New York City
I think the best part about Ironman training is the fact that even on vacations, you have to make sure you get in your training. Such was the case on Thursday. When the good folks at Delta decided to move my flight back from 8 a.m. to 6 a.m., I was a little pissed I would have to get up at 3 to catch my flight. That all being said, I realized this would also give me an opportunity to get in my second-longest workout of the week during my first day in the city.
I found a gym on 43rd and 9th called The Manhattan Plaza Helath Club, that featured an Olympic-sized pool and full cardio equipment. It also had a locker room and showers, so it gave me a place to store my luggage all day, in addition to providing a training ground for my run and swim. All this for only $25, which thought was a pretty good deal for training and bag storage. The weather was absolute shit (another reason to never live north of I-10: It sometimes gets cold before Summer is even officially over) and since I had to do 2 hours at Tempo, I thought it might be fun to do 150 minutes on a treadmill.
Run - 150 minutes tempo (Treadmill)
15 Minutes RPE 2-3
2 Hours RPE 4-5
15 Minutes RPE 2-3
2 Lipodrene
I have to say, this was kinda fun. Yeah, the MPHC treadmill was dinky and looked like I could break it with one step that was too hard. And it looked out on a cement path between the cardio rooms and the pool (so nothing to look at but E!'s look at the top 10 Best and Worst Celeb. Beach Bodieas) but I used the iPod and even my slow run I was doing at 6.0
I opted to do like I would at home on this treadmill, doing an hour first, then three half hour sets with brief breaks (like under a minute) for Powerade in between. The breaks all ended up being shorter than expected, which was good. The first hour flew by, as I cranked it up to 6.6 after the first 15 miuntes. Then I maintained at 6.7 the rest of the run, dripping sweat everywhere and getting a few odd looks from the daytime crowd at this gym. No matter. I kept to my gel pattern of every 45 minutes, and aside from the iPod freezing with 25 minutes to go, the run went well.
The one issue I had was that I had so much adreneline going from the music and the ease of runing on the treadmill, that when the iPod broke, I just was like "Oh, fuck this..." I kept my speed up to the final 15 minutes, where I then speed-walked for about 5 minutes before going into a slow trot at about 5.2. I was a little disapointed in my premature cooldown there, but I think this is probably a product of my using the iPod more than anything else.
I was slated to meet with a couple of editors from Cosmo for lunch at 1:15, and oddly I saw one of them on the E! special talking about how bad Tara Reid looked in a swimsuit. It was a little surreal, I have to say, to see someone you were about to go and visit on TV while you get in your morning run, but I can't say it didn't give me a litte extra push.
Swim: Warmup - 6x75
Main - 3x700
1 Lipodrene
Lunch went well, as I rushed through my shower and got a cab up to the Hearst building for lunch. The food at their cafeteria up there is amazing, but knowing I had a long swim that afternoon, I opted for a light sandwich so I wouldn't die on the swim. I got back to the gym about 2:30, put on my jammer and walked over to the rooftop retractable roof pool deck they had. Immediately passed out for about 45 minutes ona deck chair. I'd been up since 3, for chrissakes.
Anyway, I was lucky enough to get my own lane for the warmup and about half the first set. Then some girl came in to swim with me, which was fine. But then another person came in the lane. And another. Fucking ciricle swimming. Then I remembered I was in New York City, not Gainesville. You want your own swiming lane? At 4 p.m.? Ok, you want your own 1-bedroom apartment too? Hou 'bout your own subway car? There's 18-fucking-million people in this city, and 4 swimming lanes. Good luck with that. I accpeted the unfortunate fate of circle swimming and sucked it up for the second set and half of the third.
I was swimming well when I could get some speed up, but I was constantly having to pass people, and then tread water so I didn't run into someone coming the other way. Much like New York, just constantly dodging people. So I guess the swim went well, such as it was. But not being able to really get in a groove was frustrating. You can't just knock people out of the way like you can during a race. Or when you're going fore a subway.
Showing posts with label Powerade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Powerade. Show all posts
Monday, September 14, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
T76 - Putting the "Labor" in "Labor Day"- Bike/Run Brick
Gainesville
It was Labor Day. And I figured what better way to spend Labor Day than working out for 5+ hours. But today wasn't so much a workout as a true training day. Like everything I did today was direct preparation for the Ironman. And it felt good.
Bike - 4.5 Hours
2 Lipodrene
3 Advil
1 Salt Tab
I went into the longest bike ride I'd ever done not dreading it, but wanting to do well. The goal was to average 18, which I'd struggled to do on shorter rides early in training, but figured was a reasonable goal for today. And lacking any originality when it comes to bike rides, I opted for 2+ laps of Hawthorne as my course.
The first trip down and back went well, making it to the end in 57:10 (a new record, I think) and back to the trailhead at 1:47. Meaning I took about as long to get back as I did to get down since the trailhead is 7 minutes from my house. My low back was starting to hurt at 1:30, even with having taken the Advil, which I do not find encouraging. But knowing I only had 3 more Advil for 3 more hours, I thought maybe it would be a good idea to hold off. I thought it might, but that did not stop me from taking the last three at this turnaround.
It took about half an hour to work, but it made me feel a lot better. Though on the second trip I found it difficult to keep my speed at 21 or so as I had the first time, I was still encouraged that I was hitting 21 to 23 in a lot of spots on the way back. I made it to the end of the train for the second time at 2:44., still under and hour, but considerably slower. I took my next two Lipodrene at this point and another salt tab. Filled my bottles as well, but I went through them both before I even got all the way back, and had to fill up agian right before the final incline. I ended up going up the final big hill in the hammock at sub-10, as I knew my legs were shot.
I've kind of decided to play to my strengths on these long bikes. I know I can fly through straightaways, and I am going to use them to make up times I am going to lose on inclines. For some reason I feel like if I fight through the inclines, my legs are going to be shot and my flat times will suffer. Plus, I don't want to shoot my legs out when I have to go 112 miles then run a marathon. It was this philosophy that led me to ride down to the Alachua Lake Lookout on my third trip down instead of going to the hammock. I hadn't been to the lookout since like my 3rd or 4th ride ever when I lacked the coordination to make the turn onto the long trail. At any rate, I did that, went up the less-steep half of the hill, turned around at the top and headed back. I ended up getting back to Jefferson at about 4:20, having gone just under 80 miles. I had wanted to do a full 80, so I biked up to 12th and turned around in the roundabout, making it home at just over 81 miles in 4:25. Yes, I cheated myself out of 5 minutes, but I did end up averaging about 18.3. So I felt good.
I also felt like, ok, if you put a gun to my head and said "Do Hawthorne and Back one more time" I could have. that distance would have been just over the Ironman course. Not so sure about running a marathon after, but in 2 months I'll be there.
I do think I kind of underestimated myself today, though, and that's why I got back early. I didn't think I'd go as fast at the start, and also figured my last trip down would be much worse. So I'll try and set my goals a little higher next time, as at the very worst it will lead to my not cutting myself short.
Nutrition wise, I took a gel every 45, as prescribed, and opted for the Cliff Bar at 2:10. A little early, but I was fucking starving by that point. I think 1 cliff bar was enough for a ride like this, and by the beginning of the last lap my stomach felt like shit. I seriously wanted to vomit about an hour after taking Lipodrene 3 and 4. But, you know, a lot of things are going to hurt on race day. I'll just add my stomach to the list.
Run - 30 Minutes (Treadmill)
I had some Powerade and headed down to the treadmills here at the gym at Jefferson 2nd. I have decided that for my brick runs for the next few weeks, I am going to start utilizing the treadmill to give myself a faster muscle memory when it comes to strides. I know had I run on the road I would have just chopped it out for 30 minutes because I was so sore, but the hope here is to train my legs to go at 6 mph after a long ride so I can go at that pace at the Ironman. At least to start out. My last 3 bricked runs have all sucked, so I needed to figure out how to make those better.
Treadmills are easy, as was this run. I just trotted along watching the Cincinnati-Rutgers game, and enjoying the AC and bevvy of ethnic looking girls who came in after I started. Ended up going 3 miles in 30 minutes, a pace I hope I can keep on race day.
All in all, a tough training day to be sure. But I have at least 3 more like this, plus the race. The feeling of exhaustion is good, but I may actually be able to get to bed early tonight.
It was Labor Day. And I figured what better way to spend Labor Day than working out for 5+ hours. But today wasn't so much a workout as a true training day. Like everything I did today was direct preparation for the Ironman. And it felt good.
Bike - 4.5 Hours
2 Lipodrene
3 Advil
1 Salt Tab
I went into the longest bike ride I'd ever done not dreading it, but wanting to do well. The goal was to average 18, which I'd struggled to do on shorter rides early in training, but figured was a reasonable goal for today. And lacking any originality when it comes to bike rides, I opted for 2+ laps of Hawthorne as my course.
The first trip down and back went well, making it to the end in 57:10 (a new record, I think) and back to the trailhead at 1:47. Meaning I took about as long to get back as I did to get down since the trailhead is 7 minutes from my house. My low back was starting to hurt at 1:30, even with having taken the Advil, which I do not find encouraging. But knowing I only had 3 more Advil for 3 more hours, I thought maybe it would be a good idea to hold off. I thought it might, but that did not stop me from taking the last three at this turnaround.
It took about half an hour to work, but it made me feel a lot better. Though on the second trip I found it difficult to keep my speed at 21 or so as I had the first time, I was still encouraged that I was hitting 21 to 23 in a lot of spots on the way back. I made it to the end of the train for the second time at 2:44., still under and hour, but considerably slower. I took my next two Lipodrene at this point and another salt tab. Filled my bottles as well, but I went through them both before I even got all the way back, and had to fill up agian right before the final incline. I ended up going up the final big hill in the hammock at sub-10, as I knew my legs were shot.
I've kind of decided to play to my strengths on these long bikes. I know I can fly through straightaways, and I am going to use them to make up times I am going to lose on inclines. For some reason I feel like if I fight through the inclines, my legs are going to be shot and my flat times will suffer. Plus, I don't want to shoot my legs out when I have to go 112 miles then run a marathon. It was this philosophy that led me to ride down to the Alachua Lake Lookout on my third trip down instead of going to the hammock. I hadn't been to the lookout since like my 3rd or 4th ride ever when I lacked the coordination to make the turn onto the long trail. At any rate, I did that, went up the less-steep half of the hill, turned around at the top and headed back. I ended up getting back to Jefferson at about 4:20, having gone just under 80 miles. I had wanted to do a full 80, so I biked up to 12th and turned around in the roundabout, making it home at just over 81 miles in 4:25. Yes, I cheated myself out of 5 minutes, but I did end up averaging about 18.3. So I felt good.
I also felt like, ok, if you put a gun to my head and said "Do Hawthorne and Back one more time" I could have. that distance would have been just over the Ironman course. Not so sure about running a marathon after, but in 2 months I'll be there.
I do think I kind of underestimated myself today, though, and that's why I got back early. I didn't think I'd go as fast at the start, and also figured my last trip down would be much worse. So I'll try and set my goals a little higher next time, as at the very worst it will lead to my not cutting myself short.
Nutrition wise, I took a gel every 45, as prescribed, and opted for the Cliff Bar at 2:10. A little early, but I was fucking starving by that point. I think 1 cliff bar was enough for a ride like this, and by the beginning of the last lap my stomach felt like shit. I seriously wanted to vomit about an hour after taking Lipodrene 3 and 4. But, you know, a lot of things are going to hurt on race day. I'll just add my stomach to the list.
Run - 30 Minutes (Treadmill)
I had some Powerade and headed down to the treadmills here at the gym at Jefferson 2nd. I have decided that for my brick runs for the next few weeks, I am going to start utilizing the treadmill to give myself a faster muscle memory when it comes to strides. I know had I run on the road I would have just chopped it out for 30 minutes because I was so sore, but the hope here is to train my legs to go at 6 mph after a long ride so I can go at that pace at the Ironman. At least to start out. My last 3 bricked runs have all sucked, so I needed to figure out how to make those better.
Treadmills are easy, as was this run. I just trotted along watching the Cincinnati-Rutgers game, and enjoying the AC and bevvy of ethnic looking girls who came in after I started. Ended up going 3 miles in 30 minutes, a pace I hope I can keep on race day.
All in all, a tough training day to be sure. But I have at least 3 more like this, plus the race. The feeling of exhaustion is good, but I may actually be able to get to bed early tonight.
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?
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?
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