didn't get as sore as it sis last time, but I also felt a lot stronger pull. So hopefully this will be a big breakthrough for the swim.

Friday, August 7, 2009

T55 - Hello, Right Side! - Swim/Run Brick

Gainesville

This past Valentines Day, or the day before to be more precise, me and my then-girlfriend went kayaking in Biscayne Bay. The whole time, we kept veering to the right. Since I was sitting in back, and more or less controlling our direction, I was getting a little irritated at myself. I hadn't been lifting for months, and swimming works both sides evenly. Why was my left arm pulling so much harder than my right? The whole fucking kayak trip we kept having to correct course, and I really felt like I was exerting even effort. Well, today I think I figured it out.

Swim: 2x1500

2 Lipodrene
The swim today was not terribly inspiring. Lost count a few times. Went at a solid pace, but nothing frustrating and nothing impressive. I was neither inspired nor demotivated. A very normal swim, interrupted by a gel halfway through 1500 number 2. But I kept my head under water for multiple strokes a few times and noticed something: my right arm was coming across a small part of my right side every stroke. I'd never noticed this because my head is always out of the water when the right arm strokes, so its location was never certain like it is on the left. The idea, of course, is not to cross your body with your arms so you get the maximum pull.

What I realized was the, basically, for the year and a half I've been swimming my right arms has essentially been drafting behind my body on its stroke. I'm sure this cost me some speed, but it also has made my left side considerable stronger. Hence the lopsided Kayak trip. I realized this, of course, at about lap 20 of the second set, but for the last 10 and a half laps, I focused on keeping my right arm on the outside of my body. Yeah, it got sore after about 2 laps. My right shoulder was burning by the end, it was getting so much use. I hadn't realized it, but my stroke was seriously fucked. Somehow I think this is going to make future swims a lot harder, but may well gain me some time.

Run - 30 Minutes

Did a quick transition in the GHFC locker room and headed out onto 8th Ave. I had hoped to have another crushing run like I did in Miami, but my legs were still really sore from the previous night's Fartleks. So I ran about my race pace, but realized the purpose here. Your legs, they might be a little sore after a 112-mile bike ride. Probably a good idea to start realizing how running on them is gonna feel. Now, today's run was about 23 miles shorter than the Ironman run will be, and the cloud cover made it pretty easy. But good to feel like I can run my race pace on sore legs.

T54 - Fucking Fartleks - Run (Treadmill)

Gainesville

R: 90 minute tempo workout
wu: 10 minutes RPE 2-3
main: 7 x (7t, 3r) (7minutes tempo at RPE 7, 3min recovery at RPE 2)
cd: 10 minutes RPE 3



2 Lipodrene
Despite the mildly-obscene sounding name, Fartleks are tempo intervals that were apparently devised by a guy named Fartlek. I'm not joking. Anyway, today's workout looked to be especially brutal because it involved 7 sets of these, where you run at tempo (slightly faster than your race pace, but not a sprint) and then recover for three minutes. And, as we know, I am not a fan of running fast. I tend to do these on a treadmill because it's the only way to ensure your pace stays at the appropriate level. Even when you you push it, your natural inclination is to slow. So I went over to GHFC and used their treadmills.

I started out using the iPod, because a Fartlek workout almost requires some sort of external motivation. I once again used my Summer Run 2009 mix, and did the warmup at 6.0 I managed to get through the first 3 Fartleks at 7.5, with a 5.0 recovery, which again is not impressing anyone, but was tough for me. By the time I got to the middle of set 4, I was already looking at the clock every 30 seconds to see if I was done yet, and I my breathing was getting really labored. So I dropped it to 6.5 for the next 2, with a walking recovery. By the time I got to the last one, since I knew it was the last one, I went back up to 7.5 and felt pretty good.

I would have liked to have kept the 7.5 pace the whole time, but 70 minutes of Fartleks is not easy. Try it. So I was pleased with how I did, going about 10 miles in the 90 minutes and burning around 1500 calories. The iPod music didn't exactly line up, as I found myself walking during the apex of some of the high-energy songs, and I think I need to give the iPod and the sumer run mix a little rest. The music isn't as firing-up as it has been. The workout left me as tired as I'd hoped. I went out to the parking lot and started to get into the wrong car I was so out of it. In my defnese, it was a baby blue Saturn parked 3 spots away from my car, with a Marine Corps sticker on the back and Florida plates.

But it was good to see I was so dizzy and dazed from the effort that I wasn't recognizing my own car. I also forgot to take a gel, which I'm getting in the habit of taking on any workout over 75 minutes. I also tok two bottles, one with water and one with Gatorade, both of which helped me prevent a dehydration headache.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

T53 - Technical Difficulties...ABORT! - Bike

Gainesville

WARNING: POST CONTAINS EXCESSIVE ADULT LAGNUAGE

I had brought my bike into the shop the day before I left for Miami. The main thing I needed was to get the fucking computer fixed, I just can't ride right without it now. Sad, but true. I also needed to get the back wheel "trued," which basically means realigned to where it's supposed to be. This was likely a result of my getting rear ended by a Mercedes on a freeway in Orlando back in May. My rear tire was also pretty worn, so I got that replaced as well.

So I get to the bike shop and the first thing I ask the guy is "Did you guys get that computer fixed?" to which he gives me a very quizzical look, picks up the work order, and says "I forgot to write that down." Awesome.The one fucking thing I needed done, and dipshit didn't write it down. But, as he rolled the bike out to me, it was working, so I took it home.

I really fucking hate putting my bike into my car, as a 4 door Saturn S2 is not exactly made for carrying bicycles. I've figured out how to do it, but on a day like today where I was just not in the mood for any sort of glitches, fitting it in was not a chore I looked forward to. So I did what I always do when things require any sort of precision:I forced it in. Taking it out was easy, but as I rolled the bike down the ramp of my parking garage, the computer went out again. As someone who has been known to go into a fit of seething rage if a restaurant dares to put cheese on my burrito, you can imagine my fury when my fucking computer was still out. I took the bike back (easier to put back in my car again) and tried my hardest not to flip out at the bike store people. They're nice, and I need to keep a good relationship. The kid fucked around with it for 10 minutes before I left to pick up my sister for lunch.

I picked my sister up, and she commented on how much bigger and tighter my calves looked, and how much weight I'd lost around my midsection. Julie is never one to hold back on compliments, but she won't blow smoke up my ass either. So that was nice to hear. It was also the highlight of the training day.

After lunch, I get back to the bike shop and the guys tells me my sensor is dead. I'd have to come back on Monday when Tommy, the owner, is there to see if they'll fix it under the warranty. They fucking better. Especially since I bought the thing at this shop less than a year ago. At this point I had 3 options. First I thought

"Leave the bike here since you only have 2 short rides this week. Just use the stationary at GHFC until then."

then

"Well, I could just buy a new one now and keep going."

or

"Well, the thing is mission capable. No reason to miss training. Sack up and deal with not having the info you want." Needless to say, I chose option 3. Trevor told me to "listen to your body, you know how fast you go." Which I suppose is partly true, but I need external motivation. Whatever, I looked at it as a challenge.


Bike - 90 Minutes

2 Lipodrene

So I got home and took the bike out, computer-less, at 6. By the time I hit the head of Hawthorne and had no traffic noise, I noticed this scraping sound in my wheel. I had been riding well, but the sound was driving me nuts. So I stopped and spun the wheels to see if I could figure out what it was. Nothing. Rode some more, still scraping. So I shifted from big ring to small ring. Still nothing. I freewheeled to see if it was the chain, and the noise continued. I got to the beginning of the hammock and decided the bike was officially in worse shape than when I'd brought it in. I fucking hate that shit. I hate depending on people to fix your shit, and they make it worse.

Really ruined not only the ride, but more or less the whole afternoon. I am not a fan of these short rides anyway, and this one was particularly demotivating. I don't like to abort workouts, but I felt like this one may have caused some serious damage had it continued. And again, it was short. I ended up being out just under an hour. Fucking shitty ride, and these fuckers better get this shit unfucked tomorrow, because I'm not dealing with any more technical malfunctions. I'm putting in the fucking work, I expect the same out of my equipment. Thank God this week is light on bikes so I can take the time to get it fixed. Next week is bike intensive and, somewhat fortunately I guess, Klueber once again flaked on our East Coast roadtrip. Meaning that, on the bright side, I can get in all the training I need.

I have to add in some rest days, though, because I had counted on having more days off than called for on this trip. If I don't take them, I'm going to finish the cycle 2 weeks before race day, not exactly what I want to do. I'm sure I'll figure it out. No Klueber, you did not do me a favor by canceling the trip. This is what you call finding a silver lining.

T52 - Uncharted Waters - Swim

Gainesville

Swim: long day,
warmup: 4 x 75, last 25 in each is backstroke.
main: 4 x 1000, each 1000 as (1 x 750, 5 x 50), rest 2:00 after each


2 Lipodrene

The title here is a little cliche, but I couldn't resist. This was the longest swim I'd ever done, and I was kinda impressed with myself for being able to do it. Like when I first started swimming again in the Fall of 07, I remember 10 laps being hard. Now I have warmups 3 times that long. Anyway, the way this workout was set up really made the long distance swim a lot easier to digest.

The first set of 15 laps was a breeze, and the sprints that followed went as well as could be expected. It was tough to just go all out on the 50s, knowing full well I had 3000 meters to go, so it became another case of "go as hard as you think will give you energy to do the rest of this." I'm not exactly sure why they threw sprints in on long day, but whatever. I'd have been happy with 4 sets of 20 laps, but then again I've never done an Ironman.

Swimming really is the most solitary of all the events in an Ironman. There's no music. There's no scenery save for the bottom of the pool. There's not even anyone to look at as in the water everyone is sort of an androgynous blob. So you start to think. A lot. Probably too much. Today I think I had myself convinced my last girlfriend had been cheating on me by the end of set one, had myself convinced that my sister was a lovestruck moron by set 2, started wondering about the validity of my life by set 3, and I don't even know what I was thinking about during set 4. None of if was logical, but being alone with your thoughts for that long makes you think up stupid shit. Especially when you can't even talk to yourself. The swim went well, but I think I found it mildly depressing by the end.

The 750 sets were all right around the 15-minute mark, which I'm finding promising. I don't expect to cut a whole lot of swim time off after this point, maybe a second or 2 per lap. But I think I've made the dramatic gain and the law of diminishing returns is going to rear its ugly head soon. No matter. The sprints were for the most part strong, although typically the end of the 2nd or 3rd 50 was half-assed. I took a gel at the halfway point, which I think helped. But I didn't really feel fatigued and aside from going mildly stir-crazy, I was very happy with how this swim went. As well as I'd hoped, if not a little better. Definitely getting back in stride. Or stroke. Whatever. Longest swim of the cycle, and definitely one of the best.

Monday, August 3, 2009

T51 - Reason #847 why UM is Nicer than UF- Swim/Run Brick

Miami

If I didn't already know it, UM is a lot nicer than UF. The gyms alone tell the story, but I went for today's swim at the UM outdoor pool at the UC, and it was freaking beautiful. Sun overhead, palm trees all around the pool, and nobody else in the water. Nobody. Go to UF's outdoor pool and you're lucky if you only have to share your lane with five other swimmers. I had to run the campus loop today too, since it was a short run, and that run is a more reasonable distance, has no hills, and is a lot more scenic. So UM, definitely a better training ground than UF. Once again, though, you get what you pay for. The UM outdoor pool, which I get to use free as Alumni, is also dedicated to a guy named Matt Gribble. I thought this was pretty funny.

Swim: 1 x 1750

2 Lipodrene

I was a bit rushed Friday with a haircut scheduled at 3 and meeting my friend Bob for the Marlins game at 5, so I decided to skip the 800 meter warmup that featured 200 meters of kick. Again, in the long run, I think a small loss. The swim felt great, I really powered through a lot of it, and kept count of the laps almost perfectly. But because it was a relatively short swim, and maybe because the UM pool just has more to inspire interesting thoughts than the indoor pool at GHFC, I had some random ass shit going through my head during the swim. A sampling:

"Hey, look at that, I can see Lake Osceola from here. Maybe if Chad Meredith had spent a little more time up here he would have made it across."

"I should Start a Chad Meredith Memorial triathlon that involves a Lake Osceola Swim. 'Swim the Lake Because Chad Couldn't.' All proceeds go to some anti-hazing charity or something."

"I remember doing lifeguard training in here when I thought 500 meters was a really tough swim. That guy was a fucking pussy."

"That is a big-ass diving tower over there. Looks like a giant cock. No wonder so many divers are homos."

"Speaking of homos, this is the same water that Greg Louganis trained in. That's pretty cool."

then

"Hey, didn't Greg Louganis have AIDS? Maybe I should be concerned."

then

"Dude, with the way you live your life, you're worried about catching an STD from a swimming pool? COME. ON."

All said, I couldn't have been happier with the swim. The pool even has a locker room upstairs, which I used to change over into my run attire, then shower after. Again, UM has some solid facilities.

Run - 30 Minutes

This was the shortest run I'd had in a while, and following a not-particularly-draining swim, I thought this might be a good time to just go all out for one lap around the campus loop. Never mind that it was black flag conditions (over 90 degrees and sunny and brutally humid), I had no legit reason to leave anything today. So I ran out to my car, had a gel, left my shirt and the remainer of my keys there, and hit the loop running. NOt jogging, running.

I couldn't help but remember doing a black flag run with Klueber and Johnson about 10 years ago, where I dropped both of them because they'd been out all night, I think at the outdoor pool, actually. I wasn't even a strong runner then (not that I am now, but a far cry from me in 1999) but I remember feeling like that run kicked my ass. As I did subsequent times running that loop on summer days, even up to last year when I used it as my course for training for the Miami Man Half Iron. But today? Another one of those sun giving you energy days. I used the iPod just to maximize the adrenaline, and let me tell you that shit worked wonders. That new Summer Run mix was some good shit.

This song "Big Sky" came on, which is hands down the best running song I've found in 5 years, and I more or less dead sprinted the entire back stretch from Doctors Hospital to my car by Gusman. I think that's about 3/4 of a mile, give or take. Anyway, this was hands down my best run of this loop ever, and the best short run of the cycle. I'd been waiting for another great workout, and Friday was definitely it. Always nice to crush a run that once upon a time gave you problems.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

T50 - Descent Discipline - Swim

Gainesville

Swim: speed day
wu: 200 swim, 200kick, 200pull, 200 swim
main: 16 x 100, descend 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16


2 Lipodrene

I made sure to get up early and get this workout in before heading to Miami. And, honestly, a 1600 meter swim is about as easy a workout as you can ask for with a long drive ahead of you. The warmup for this workout I like a lot, as it gives you a lot of laps to warm up different aspects of your swim, so when you get to the actual sets you feel a lot stronger.

What I liked about this workout was that I kept my heart rate up really high. The first sprint of each set was tough, as I'm not a real fan of 100s. But, again, I realized this isn't about going balls to the wall. but rather at a hard pace you know you can maintain for 2 laps. So the first on each set was tough, with labored breathing at the end, then almost as tough on the second, a little past normal for the 3rd and normal distance-pace for the 4th. And that's hard to maintain without keeping constant track of how fast you are swimming. So I felt like my speed discipline got better today.

Similarly, my intervals between 100s got shorter as the swim went on. I think 40 seconds was the longest, but some, like between 8 and 9, were like 15. So I think my speed is getting a lot better, or at least my speed swimming.