Wednesday, July 29, 2009

T49 - The Escape From Campus Lodge - Run/Bike/Swim Brick

Gainesville

Today's workout called for what amounted to a reverse Olympic Distance triathlon. And thinking the only way to get these transitions in quick was to base the workout out of somewhere that had a 25-yard pool and a good bike course, I figured I'd see if my friend Justin (who live at Campus Lodge, which has both) wanted to train with me. Justin is one of my former students who I'd actually trained with prior to that who did last year's Florida Ironman. He's a good person to train with because he's a tall, lean fucker who runs a lot better than me. But I bike better than him. So we can push each other to a point. He was not too thrilled to be starting at 9 a.m., but I knew doing the run any later would be even more miserable than it already was. Because this was in essence an reverse Olympic Distance Triathlon, I thought I'd give it a cute name. And given every city seems to like to have a race that involves an "Escape," hence the title of today's "race."

Run - 60 minutes

2 Lipodrene

The run wasn't too bad, going from Campus Lodge on Williston out the back way up to the Planet Smoothie on 34th where he works then up Old Archer Road a couple of miles. No shade to speak of really, but because it was pre-10 a.m., it wasn't too punishing. I ran with Justin about 3/4 of the way to turn around before he got out in front, and the heat was definitely slowing me down a bit. We stopped at the Planet Smoothie on the way back and grabbed a quick Powerade out of the soda machine, as I took the opportunity to use the bathroom and have a gel.

The run was tough, but it didn't feel too labored. I was happy about that, but the sun definitely started kicking my ass. Started getting a real bad headache toward the end, and was wishing I'd brought along some Advil. It's hard to stay hydrated on a run like that since there's not exactly aid stations handing you water. I felt strong about the run, but the mild dehydration would not help my bike.


Bike - 90 Minutes


My car, where my bike was, was by this time in the middle of a blistering hot parking lot. So I got no relief from the sun. Changed over while Justin got his bike out of his apartment, and we headed out towards 441 to bike to Micanopy. 441 was the site of many a terrible ride last cycle, which I blamed on a lot of things. The one thing I forgot to blame those terrible rides on was wind. Hawthorne really doesn't have much wind to speak of this time of year. Not the case on 441. Not only that, but it has this washboard shit on the left side of the shoulder to keep cars from drifting into you. Nice for life-saving, I suppose, not so fun when you're in aero and don't see it and end up riding over a series of inch-deep slits in the road.

Anyway, I hit one of said washboards, and what do you know but my fucking computer goes out again. And, really ,with wind and heat, I was like "Fuck. this." The thing came in and out throughout the rest of the ride, but was more or less useless. I had to depend on Justin to tell me when we got to 45 minutes to turn around. The way down, because I had no way of knowing how far I had to go or when I'd be done, was highly unpleasant. Top that off with not a hint of shade and a continually-warming sun, and the first 45 was straight up shitty save for a little Aero race we had going through the "streets" of Micanopy. Justin stated asking me why I would pull harder than he would, but then when it was my turn to draft I would fall back. I had no idea, other than "I'm just getting lazy." Which is not a solid answer.

We turned it around (I had a gel here as well.) and it was like a whole new ride. I think mentally knowing how far I had to go made a huge difference, and the ice water from the Micanopy Country store didn't hurt either (I do need to remember to bring cash on all street rides, though). My speedometer came on intermittently and it was usually between 20-23. So that felt good. But man, the heat was just unrelenting. The air felt like steam the whole ride, and at one point when we hit Alligator Alley, Justin even remarked that it had all of a sudden just gotten much worse. Really, one of the hottest training days I can ever remember

I'm not sure if I'll ride 441 much more after this, I'm really not a fan. Especially with all the fucking cars. But even with the improved speed we got back in the same time it took us to get down there. Which makes me wonder. I think that included our water stop, though, so who knows. Point is, I'm taking the bike in tomorrow before I leave for Miami to get this computer unfucked once and for all. I can't have another ride get ruined by that.

Swim - 30 Minutes

Justin had warned me this swim was gonna suck. And suck it did for about the first 11 laps, but then I got into a groove and my shoulders weren't sore and I just kind of glided along, True, it was harder to push it having just been brutalized by the sun for 2 and a half hours, but when we did a time check at 25 laps it was only 25:44. So I did 4 more laps and got in 1450 in 30 minutes, which is certainly a solid improvement. The swim was even hot, though, as the water would get warmed evey time the sun peeked thourgh the clouds. That outdoor swimming was fun in Sac, not so fun here. But the swim wasn't bad, and while this wasn't my BEST workout, given the heat and the technical glitches, I't wasn't my worst.

I have to say, though, I've been disappointed with my workouts this week. I had hoped to really crush this reverse tri, and instead just had a workout I'd call "not bad." I think last week and even into Monday I got a little too into the old lifestyle of just drinking whenever and then training when I was sober, and that's just not gonna fly for this. I really need to realize that more than a couple of drink endeavors have to be few and far between now. Ice Luge this weekend being one of them, but still.

I also got a late-night text from a lady friend last night who came over at 1. We were done with things by 2, giving me a solid 6 hours of sleep, but I still have to wonder if the sex made me lose my edge a little bit. She was still in my room when I got home, and I was able to go again. I'm not sure if that means I didn't train hard enough, or I just really don't mind cramping muscles and exhaustion when it comes to sex. Probably, a little of both.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

T48 - Knowledge is Power - Swim/Bike

Gainesville

Swim: speed day
wu: 400 continuous. last 50 in each 100 is kick
main: 10 x 100 EBEH (each 100 = 25Easy, 25Build, 25Easy, 25 Hard)


2 Lipodrene

It seemed that the Monday illicit activities were not hampering me today as I managed to get up earlier than normal, and was at the pool before noon. That's two days in a row of starting before noon, if you're counting. This workout today was nothing new. But I made it through with good power and felt great the whole time. I mean, I think set 4 or 5 I slowed a little on the "Hard" lengths, but I had to marvel at how these used to kinda kick my ass. Like even during the last cycle, I often used the 3rd length to totally slack and take it easy. Now it's probably a similar speed to the old "Build" lengths. Also, my intervals in between are getting a lot shorter, which has to be a good sign. Like I'm generally ready to go again in 30 seconds, and can generate the same speed and power as I was in the last set. Improvement is always fun.

Bike: 1.5 hour with some climbing or low cadence work if you're on the
trainer. RPE 3-4 on the flats and allow yourself some out of the saddle work
of RPE 7-8 on the hills


2 Lipodrene

I took a solid 5 hours between the swim and bike today. Didn't see much point for a brick with the "Escape to Campus Lodge" tomorrow. More on that tomorrow. Anyway, I decided to go at the suggested RPE on the flats and then balls out on the hills in the Hammock on Hawthorne. But when my computer went out 3 blocks into the ride, I got a little pissed. There's a sensor on the wheel that I guess gets misaligned, and it had been fine since I brought it in in June, but after I washed the bike it has been fucking up again. And I realized on the course in Orlando that not knowing how fast you're going, or how much time you've been out there, makes it hard to push it on the bike. At least for me. So after I stopped for like 5 minutes to try and un-fuck it, I gave up and decided to just use the clock on there as my timer.

On a ride where you're supposed to take it easy, not having a speedometer to make sure you don't go TOO easy makes you slack. Unfortunately, I have no idea how bad I was slacking, but I was definitely taking it easy. My quads were a little sore, presumable from Sunday's run and lack of any viable nutrition since then (that munchie-induced large cheese pizza from Mellow Mushroom was probably not the BEST idea)so I really had no reason to push it. When I got to the hills, though, I floored it, going as hard as I could and ignoring my throbbing quads as I did it. I feel like the first hill went well, although I'd been doing it at 20 or higher the last tow rides. This felt about similar.

My computer decided to start working just after nigbridge, so once again I'm not going to take it in to be fixed. Maybe when I get my rear wheel unfucked next week. At any rate, I decided to keep a solid 18-19.5 the rest of the way, which worked out well with the RPEs for today. I didn't make it that far, though, as even lame 90 minute rides I'd had previously got me further on the trail. But the way back I hit the tough hill in the hammock (the way back is steeper) and stayed at 16-18, which is about 7-9 MPH faster that I do some parts of it on long rides. So that was a bright spot.

Not sure what I'm going to do about this computer. I can't have it go out during the Ironman, but at the same time would getting a new one even fix the problem? Definitely a question for Tommy when I take this think in next week. Tonight I had some Muscle Milk a big pasta dinner as tomorrow morning's workout will be tough.

T47 - Worst/Best Recovery Meal Ever - Swim

Gainesville

Got up early today to get everything I needed to get done done before I headed to the pool for this long swim at about 11. Why so early? Because my Monday afternoon was to consist of drinking beer and smoking weed by the Gainesville Place pool, and I knew once I did that the day was shot. Good for training? Absolutely not. What you should do immediately post-workout? Not unless you are a professional basketball player. But fun? You bet your ass. I'm not sure how many of my friends could spend Monday getting high and drinking beers by the pool, but my guess is not many. And I don't know too many who wouldn't have switched whatever it was they were doing on a Monday with what I was. And with Tuesday being and easier workout, this was a good day to be a waste of life.


S: long swim
wu: 4 x 250 (4 x swim, kick, pull, swim)
main: 1950 ladder: start with 300, then 275,250, 225, ….until 25.


2 Lipodrene
The warmup for this swim was definitely one of the longer ones one can do, but I'm also definitely feeling like I'm getting a lot better with the kickboard. Still takes long as fuck, but I'm definitely getting more efficient. And any warmup like this always leads to a stronger swim, and this was no exception.

I still don't really see the point in these ladders, since they don't realyl even specify an RPE on here for the longer sets vs. the shorter ones. So I started out at a medium pace for the 300, and kept it pretty solid until this dude and what I assume was his girlfriend asked to circle swim. And we all know I like circle swimming about as much as I like children. But every lane had 2 people in it, and I couldn't really say no, as once it was pointed out to me several months ago that the rules of the club dictate that's what you ahve to do, I have ceased being a dick about it and refusing altogether. I still made a face and said "I guess," before commencing on the 225 meter set.

Well, once thing about being a dick about circle swimming, it makes you swim faster so you feel like you can at least justify your shitty attitude. And so for the two sets these kids were in the water with me I swam a lot harder, even though the guy was still passing me a lot. Again, I was in the water a lot longer, so I don't realyl feel bad about it. Still, it was motivation. I had a mint chocolate gel after the 200 meter set. Then I started losing count of where I was in terms of sets. Losing count of laps isn't bad, maybe you miss one or two, Missing a whole set? Not as good. I think I did the whole thing, though, I'm not too concerned. And I found myself still able to go hard on the short sets at the end.

All in all a good swim followed up by a solid afternoon of doing absolutely nothing productive. I'm entitled once in a while. And I will say that kind of relaxation after a long swim is never a bad thing.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

T46 - Percocet is Fun - Run

Gainesville

Today is he one year anniversary of my bike crash at the Pirates Cove Triathlon in Tampa, an accident that gave me a massive black eye, fractured my cheekbone, and caused me to lose a good deal of memory of about a week of my life due to a mild concussion. But it was also the incident that turned my grad school experience around, for a lot of reasons. Kinda like when Jimmy Thompson got hit with a baseball during a little league game in 6th grade and he went from nerd to stoner/player, such was my grad school black eye experience. No idea why, but black eyes are powerful things I guess. At any rate, I had a Percocet prescription left from the accident, that I often use when my knee is hurting on long runs. And I've never had a bad run on it. And today was no different.

I was a bit concerned that the run might not go so well, since I drank for 10 hours yesterday between the Ed Hardy Pool Party and the Figure 8 Bus Races in Bronson. Then stayed up until 5 a.m. at the pool at Jefferson (great story, but sadly not training-related). But I figured I had a relatively short run today, so I should be ok.

Run - 90 Minutes

2 Lipodrene
1 Percocet (Last one, and not an easy refill)

I did a 10 minute warmup on the elliptical at the gym today, something I'm thinking I may start doing before every long run that isn't part of a brick. The weather was perfectly warm around 4:45 today as I set out with my brand new "Summer Run 2009 Playlist" on the iPod, consisting of a bunch of Trance from my new 4-CD set and 5 songs from Silversun Pickups. Basically, all my songs from this summer. Motivation was high, and the heat didn't bother me much at all, save for on the back stretch of 34th St, where there was no shade for about a mile. There are some days where the sun just beats you down, and others where it gives you energy. Today was an energy day, and it felt great. The prescription painkillers, probably part of why. All the fun of warm weather without the dehydration headache or overheating.

My knee felt fine for the most part, and again my motivation was high. Coming off that last, awful run and then 5 days of rest, my legs felt great and the last half hour I may have run harder than I did the first hour. The cloud cover may have contributed to this, and, as I said, the Percocet. Where can I find more of that shit to train with, seriously? Probably my second best run of the cycle so far. Anyway, getting into swim-intensive week on Monday. Base 2 begins. So far, so good.

T45 - Glad I Cleaned My Bike - Swim/Bike

Gainesville

This workout was supposed to be a swim/bike brick, preferably in open water. Well, lacking any sort of large, swimmable bodies of water around here the open water part was out. And the pool here at Jefferson is too small to train in, and I don't know of any good rides near GHFC. So, in short, no brick. Though I think in the fall if I have a day with nothing to do and a longer one of these, I may do the 3 hour sdrive down to Ft. DeSoto in St. Petersburg, just for shits and giggles.

Swim - 1000m continuous

2 Lipodrene
I headed out early today to try and leave the afternoon free for drinking or doing whatever since I was taking Saturday as a rest day. Got to the pool, and even without a warmup I was able to swim this strongly. I didn't time myself, which I need to start doing, but I felt like I was pushing through pretty much the whole way. Definitely one of my best continuous swims. I only hope I can keep a pace like this in my first race in August.

Bike - 2 Hours

1 Lipodrene

It was probably 45 minutes between the end of my swim and the time I got on the bike, so I can't really qualify this as a brick. I took a gel before I left, and had 2 more for the ride. I decided to try and use Trevor's suggestion of riding like I was training with him, and was able to keep that pace pretty well, maybe 40 seconds slower to the point we turned around. I got past that about a half a mile, and my computer decides to go out. Basically, the eye on the wheel gets knocked off line, and all of a sudden I have no speed and no clock. And it's hard to push your speed when you don't know what your speed is. So I pull over and attempt to realign it, and just as I do, I feel the rain start coming down.

Nothing is fucking better, I might add, than spending an hour cleaning your bike with cleaners and q-tips, really getting all the sand out of it, and then having the rain just dump on you the NEXT FUCKING DAY. So not only did my computer go out, the rain was coming down and filthying up my pristine bike. And, of course, it was the first time I"d been caught in the rain on the bike all year. Fuck. I finally got the eye lined up again, and kept a good pace down to the end of Hawthorne. Although the rain did slow me down. I made it down averaging 18.9, in just over 57 minutes. And, some little kids on bikes decided they wanted to pass their sister on the trail just as I was hunkering down to the finish, and I had to swerve onto the dirt/mud to avoid them. I would have crashed were this a year ago, but fortunately I was ok.

I went to ride back and the rain hit me again, considerable slowing me down. Then I got to the big hill in the hammock and decided to try out the small ring as Trevor had suggested. The guy has given me a ton of good training advice over the years, but I can safely say I am not a fan of the small ring. I felt like I wasn't using any less energy than in the big ring, and I was going slower. So, basically, same output with a worse result. I may try it again on a day when I don't have a bunch or other aggravations and my attitude is a little better, but I was disappointed to have only made it back in 2:01. 4 minutes longer than it took me to go down, and my final average speed was 18.4. So I lost a lot of speed coming back.

Not all rides will have this many aggravations, and hopefully I can continue to build on the speed from earlier in the week.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

T44 - Fueled By KFC - Swim

Gainesville

I went out to get my oil changed today before heading to GHFC for my swim. I had about an hour to kill, so after my futile trip to Wal Mart looking for a digital camera, I spotted a KFC across the street from the oil change place. Yeah, I knew I had a swim coming up, but, honestly, I was hungry and I was eager to try one of those new $5 lunch baskets they have. I got 3 chicken strips, an order of potato wedges a biscuit and a Diet Pepsi for $5 and change. And I was full. And I love nothing more than being full for $5. but I also knew this was not the best idea for a pre-workout meal, as even back when I just did little treadmill runs after lifting I felt like shit if I'd had fast food beforehand. But fuck it. I needed fuel and Subway's meat has just gotten disgusting.

Swim:
8 x 300 as 2x(300 easy, 300 kick, 300 easy, 300 pull)


2 Lipodrene (shit finally came in the mail today. NO thanks to the Jefferson 2nd Staff, who apparently have abandoned their policy of notifying you when you have a package. Well, at least I know I probably won't get any Anthrax unless I'm expecting it)

I went back to the old goggles today. I like the new ones, but they're just too fucking tight, so I'm only using them for outdoor swims where i need the UV blockers. Anyway, this was an odd workout, and I found myself losing count a lot. I had to use the scoreboard-envisioning technique a lot, where I visualize digital numbers tracking my progress like "Set 1/2, Lap 4/6." It works to a point, but during the kick sets it's so long you can easily forget. So I may have done the entire thing, a few laps less, or a few laps more. Who knows? What I do know is the fried chicken did not affect me in the slightest, aside from the occasional burp-up of Original Recipe and barbecue sauce. Otherwise, swim went just fine.

And it wasn't because the fast food hadn't had time to set in either. Like a lot of swims, I really didn't get going until about lap 15 or 16, meaning after I was warmed up, and using glucose instead of oxygen, I was still going strong. So the swim was good, nothing notably bad, but nothing amazing either. Hard to do amazing on a swim like this during recovery week. but it went as well as it could have.

I skipped the 45 minute run today. Definitely wasn't too tired to do it, but I really need this knee to heal up. I only pushed off on my right leg today in the pool, and despite my long walk to Wal Mart it feels better today. Hopefully by week's end it's back to 80-90%. But this is the kind of run you skip to heal up a knee, so no guilt here.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

T43 - Recovery Week Attitude - Bike/Swim Brick

Gainesville

I do see the point in recovery week. I really do. But it's hard to get motivated for workouts that aren't even one sixth of the distance you'll be doing at race time. But given that I need to find a point in recovery week, I decided that it is to still get the muscles moving without it being a strain. And to lay off my knee. So I opted to do an hour on the stationary bike today with the iPod after yesterday's intense bike effort, and them swim right after. I saw no point in a gel, this wasn't going to take long.

Bike - 60 minutes, easy spinning on stationary

1 Lipodrene (last one, not cool)
I did manage to figure out how to enter my age and weight into the computer on the stationary bike today, which was cool because I realized I burn a lot more calories biking than I thought. Like I burned about 750 today doing relatively easy spinning on level 11 and going about 17.6 miles. It was just kind of tedious as the trance music got a little old and the Seinfeld reruns aren't nearly as funny without sound. My crotch started to hurt a lot too after the long bike Sunday and the two rides this week. So good think I'm giving it a break. But it was nice to workout in the AC with music on and just kinda chill while I trained. Definitely in the spirit of recovery.

Swim - 4x200, 1x150

I was actually supposed to do 5 200s, but for some reason forgot this in the water. Not that I couldn't have. But the swim was lackluster as the sinlge Lipodrene just wasn't cutting it and I was starting to get hungry. I hadn't wanted to waste a gel on a workout like this, but I bet taking it would have made a difference. Not that the swim was hard, and by the third set I was stroking ok. But it was just very lackluster. So I think I will include gels even in these workouts. Just because its recovery week doesn't mean it has to be half-assed.

My knee is still bothering me. What the fuck? I'm skipping tomorrow's run in the hopes that it feels better by Sunday. I can't have this happen any more during training, as I seem to be limping or at least walking real gingerly all the time now, so I'm staying off my feet as much as possible. Seriously fucking pissing me off.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

T42 - Nuking The Village - Bike/Run Brick

Gainesville

This is an expression I learned from the guy who taught me how to blog, a fellow named Matt in New York who wrote a blog called the IJC. I won't talk about him here, but the term refers to a night when you go out drinking, and start doing shots and chugging beers like a moron to the point that you are either incoherent and passed out by midnight, or you power through the entire night being "that guy," who requires extensive babysitting. Either way, you went too hard, too early, and now at the end you're a total fucking mess. I didn't go out drinking, but today's workout, I nuked my village. Think I just got a little too excited and forgot I had a brick.

Bike - 1 Hour

2 Lipodrene (down to my last pill, that refill better fucking get here soon!)
I took yesterday off as my knee seems to have decided it wants to start acting up again (no idea why)and thought it better to switch the rest day that was supposed to be today to Monday, then do last Sunday's workout today and skip the Tuesday workout altogether. You lost yet? Basically I am skipping the first workout of this recovery week and doing the last one from the last week of Base 1 instead, since they are almost identical. ANYWAY.....

I had to wait until 4:15 to start the bike, and as I was getting my water bottles ready, Trevor looked up from his iPhone and asked how long I was going. Having just gotten his Super Cervelo fixed, he wanted to come along. Usually long rides with Trevor consist of me keeping up with him for about 10 minutes, wasting my legs, and dropping back for the other 2 hours and 50 minutes. But today was an hour, so I figured why not push it a little. See how long I could keep up. This is a guy who averaged over 20 for the entire Ironman, so it's a good lead to follow.

He managed to lose me at the first stoplight (I hit the red) but did wait at the trailhead. I kept up with him at a solid 22-24 clip until we got to some hills, where he kept that clip and pulled ahead. Well, lasted about 14 minutes this time, I thought. Still, an improvement. But once the hills flattened out he has slowed down and looked over at me when I caught him and said "I was just seeing if I could drop you. I can't keep that pace, shit. I thought I'd lose you a while ago." With that I shot up the first big hill in the hammock at over 20, maintaining that almost to the top. Trevor pulled back out in front for much of the rest of the ride, but I hung with him at 22-24, taking the lead a few times to give him a break from pulling. Although I made a point to avoid drafting as much as I could since that wouldn't really be keeping his pace as much as using his bike to make me go faster. But at the end of the ride, I'd more or less hung with him the whole time. Took a gel at 45.

When we got back to the light at Main, he was like "You're a real strong rider. The only way I'm dropping you is tactical shit like knowing when to push it going around curves and up hills, and timing light and accelerations. That's advances shit you can work on and get a good 20 seconds on people every time." He also advised me to start practicing using my small ring. Since I don't feel like a pussy now for using it, I feel like this should be to my advantage. But on flat ground, I can keep up with this guy. And that's a major stride from where I'd been previously. So that felt good. I ended up averaging 19.4 for the ride, and when I got back I had some serious adrenaline going. So I took the iPOd, feeling a good run coming on as well.

Run - 60 Minutes. At least, that was the plan.


Soooo, yeah. Learned a few things today. Good as my legs felt on that ride (they never burned for more than a few seconds, even going up hills) at minute 22 of run they went out. Now, granted, I was running up and down the hills on the backside of the campus loop at a much faster pace than usual because I was so pumped from the ride, and I had the iPod on. And though I've decided I was overusing that Silversun Pickups CD on so many levels, I think I can still use it for workouts. And it worked here. But as soon as "Panic Switch" ended, my legs did too. Like the just went "Hey, fuck you pal. These quads have been working harder than ever the past hour and a half, and you can just hold the fuck on while we take a little breather." So I took me second gel a little early and let them relax as I stopped and did some stretching.

Well, all that adrenaline must have made me forget about my knee, because as soon as I started up again, it was like someone had re-ripped my meniscus. Also, probably becasue I was tired I was plodding more than usual and putting more stress on my knees, but after another half mile or so, my knee was done. My legs felt better, but the knee was just not feeling this run. So, for only the second time ever, I adopted my "quitters punishment" policy and forced myself to walk the rest of the course home, even though turning around would have been a lot shorted. You're gonna be miserable either way, I figure, and the only way to be miserable for less time is to start running again. But every time I tried, my knee was once again telling me to go fuck myself. And I wasn't going to push it as I'd rather puss out on a run during a recovery week than do damage that may hinder longer runs down the road.

So a few things. First, on bricks, don't go balls to the wall on the bike. This was not a max effort today, but it was a hard effort, and having a 6.8 mile run after that I probably should have laid back a little. Also, on long runs after long bikes (or at least fast bikes) I'm going to stick to a flat course to preserve my quads. I don't feel bad about this given that the Ironman course is, in fact, completely flat. I may jsut do a series of stadium-and-backs so that if my knee gives out, I don't have to walk 4.5 miles home. On a bad knee.

I'm not sure why my fucking knee has decided to be a bitch again, but whatever. Short of surgery I can't really control that. But this is my last run of recovery week (in keeping with the recovering theme) unless I feel 100% on Sunday, which is a scheduled 90-minute run. The week after that is swim-intensive, so this should be just the break it needs before getting a real test in 2 weeks.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

T41 - Bran+Coffee+2 Cliff Bars+3 Gels=A Real Fun Afternoon - Bike/Run Brick

Gainesville

I seriously thought about taking today off. Week 14 has no rest days, and I had a rough night, and I thought, yeah, today might be nice to not do anything. But it's funny, I looked at the day and realized I had absolutely nothing else to do all day. And I wasn't hungover, nor was I sore, tired or anything else that would give me even a pussy excuse for taking the day off. So why the fuck not? 3 hour bike, no big deal. Had myself some coffee and raisin bran, had a Cliff bar an hour later, and hit the road.

B: 3 hours long bike. If your breakfast routine last week worked, repeat it
again here, if not, experiment with something new.


2 Lipodrene
I'm starting to think I can tell if a bike ride is going to be good or bad in the first five minutes. Literally, if I'm able to coast down the first hill past 101 at over 20, the ride will be good. If I'm struggling to get to 19, then it's gonna suck. Flew down it at 22 today, and I knew it was gonna be a real good ride. Though it took me the usual 8 minutes to hit the Hawthorne trail head, I got to nigbridge in just over 27, and kept pushing all the way through those areas that I'm now convinced are inclines I just never noticed. Actually made it to the end of Hawthorne in 59:10, which is a record for a solo ride for me. I took 3 Advil down there and refilled my bottles.

What was awesome was that I actually went FASTER the way back up the trail, as my average speed went from 18.4 to 18.7 by the time I got back up to Waldo. I had had another gel and a Cliff bar at this point, and turned it around again. I was maintaining speeds over 20 on most of the flat straightaways, which is my goal for most rides at this point. At some point it'll have to be to maintain that though the whole ride, but baby steps, ya know? This is the kind of long ride I needed to have. The Advil kept the low back pain at bay, and it was 2:41 before I really had to stand up in the saddle to relive the pressure on my back. Like I was able to maintain those speeds up until the 2:41 mark, where I definitely started to slow. I had a second gel at 2:15, along with another Lipodrene. Remind me never to by the orange flavor Gu again. It was disgusting.

All in all, this was definitely 180 degrees from my last long ride on Monday. I ended up averaging 18.5, which, again, for me is pretty good for a ride this long. I'm getting to a point that I know how far I can push my body and still make it through the workout well, and I really feel more in tune with that aspect of myself than I ever have. Like I wake up and say, "Ok, body. Here's what we're doing today, and here's how I want you to do it." And I know what to expect from it, and it rarely disappoints. Really, it's pretty cool. I was very happy with today's ride, and hope it sets a base for how the rest of training is going to go.

Run: 30 minutes

I got home and had a 3rd gel (this officially made this a $5.50 workout) and Trevor asked me if I was about to run. I told him I was and he decided to come along, even with my advising him I had just biked 55 miles and probably would be taking it easy. But I thought I would try and keep pace for a little while as a sort of challenge. After all, it was only a 30 minute run, I could hack that.

Usually, when I do long runs with Trevor I can keep up for maybe a mile before I have to fall back. Today, I made it about 50 feet. Literally, I don't even know that we'd reached the corner of 2nd and 6th before he pulled ahead. But I wasn't too concerned. It was overcast and I kept my stride the whole time. I felt surprisingly good having just biked as far as I had, and I definitely could have run a lot more if need be. Again, I was very happy with how the run went, as well as the entire workout.

I included that little bit about a breakfast routine in there for a couple of reasons. The first being that I find it amusing that Scott Herrick thinks everyone does these workouts first thing in the "morning," having only eaten one meal. I'm rarely if ever on the bike before 2 p.m. Also, that raisin bran and coffee combined with 2 Cliff Bars and 3 gels? Yeah, guy. Not the best thing for your digestive system, especially when washed down with the farm runoff that the City of Gainesville likes to call tap water. I was not feeling so hot even after my muscle milk shake, and El Gran Combinacion at Las Margaritas pretty much finished off my insides for the night. Not sure how to avoid this gastric distress in the future, but man, that did not feel good. I may have to forgo the bran flakes and coffee next time I have a long workout. Bagels do just fine.

T40 - Strenuous Life - Swim

Gainesville

Swim: race-specific
main: 4 x 500, 1 is RPE 3, 2 and 3 are RPE4, 4 is RPE 5


2 Lipodrene

I was so lackadaisical abotu today's swim, I didn't even bother checking to see what the warmup was before I headed over to GHFC. Just figured I'd treat the first 500 like a kind of warmup if I had to. And since school bus racing got cancelled, this was all I had to do Saturday afternoon. I drank like crazy Friday night, woke up about noon, and felt fine. And on a swim day, hydration is not as crucial as on outdoor days.

At any rate, despite not having a warmup, I managed to do all four sets of 500 meters at RPE 6-7. It wasn't even that tough to push the speed, I just sort of glided through it and focused on getting my arms through the water faster. It was strenuous, but not impossible. I swam at a speed that was faster than was comfortable, but didn't make myself out of breath. I think this is how good training days are supposed to go, where you push yourself out of whats easy, but don't knock yourself out. At least training days for something like this. I did all four in under ten minutes each, which again, for me, is good. Always pleased when I can average anything under a lap a minute for anything over 200 yards, I'm happy.

Friday, July 17, 2009

T39 - Aaron Klueber is a Dead Man - Run/Swim

Gainesville

So I was supposed to go to Daytona tonight and meet up with Klueber and his sister up in Flagler Beach. Of course, anything involving Aaron Klueber is a 50/50 proposition at BEST, but I figured his 2 AM text telling me I didn't even like Volusia County Lockup meant he was good to go. So I set my alarm for 7 a.m. to get this run in before it got hot, so I could do the swim in the afternoon then drive over and meet him. Well, given my sleep schedule I drank 3 beers to put myself to sleep around 12:30, when Klueber's text woke me up at 2, and I didn't get back to sleep till 5. Alarm went off at 7, meaning I got a whopping 3 and a half hours of sleep before having myself a Cliff bar for breakfast, STRETCHING and warming up on the elliptical for the longest run of the training cycle.


Run: 120 Minutes

2 Lipodrene
After the elliptical warmup I took 2-32. oz. bottles of Gatorade and a water bottle to my car to set it up as my de feacto aid station. Started out on the campus look, using the iPod (a long run in the heat without music? Wasn't sure how that was gonna go. But this was its first use in a while)and felt pretty strong until I got to the long hill on 2nd Ave. Running up hill with no shade, even at 9:45 a.m. is tough in Florida in July. I was chopping steps probably the last half, not real happy with my performance there. I even stopped for a second in front of the stadium because my run was getting so choppy. I looked like an old man running, really. But once I hit the flatland out by midtown I kept my stride pretty well. That back part of campus has some decent shade too, and I switched the music up for the last 2 trips from Jefferson to Stadium and back (I don't do 2 loops)which I think helped break the monotony. Also was rigorous about gel intake, which I could tell mad a difference when I started getting hungry.

But as I was running in the heat, my shoes soaked with sweat by the end of the first hour, I thought "Klueber flakes on this one, I'm gonna kill him. This is a run that could have easily been done 1t 5 p.m. when its about 10 degrees cooler and I have shade. But whatever, Daytona will be fun.

So I get home, check my phone, and no word from Klueber. Then, about 20 minutes later, I get a text from him and I knew what it was before I even opened it. Claiming his sister flaked this time. There's no point in ever calling Aaron Klueber out on a BS excuse for flaking because once in a while they're actually true, and even when they're not calling him out won't change anything, so why waste one's energy? So that was that. I made myself some ground beef and white rice and settled into a nice big lunch before the afternoon swim.

I had a lady visitor come over for a couple of hours after lunch, and let me tell you fucking after a 13-mile run and before a long swim may not be the best idea. But, as I realized when I was able to have sex right after the Orlando Half, I always have energy for sex. Its like always having room for Jell-O. And of course, this girl likes it real rough and aggressive, so I couldn't even half-ass it. This was one of the few times that as soon as I was done, both times, I really couldn't move. Like I just laid there drenched in sweat, my arms borderline cramping up, like, shit, I'm done. I did make sure to drink a lot of water, though, as I knew I had the long swim coming up. but, really, with this girl it was almost a third workout for the day. No wonder I was so fucking hungry all night.

Turns out though, sex not as detrimental to working out as once thought...


S: speed day
wu: 350 continuous. last 50 in each 100 is kick
main: 10 x 200 EBEH (each 200 = 50Easy, 50Build, 50Easy, 50 Hard)


2 Lipodrene
So after my visitor left, I went to the mall and bought some protein powder and new socks. Combined with the Lipodrene I bought online and the race I registered for in August, I spent about $300 Friday on Triathlon-related stuff. I hit the pool about 4:40 with a throbbing headache. Despite the water and Gatorade I had drank, the morning and day's activities had pretty badly dehydrated me. And these 200 meter EBEH were a little daunting.

I donned my new goggles (see, only took me a week to get them) and immediately realized they were too small. Or maybe my old ones were just too loose, who knows. But tight goggles when you have a throbbing headache, not good. I realized I'd have to take these at an easier pace than the 100 EBEHs, so I tried to go easy, but not leg-dragging easy, then a slight build, then a solid effort on the hard but not an all-out sprint. While I won't say this swim was crushed by any stretch, it was a solid effort. Especially given the workouts I'd had before it. And my headache went away by set 6 or 7, which I found interesting. And it was gone pretty much the rest of the day. I'm definitely going to need to ramp up the effort on furute workouts like this, but then again I don't know that I'll have many swims like this aftr a 12-13 mile run.

Went out and drank pretty heavily afterward. We'll see how this affects the Saturday workout.

T38 - What was the Point of This Workout Again? - Bike

Gainesville

Bike - 90 Minutes


2 Lipodrene
A lot of workouts, I look at them and go "Fuck. That looks tough. Oh well, I guess that's why they call it Ironman training." But an hour and a half bike ride sandwiched in between a long brick and a long run/swim day? Like, what's the point? What exactly am I getting out of 90 easy minutes on a bike? Considering there's no rest days this week, I feel this time would have been better spent recovering.

But I don't write the training cards. And until November, the Ironman is my religion and those cards are the Bible. And I'm a strict fundamentalist.

That doesn't mean I have to like it though. It wasn't especially hot when I headed out to Hawthorne, and I felt ok, maybe a little sore. I had a pretty decent ride down, and went almost the exact same pace on the way back up. A blistering 16.8. Yep, you read that right, a full mile and a half slower than the 2 hour ride I did the other day. But I was just like "Whatever, lets get this done," the entire ride. Not sure if it was a good idea or not to even have bothered with this, but whatever. I did it, so my training hours are in. But I'm either going to have to adjust my shitty attitude about workouts like this, or just skip them altogether. When the next one comes around, we shall see.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

T37 - Nothing Like Tasting Tobasco Vomit - Bike/Run Brick

Gainesville

So I learned from my mistakes. After that long swim last night all I ate was the aforementioned Muscle Milk shake and some microwave popcorn, causing me to go to bed so hungry I couldn't sleep. So I got out of bed at 4 and had a bagel with peanut butte,r which seemed to do the trick. I had wanted to knock this workout out earlier (like 1 or so) but realized I was gonna need some real food before I could do what was essentially the back 2 legs of an Olympic-Distance triathlon. So when I went to buy gels today I stopped at Publix and got myself a half a pound of turkey and a sourdough baguette, which I then covered in my traditional Tobasco/Cajun spices mix. This was both a good and terrible idea.

Bike: 2 Hours small chainring work

2 Lipodrene
Trevor once told me there is absolutely no reason to ever use your small ring in Florida. And not that I'm one ever to be called out by stuff like that, but I was called out on that one. I have not used my small ring except on the trainer since the Escape to Miami, where I had forgotten to switch it back after my last trainer workout before I left and changed it back as soon as I could get it to. I can't even tell you when the last time I used it in training, outside of California. Maybe last summer on Mt. Miami. At any rate, I told the small ring to go fuck itself today, despite what my training card said.

And this is where I was reminded of that old Marine Corps saying "Hard is just a 4-letter word for stupid." For some reason, I just couldn't get it going on the bike, possibly because I'd done a 50-mile ride less that 48 hours earlier. The first half was just labored the whole way, as I was beginning to convince myself Hawthorne had a lot more hills than it let on. This was, again, until I hit the turnaround. I made it 17.3 miles in the first hour, not a good pace at all.

The way back was a different story. I was going 20-21 most of the time on the flatlands the whole ride back, and it literally felt like a completely different ride. Though I don't know that I shoulda done the small ring the whole time (where's the training value in THAT?) maybe the way down it would have been a good idea. The ride back was fantastic as I spent a good deal of it in aero and made it back in under two hours(1:57) despite taking 1:01:30 to get to halfway. I was happy.

But I didn't make it to the end of Hawethorne and got incredibly thirsty. The salty turkey and Tobasco has something to do with this, as I was through 2 bottles before I even got a quarter of the way back. I'm going to consider a third bottle. I also took 2 gels on the ride, as I am becoming very disciplined about this given how lethargic I seem to get when I don't/ Oh, and all that spicy food for lunch? Didn't help the reflux, I was belching up, borderline vomiting, Tobasco sauce and sour cream and onion chips for most of the ride. So the food helped, but maybe I gotta pick something milder next time. My stomach didn't hurt, but that taste is not one you like to have coming up when you're trying to hammer down.

Run: 50 Minutes

I took another gel with me to take at the 15 minute mark as, minus my 8-minute transition, this would have been the logical time to take another one. I started out with some good strides and made it to about the stadium before I started getting really choppy. There were a ton of people out running today, and you really never realize how slow you are going until a group of black middle school girls passes you. And these were not like mini version of the Williams Sisters. These were like mini versions of girls you see on the Maury show. Actually, now that I think about it, a lot of those people are about the same age as these girls. Anyway, the point is at the halfway point (which I also use as my 45-minute halfway point but I knew I was slow today) I knew I was doggin in. No excuse really except that it was exceptionally humid. Gonna have to get used to these long bricks.

Once I hit the stadium I was able to stride it back pretty well. the run was not fantastic, but was a decent confidence booster after what I felt like was a strong biking effort for the previous hour.

I am running out of Lipodrene. We may have our first ephedra-free workout sometime next week. That's gonna suck. Thank God its recovery week. I'm also looking ahead and trying to figure out how August training is gonna work. That's a HUGE month and I"m only home for 10 days. Definitely gonna have to sit down and figure out what I"m gonna do where. The bike will be tough. I can rent one in Kona, for sure. And maybe in Charlottesville or something. But I don't really wanna ship my bike to PIttsburgh. We shall see.

T36 - 2 Swim Workouts For the Low, Low Cost of 1!!! - Swim

Gainesville

S: long day
Swim:
warmup: 4 x 75
main: 500swim, 500kick, 500pull, 500swim, all RPE 4
15 x 100 (25Easy, 25Build, 25Easy, 25Hard)


2 Lipodrene
"Long Day" would be a bit of an understatement. This was essentially 2 long swim workouts combined into one, and I thought my eyes were fucking up again when I read the training card and saw this listed as a 90 minute swim. In week 14. Well, whatever.

The first 500 was a bit lazy, since I knew I was in for a long night. But by the 9th or 10th lap I started feeling warmed up. I did Pull next, actually, and did it in just over 13 minutes, which I thought wasn't bad for a pull. Then 10 laps of kick, which is pretty interminable, but boy does it make you haul ass on those last 500 yards. Seriously crushed those last 10 laps now that my arms were rested and I had been kicking. Did them in 10 minutes, which, again, for me is crushing it. I usually average about 1:07 a lap.

Because it was a loooong swimming day, I actually got out of the pool after the first 2000 meters and used the bathroom. Not sure why swimming always makes me have to piss, but as anyone who's ever been on a roadtrip with me will tell you I have the bladder of an 8-year-old girl (although my niece Emily seems to be able to hold it, so it may be more like the bladder of a 50-year-old woman. Anyway, I went to the bathroom, had some Gatorade and a gel, and started the 15 EBEH.

Crushed those too, much as one can crush EBEH. The easys were really more of a moderate tempo, and the Hards I swam like I was angry. I've never really used anger as a motivating force in training, but let me tell you it worked Tuesday night. And I was angry about all kinds of things, and nothing at all. Things I had no business being angry about and things I should have been angrier about before. But the point is I swam the last 25 of each one like somebody has just shit in my Gatorade bottle, and I liked it. I'm not one who can feign emotion to use as motivation (why I was such a terrible football player. What did that lineman ever do to me?) but occasionally it works. Anyway, I finished this workout in 86 minutes, UNDER time for once. I was very pleased.

Interestingly, also, I had eaten an entire large cheese pizza for lunch and when I went to weigh myself post-swim I was 2 pounds lighter than I had been during my Sunday swim. Although I think the pizza contributed to the nasty acid reflux I was getting during most of the swim. Never made me stop, but it's starting to become a concern. Had a little muscle milk after, need to buy some more.

Monday, July 13, 2009

T35 - Uphill, Both Ways - Bike/Run Brick

Gainesville

I made the mistake of not eating much more than a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a bagel with peanut butter last night after the long swim. I've realized that when I know I have a long workout like this one the next day, I really need to make a point of eating something substantial. Even if I'm too lazy to cook, go get some pasta or a pizza or something. Taking in 1000 calories after a 3000 meter swim and before a 50 mile bike isn't gonna cut it.

Bike: 3 Hours

2 Lipodrene
This was my longest bike since the awful, awful Orlando half, and only my 4th ride this long of 2009. This is more indicative of how bad that last training cycle was than anything else, but the point is that this was my longest ride of the Ironman Training Program to date. I took along 2 gels and a Cliff bar, and was militant with myself about taking them all at 45 minute intervals. I did that one nicely.

What I did not do nicely is ride fast. Like I hit Hawthorne and couldn't really get up much past 19. I thought I'd just use this as a ride to get used to being out on the road for long periods of time, and thought I'd just cruise and get used to it. but 19 became 18 became 17, and a lot of times I found myself biking like I was on an incline when the terrain looked pretty flat. Like I'd be rolling along at 18 or 19, then all of a sudden I couldn't go past 15. Putting forth the same effort, but just couldn't go any faster. It literally felt like I was constantly going uphill. I'm starting to think maybe the trail has some optical illusions like that, where there's a grade but it looks flat. What else explains it?

It was hot, so I think that was part of why my legs weren't as powerful as they sometimes are. I also was, as I said before, not going on a ton of food. The ride just went slow today, and I'm not sure why. I stopped at about the 1:50 mark for a couple of minutes just to get my motivation back, and the 3 advil I took at the 1 hour mark kept the back pain at bay from about 1:30 to 2:40. So that's going to be a key ingredient on a lot of future long bikes. And there are a lot in the future.

The only bright spot here is that this ride reminded me of a lot of shorter rides I'd has last cycle. Like no power, hard to get going fast, and lost motivation. The difference here is that this was a long, long ride and it was hot out. then it was temperate and the rides were short. I credit a clearer mind this time around, I really do, and it only goes to underscore my points about minimizing life distractions when you're training for an event like this.

Run: 30 Minutes

The Lipodrene had more or less worn off, but I saw no point in taking another one when I'd be done as soon as it kicked in. I had one more gel and had a nice shuffle down to the stadium and back. All I could think was "Fuck. I gotta do this like 8 more times after a bike ride that's twice as long? Good thing I have 14 more weeks." The run actually wasn't too painful and I could definitely have gone longer. But looking at a 90 minute swim tomorrow, I saw no need for that.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

T34 - Not as Slow as I Thought and Steady - Swim

Gainesville

Today's workout fit in perfectly with my schedule as I spent the whole day revising this Cosmo article, and the long swim offered a nice respite. I also decided that since it was a long swim with 2 distinct sets, I'd take a gel along for the swim. Never done this before, but I'm glad I did.

Swim: long day
wu: 6 x 50, alternate free and back
main: 2 x 1500, RPE 4


2 Lipodrene
Not sure I timed the Lipodrene very well today, as I took 2 at about 5 then got absorbed inediting this article and looked up and it was 5:50. The Lipodrene was kicking in, so I hightailed it over to GHFC and hit the pool for the longest swim session thus far.

I've swum longer days than this, but for some reason it feels longer now. My first set went fairly well, though I didn't bother looking at the clock. My form felt good at first, which I credit to the lipodrene, then started to slip at the end, which I credit to fatigue. So I looked up and took my gel (chocolate mint is soooo good when you have that swimming hunger. It's like mid-workout cake) and started back up at 10 after.

The beginning felt really labored, and by lap 10 I felt like I'd been out there forever. The guy in the lane next to me kept passing me, and there was literally a fat girl in the next lane doing backstroke and smoking me. But whatever. I was pretty sure they weren't swimming as far as I was. So I just kept my pace and started to feel like I was locked in to some sort of muscle memory. Like it just felt robotic and very efficient. No idea whatsoever is this was true, but when I finished lap 30 I looked up and it was 33 after. Meaning I'd done 30 laps in 33 minutes, a much better pace that I've previously done. Not smoking. Not even fast by some people's standards. But fastER for me, and that's all we're looking for here. Constant improvement.

All in all I can't be happier with how well training is going thus far. Gotta keep it up.

T33 - Rest is Good! - Swim/Run

Gainesville

I opted to take my first non-scheduled rest day on Friday. I have about 20 extra days in this cycle, most of which will likely be used for travel in Hawaii and the East Coast Road Trip, but Friday I was just done. Again, I chose to prioritize sex over training and after the long brick I had Thursday then thought an hour of fucking on every surface in my apartment (and the balcony) would be a good idea. Which it was, but it left me thoroughly dehydrated and more or less wiped out until 2 p.m. the next day. Point being, all night sex marathons are fun, but aren't very conducive to doign a long workout the next day. So I got to Friday night and was like "You know, doing anything tonight would just be a bad training day. I'm going to take tonight off and go back to it Saturday." And I did. I took 3 Tylenol PM and was asleep by 12:30. Didn't wake up until about noon.

Swim: speed day--tough!
wu: 300 continuous- (alternate 25 swim, 25 kick)
main: 20 x 75 hold constant pace for each-so judge pace in the first few,
RPE 5



2 Lipodrene
This was a workout that went a lot better than I thought. The warmup was a bit short for the workout that it was, since my shoulders were getting sore around 75 number 3. But I kept the solid pace like it says, and pushed it to keep it up. I was very proud of myself for keeping the harder pace, although I did not go balls out. I have learned that there is a ground between all out and half-assed, and that's where I need to do sprints. I still lack the capacity to do sprints for that long, but these feltt good. I remember 9 and 12 being a bit slow, but otherwise, a solid swim. Very pleased with the effort.

Run: 100 minute long run combined with tempo effort.
75minutes at RPE3, last 25 minutes at RPE5


1 Lipodrene
I took about 3 hours in between and had a turkey sandwich from Jimmy Johns. I usually do workouts like this on the treadmill, since it involves increased speed, but I figured, nah, lets keep pushing it today. Sooooo glad I took that rest day. I did the campus loop without music, which I"m starting to get used to. The loop was a good pace, but still slower than the hour I aimed for it to be. Then I ran down to just before the law school, and strided it out at a faster pace pretty consistently on the way back. Like every time I felt myself slowing, I consciously picked up the pace, and was able to hold it. I took a gel with me and had it at around the 45 minute mark, then took another on the return trip after the campus loop. I never used it though. This run felt great and I really think taking that day off was key. I can't be afraid to do this in the future. But I also need to start prioritizing a little better. After July, when the Cosmo article and the project are done, I think training is going to go into another gear.

Friday, July 10, 2009

T32 - Yeah, That Was a Dumb Idea - Bike/Run Brick

Gainesville

Wednesday was a nice off day. I took a long nap once I got home and then decided to go out Wednesday night. Typically I don't do this, but this girl had been texting me the whole week I was gone about all the things she wanted to do once I got back, so I figured what better way to end an off day? Bad decision.

Bike: 2 hours


I ended up meeting up with this girl Wednesday night, but it had been a while since I had dealt with a group of females under 21, and forgot that such groups operate by groupthink. Therefore a 1 a.m. trip to a frat house was the decided upon activity for them, despite the series of texts I had received that day implying a different ending to the night. Oh well, such is life in a college town. Anyway, I would not really have been so irritated had I not used time that could have been spent working or sleeping to go out. Similarly, I had about a pitcher of beer, which while ineffective insofar as getting me drunk, I definitely felt in my legs when I got on the bike. I felt like an idiot for going out, and vowed to start re prioritizing.

The first hour of the bike was very easy, I didn't push it since that's what the training card suggested. I did manage to get to nigbridge in 28 and 30, not a horrible time. But I only made it 17.4 miles the first half. The way back, though, it was like my legs woke up and I averaged about 18.5 on the return trip. I think the night out required a longer warmup than usual for my legs, and therefore I didn't really get going until the way back. I was happy with the last hour on the bike, and the ride seemed really short. I took gels at the :45 and 1:30 marks, and that seemed to work well. I also made the whole ride on only 2 bottles, probabl a function of it being late in the day. Still, nice to see I don't have to do the whole train on a 2 hour ride if I time it right.

Run: 1 Hour

1 Lipodrene
I figured I wouldn't need to take another gel since I'd had so many and the run was only an hour. This was not a bright idea. Not only did I decide to run without music (a good and necessary decision given my headphones don't work)but I decided to run the campus loop, which given that I was going to be running slower than normal since this was a brick, ensured overtime on the workout. Sure enough, I found myself about 20 minutes into the loop going "Yeah, no way I make this in under 1:15. Oh well, better to go a little too far. They don't call it Ironman training because it's easy." I briefly considered just running out half an hour and back, but that wouldn't be in the spirit of this training cycle. So I did the whole loop, although by the time I hit the Publix on 34th I was starving and cursing myself for not bringing a gel along. Finished in just under 1:15 (about 1:12, unscientifically) but the lesson here is on bricks, do the gels every 45 minutes no matter how you feel at the time. your workout will thank you.

And of course, I decided to go out yet again.....

T31 - Country Club Training Day - Swim/Run Brick (Treadmill)

Sacramento

I decided that doing another long bike would not be a good idea, given the short amount of time I had Tuesday as well as how my back had been feeling to that point. And since Wednesday was a rest day (and by "rest" I mean waking up before 4 a.m. and flying across the country)I thought this would give my body a nice respite. So I took Sunday's training day and moved it to Tuesday. This day looked to be the easiest of the week, so it made sense for a day where my time was limited.

Swim: 30 Minutes Continuous

2 Lipodrene
Again, my swim schedule was dictated by my nieces' swimming lessons, so I ended up going to Rio Del Oro with them as they did their lessons in the kiddie pool. I swam laps in the lap pool, and felt good the whole way through. I really am going to miss the outdoor swimming, especially because my tan is looking phenominal right about now. At any rate, I did 27 laps in 30 minutes, and that included the beginning where I had to stop at the end of my first 4 lengths to fix my goggles. They are definitely starting to leak, and I'm thinking it may be time for a new pair. We'll see how long it is from this revelation to any actual purchase.

Run: 45 Minutes (treadmill)


Well, I have come to the conclusion that there is no easier way to run than with an iPod on an indoor, air conditioned treadmill. Seriously, I just kept turning the speed up I felt so good, so this is obviously a form of cheating. This whole workout was very fancy-boy, swimming in the nice outdoor pool with nobody there then doing the run on the treadmill. It times out perfectly and there were only 5 extra minutes to the scheduled training time. But they are rarely going to be this easy. My headphones are still broken (I borrowed some of dads) so the next few runs will have to be sin musica.

Monday, July 6, 2009

T30 - Score one For The Drafters - Swim/Bike

Sacramento

I had wanted to wait until a little later to get started today, but after being awoken by a series of text messages about Tim Tebow being made into a turtle and the idiot staff at the Alligator, my Dad came in wanting to know if I was swimming before we left for the Giants-Marlins game in San Francisco today.

"Yeah,' I told him

"Well, go now. Because I need the card for the girls' swimming lessons at noon." Fucking kids. Fucking up my workouts again. So I crawled out of bed, had a bagel, took some lipodrene and got my swimming shit together. Half an hour after waking up I was in the pool. Not cool, Bob.

Swim:
wu: 5 x 75
main: 2 x 1000, both are RPE 4


2 Lipodrene
I am definitely going to miss outdoor swimming. It is a much nicer environment than the pool at GHFC, especialy in the warm sun like we have here in NorCal. At any rate, my Dad dropped my off at Rio Del Oro, and really nothing notable about this swim other than the warmup really helping the main part a lot. I think unless I have a seriosu time constraint, I am making a point to do it every time, because it helps your stroke so much. All the soreness is gone by lap 4 of th main swim, so you just go. And I felt like i was going faster on the second 1000 than the first.

I also kept feeling a little acid reflux again, as the molasses cookie I had as the other half of my breakfast kept burninig up my throat. I'm not sure if this is the lipodrene or just a reaction the the food I've been eating here. I'm thinking this wil go away on its own, so I"m not too concerned.

Bike: 90 Minutes

I walked home from Rio Del Oro, meaning I was officially going to be done training too late to take advantage of a free lunch with my dad and my brother. You know I'm serious about something when I'm passing up a free lunch. I did have a Power Bar in between though, almost as good. I changed the tire from yesterday, which is getting easier and easier, pumped it up, and hit the road. Probablt like 40 minutes from swim end to bike start. So I can't call it a brick.

I hit the AR trail at an easy pace, as the card had suggested, until this fucker starts drafting behind me. I will reiterate: I FUCKING HATE STRANGERS WHO DRAFT BEHIND ME!. I'm not here to make your workout easier, motherfucker. If you don't have any friends who will ride with you, don't use me to take your fucking wind. This isn't the fuckign Tour De France and we're not on Team USPS, so get the fuck off me. I don't know you, I'm not taking your wind. So, like last time some asshole decided I should take his wind resistance for him, I went balls to the wall, figuring I could lose him.

My dad's bike doesn't have aero bar, so it's harder to really get into position and hammer away. NOr does it have a speedometer. But I pushed it. I mean I was flying past people for about 3 miles. But every time I looked back, that fucker was still there. I didn't take any water and started breathing hard, fucker wouldn't go away. After abou six miles I decided I needed water so I slowed for a second as I stopped pedaling, and this fucker goes by me. Fine. I'll concede defeat if it makes my ride easier. This is the nice part about being the least-competitive person on the planet.

But this asshole just glided past me, probably because he'd been drafting for six miles. So he had nice fresh legs to conitinure his ride, and I was a little tired. Basically, this fucker used me to start his ride at a good clip, hen probably crushed the rest of it. Basically, I got pimped. I fucking hate drafters.

As a result, the ride was not fantastic. The next hour went ok, as i stopped at the hatchery for a gel and to turn around, but at about the 1:10 mark my back just started killling me. I mean, it was the worst it's hurt on a ride in a long time. I didn't stop (which may be why it hurt so much) but I realized that 2 days in a row and that extra effort I put in trying to lose the drafter probably didn't help. I'm gonna see how I feel tomorrow since it's scheduled to be a 2 hour bike ride followed by an hour run. I may switch it around with a long run or run-swim or something if my back isn't 100 percent. I'm not tying to wear it out, and this is a 14.5 hour week.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

T29 - Always Bring a Spare Tube - Bike

Sacramento

Bike - 85 minutes out, 85 minutes back

2 Lipodrene
So despirte binge drinking at Jill and Eric's wedding last night, and waking up earlier than I wanted to again, I was determined to get in the long bike before the week was over. And surprisingly, the bike felt really good. The AR trail was crowded as fuck, but it was a pleasant 82 and not humid, and after a slow start my legs got warmed up and I has a good pace going. My dad's bike doesn't have a computer, so I couldn't really see what my speed was, but I"ll guess it averaged around 17.5, since that's about what I do when I am not paying attention.

The ride was really nice, going along the river to Folsom lake and up a hill towards the famous prison. The hill was a good, solid climb, and the best part was on the way down I didn't pedal for a good 10 minutes. And the climb felt really good, even in the big ring. My legs felt strong, and when I got to the top I stopped to use the bathroom, have a Power Bar, and refill my bottle.

The interesting thing about low humidity is how much less water you are inclined to go through. I put back 2 bottles on this ride, usualyl what I do in an hour in Florida. Again, this high heat and humidity training I do down there is paying off. I even got in some serious hill traning by the Nimbus Dam, and used the small ring on a ride for the first time in alomost a year. The shifting on my dadn's bike is so easy, I didn't even hesitate to do it. On mine, I avoid changing rings at all costs.

Anyway, about 8 miles from the end I get a flat. Which is a pain in the ass enough, but because we'd had that fiasco with pumping up the tires on Wednesday, there was no spare tube in the back. And becasue my dad's hand pump likes to snap off valve stems, I couldn't use a patch kit either since I snapped off the valve stem in my attmept to reinflate the tire without changing it. God knows why I thought THAT would work. So I had to call my dad and have him come pick me up, which was not fun. If I wasn't training for an Ironman, I think it woulda been one of those "Sorry I let you down," kinda moments, where Dad is silent not becasue he's angry, but becasue he's disappointed. Not the case here, though, since A) My Dad is too old to even process what happened and B) It's a fucking Ironman.

Anyway, it sucked because I ended up cutting the ride about 30 minutes short, and I hate unfinished workouts. My back also was starting to kill at about the 2:15 mark, not bad considering I had no aero bars and it usually starts to kill a lot eariler. I'm going to take this to mean that my back is getting better conditioned, but still has a ways to go. Much like myself. And I will now make it a priority to ensure I have an extra tube with me every time I go out.

T28 - You Couldn't Exepct Two Good Ones in a Row, Could You? - Run

Sacramento

Much as I"d wanted to run in Reno Friday morning, the power hour me and Graig did the night before combined with the excessive hills and heat made me decide waiting until Friday evening might be a better course of action. And, unlike some people, I'm not obsessed with saying I did Activity X in Location Y, so really adding the glamorous metropolis that is Reno to the list of places I've trained, not enough of an incentive to run hungover in the Reno heat.

Run: 60 minutes, recovery

2 Lipodrene
Given how great my Thursday morning run had been, I decided to do the same thing again, this time in the early evening. It was a pleasent 76 when I set out to the American River trail. But this time my legs were sore, and my motivation was for some reason lower. As I ran, I also started getting this sort of acid reflux that just got worse andworse as the run went on. I'm not sure if it was the ephedra or the burger and fries I had for lunch or the err or what, but it did not feel good.

The reflux caused me to go slower, as did my sore legs. Seriosuly, I gotta learn that binge drinking is only acceptable before off days. This run woulda been a lot better sans the Power Hour, but how often do I see graig? Then, with about 2 miles to go one of my earphones went out, so I had to cut the music after a little bit. Listening in one ear is distracting and more annoying than silence. Which is what I'm supposed to be running with anyway.

The run ended poorly, as the acid reflu got so bad and so frequent I walked the 6 blocks home from the trailhead. Not a good run at all. But, I'd rather have a bad run on a sort of recovery day like this than on a long run day. So I'll chalk it up to poor decision making and get back at it next time.

Friday, July 3, 2009

T27 - Jetlag Pays Off - Bike/Run Brick

Sacramento

Despite barely sleeping Tuesday night, I only logged 10 hours after going to bed at 10:30 Wednesday night and was up at 8:30. Fucking time change, I couldn't get back to sleep. So I figured I'd get my training day in before I headed up to Reno. Had myself a Cliff bar on the ride to the trail and felt that was enough to keep me going.

Bike: 90 Minutes

2 Lipodrene
I basically did the same path as the day before, but obviously cut it a little shorter. I like biking here, the change of scenery and biking by the river are both welcomed differences. Plus the breeze is good and there's more than one water fountain (that THAT Hawthorne) so the fact that my dad only has one bottle holder isn't a big deal. The ride was nice, and the hills were a lot easier this time. Still harder than on my bike, but I'm going to go ahead and chalk that up to training on little sleep. Although I seemed to do that better here than in Gainesville, too.

Run: 60 miuntes


I took a gel between the two and headed out to run the same path I just biked. The AR trail has mile markers on it, so I didn't even need to map it out, I just ran to the trailhead (about a half mile) then ran to the 2.5 mile marker, and ran back. My speed, that's about an hour. I used the iPod, and this was just one of those runs where the music hits at the right time and your adreneline gets going and you just look out at a perfectly sunny day and a river and go "Man, life is good." I just started thinking about all the great things going on in my life, and how sometimes decisions you make that may seem hard at the time ultimately lead to much greater success. It's like being on ecstasy for about 20 minutes, excpet you don't get horny. Really, one of my favorite runs so far. That Best of Trance 2004 CD probably didn't hurt either. I can't even tell you much about the run, because it was just that positive of an experience.

I also think training in the daytime humidity has really paid off. It was probably 80during this run and not humid, and it seemed really easy. So I plan to continue daytime runs when I get back to Florida. Maybe I can do a few here on some 100-plus days. Friday's run will have to be later, though.

T26 - Hit the Groun Biking - Bike/Swim

Sacramento

Going on about an hour and a half of sleep, I got to my dad's house in Sac around 1. I was informed that we were going to a baseball game at 6:30, and that my niece Emily was especially excited that I was going. Well, much as I hate little kids, Emily is the one on Earth I actually like, and I didn't want to disappoint her. So, I sacked up and took my Dad's bike out on the American River trail.

Bike: 120 Minutes


2 Lipodrene
Dads are funny sometimes. I asked my dad to use his bike, which is actually nicer than mine with Ultegra componentry and a lighter frame (carbon or aluminum or whatever the ligher one is that mine is not). It also has three rings, but fuck it, I'm not using it for a race. Anywhay, I had to pump up the tires and in the process I managed to snap a valve off one of them. No problem, I change out the tube and put in a new one. But I can't figure out how to use my dad's pump and use a hand pump instead. I made the mistake of telling this to my dad, who then says "No, I'll show you, it's easy to use the pump," and proceeds to let all the air out of the front tire so he can re-pump it showing me how to use the bigger pump. In the process, he snaps the valve stem off this tube, theoreticaly forcing me to change the tire AGAIN. Fortunately, he opted to just switch it out with the front tire on my step-mom's bike, a wheel that cost something like $300, and take this one to the bike shop. It was nice.

My dad's bike rode a a lot faster than mine, and the shifting on that compontentry makes my bike feel like a Carmenghia going up a hill. But the 3-ring setup made going up hills in the big ring harder for some reason. Or maybe it was just the 2 hours of sleep. Because he did not have a computer on it (I believe I was the last person to use it LAST summer) I had no idea how fast I was going or how long I'd been out there. Also, this trail doesn't offer a lot of shade, so the ride was fairly warm at 2:30 in the afternoon. Not so tough without my shade, I guess. I also was not a fan of not being able to drop into aero at all, as that path has some great spots for it. The change of scenery on the ride was nice, and even though I got a little lost, I remembered a lot of the path from last year. Also, without the humidity I can make it on a little less water, which is nice.

Swim: wu: 500
main: 15 x 100, RPE 4-5, concentrate on smooth and efficient rather than
all-out speed


Had a couple of Gatorades and another Lipodrene and headed over to the outdoor pool at Rio Del Oro (that's River of Gold for you non-Spanish speakers) Raquet and Tennis club. Its a fun spot to find upper-middle class Sacramento Milfs, and their daughters home from college for the summer. Sadly, none were in the outdoor pool. It was also really cool to swim outdoors on a cloudless, 86 degree evening rather than indoors in Gainesville.

I liked the instructions on this training day, since it said to focus on being steady rather than all out. I'm all about steady, moderate effort. It's sort of the theme of my life.

Anyway, I skipped the warmup for the sake of time, which I definitely noticed on the first 4 or 5 100s. But the rest went solid and I cactually took less recovery time at the end between sets than I was at the beginning. I'm starting to think I need to consider warmups part of the workout more. But whatever. The swim went well, and I made it to the ballgame.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

T25 - Aaaaand the Ass Kicking Begins - Swim/Run "Brick"

Gainesville

You will see why I put the "brick" in quotes in a minute. But the plan had been to go on an early morning bike ride to get ready for the early flight Wednesday. Well, a Monday night booty call and a vicous earl-ymorning thundersorm put the kibosh on those plans. By the time I woke up at noon, it was still pouring and I was like "Fuck it, I'll do the long Bike in Sac. It never rains in July there." So I headed to GHFC for a long swim.

S: long day
wu: 200 continuous
main: 1 x 2500 at RPE 4


2 Lipodrene
Having done nicely in my previosu swims, I figured this would be an ot too difficult swim. Given I'd done more than this distance several times before. Yeeeah, about that. I'm not sure if it was becasue I"d swam the night before, but by lap 25 I was done. I even stopped using my counting method of tihnking of the girls I'd slept with in chronological order for each lap. Which is good, becasue 25-38 are mostly ones I'd like to forget anyway. Point is, I was going strong, but not feeling good. I was so hungry afterwards I took a gel, then stoped at the GHFC snack bar and got a piece of chocolate bread. THe "brick" hence, was ruined since I too ka solid half hour in between. But the nutrition was well needed.

Run: 45 minutes, easy pace
Treadmill
I opted for the treadmil since theweather looked suspect at best. I have mixed feelings on the challenge level of the treadmill, since I can't slow down at all, but the reisistance is less. Eh. Whatever. I had put the Silversun PIckups CD I"d purchased for one song only on the iPod, and honestly the run was almost too easy. I like to use music on the treadmill since there's no scenery change, but yes, I know, I need to wean myself off of it.

But after I gto home, I was done. Like I packed for California, and then just lay in bed for like 2 hours. COuldn't move. Even after getting some Taco Bell, I had nothing. That long seim and short run just killed me for the rest of the day. I see how this works, that prep month is just to get you used to training. Base 1, this is where we start to die. Good to go, Ironman. Bring it....