Gainesville
I took an extra rest day because as I was getting into bed the other night I felt my knee kinda give out again. And it wasn't from sex or anything cool like that, just me getting into bed and feeling my knee give out. Kinda like how I initially fucked it up scuba diving. Anyhoo, I took the day off, and it still felt like every step I took might blow it out. Not really hurting, but like something just wasn't right. But I have an Ironman to do, so I did what any illogical athlete does and took a bunch of Advil so the pain signals my body was using to tell me something was wrong would be intercepted. Took 3, and 2 Sudafed, and 2 Lipodrene and hit the campus loop.
Run - 75 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
I had intended not to use the iPod today, but right before the run I was IMing an old student of mine about Lipodrene, and how great it makes you feel sometimes, and as I did it I decided I wanted to have a blow-up kinda run, so I brought the music. Whatever, I wasn't kicking myself for it. I was also a little tired because I had to wake up for graduation at like 7:30, take Trevor to the airport, sit through the graduation, which was mostly standing, actually, then eat and come back. HIt the loop about 3 and it was nice and hot.
But again, this was one of those runs where the heat felt energizing, not draining.I kept my stride really well until I got to the big hill on 2nd. I chopped my steps a lot going up it, but hey, it was really fucking hot. As I got to the top of the hill, I noticed the afternoon graduation letting out and the accompanying traffic clusterfuck leaving the O'Connell Center. I won't lie, the thought of hundreds of 22-year-old girls driving by when I ran got me to pick up the pace.
All in all it was a solid run that left me more tired than I thought. Sweat kept getting in my eyes to the point I had to stop running to wipe my face on my shorts. Don't envision it. But I don't run with a shirt on so that was my only option. And I REALLY don't wanna start wearing headbands. The only people who wear those are pro athletes and middle aged guys playing pickup basketball at the Health Club. Fuck that. Anyway, it was encouraging to have a longer run in heat where I kept stride almost the whole time. I am definitely much improved. And my knee? Well it was feeling fine the whole time. And really didn't bother me the rest of the day.But it still feels weird occasionally when I walk.
Swim: main: 1900 ladder (300, 275, 250…etc)
2 Lipodrene
I took a few hours off to do some work and hit the pool about 7:30. I skipped the warmup today too. This ladder was realyl easy for whatever reason. My guess is the 4 Lipodrene and massive amounts of Sudafed, but I like to think i've just become that awesome of a swimmer. I definitely used my right side the way it's supposed to be used, and I can really feel a difference. It didn't get as sore as it sis last time, but I also felt a lot stronger pull. So hopefully this will be a big breakthrough for the swim.
Showing posts with label knee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label knee. Show all posts
Sunday, August 9, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
T13 - Maybe My Knee Is Trying to Tell Me Something - Run/Bike Brick
Gainesville
Run: 45 Minutes - Easy Pace
2 Lipodrene
I did this run after having had lunch and it was rather uneventful. I'm still plodding a little bit, and I realized that running in 95-degree weather may be part of why I'm not running my fastest. I do appreciate the training value of running in hot weather, but I may try a night run later this week to see if the running improves.
Bike - 1 Hour
Because I had so much goddam work to do I ended up starting this whole workout at like 6, which forced me to brick these so I could get on the bike and back before it got dark. I wasn't really feeling an hour on the trainer. Anyway,I took a gel and hit the road. I thought this would be a little grueling and was worried about the rain, but truth is I got out there and the weather was perfect. Hot but overcast, with no rain and a tiny breeze. Perfect biking weather. I did the first half pretty well, getting to nigbridge in 27 and 20.
The interesting part is, despite there being no significant wind, I made the ride back in 3 less minutes than I made it down. Again, this is impressive considering that Hawthorne is an incline on the way back. but I really felt good on the ride today. I was able to keep pushing it and hit good speeds on the inclines. I really feel this cycle is going a lot better, as this was the sort of ride I would have absolutely dogged in the Spring.
I went out last night after and was sitting at a table outside at 101. I turned to my left to say something to somebody, and all of a sudden felt my knee give out. While sitting. I forgot how random the knee goings-out are with this, and realized that the 2 straight days of running, even though they didn't hurt, may not be helping this thing heal. Again, I'm going to reverse the long bike and long run this week and take 4 days off the knee. If this persists, I may forsake all running during recovery week next week.
Run: 45 Minutes - Easy Pace
2 Lipodrene
I did this run after having had lunch and it was rather uneventful. I'm still plodding a little bit, and I realized that running in 95-degree weather may be part of why I'm not running my fastest. I do appreciate the training value of running in hot weather, but I may try a night run later this week to see if the running improves.
Bike - 1 Hour
Because I had so much goddam work to do I ended up starting this whole workout at like 6, which forced me to brick these so I could get on the bike and back before it got dark. I wasn't really feeling an hour on the trainer. Anyway,I took a gel and hit the road. I thought this would be a little grueling and was worried about the rain, but truth is I got out there and the weather was perfect. Hot but overcast, with no rain and a tiny breeze. Perfect biking weather. I did the first half pretty well, getting to nigbridge in 27 and 20.
The interesting part is, despite there being no significant wind, I made the ride back in 3 less minutes than I made it down. Again, this is impressive considering that Hawthorne is an incline on the way back. but I really felt good on the ride today. I was able to keep pushing it and hit good speeds on the inclines. I really feel this cycle is going a lot better, as this was the sort of ride I would have absolutely dogged in the Spring.
I went out last night after and was sitting at a table outside at 101. I turned to my left to say something to somebody, and all of a sudden felt my knee give out. While sitting. I forgot how random the knee goings-out are with this, and realized that the 2 straight days of running, even though they didn't hurt, may not be helping this thing heal. Again, I'm going to reverse the long bike and long run this week and take 4 days off the knee. If this persists, I may forsake all running during recovery week next week.
Monday, June 15, 2009
T12 - Breathing Water - Run/Swim
Gainesville
2 Lipodrene
So, I basically skipped my workout yesterday to go to the NBA finals. I think in the grand scheme of Ironman training, a run I wasn't even sure I was gonna do because of my knee is not a huge thing to miss, and watching an NBA champion get crowned, well, that is a big thing to miss. Honestly, had Trevor been ready to pull the trigger that morning, I would have gotten the run in before we left for Orlando, but whatever. He knows training better than I.
But I decided to so Sunday's 90-minute run today instead of the 60-minute run the training card called for, and then do my long swim. So instead of missing a long run, I missed a relatively short one (tell me two years ago a 6-mile run is relatively short, and I call you a showoff jackass). Whatever.) Today was a long fucking training day, the kind I need to start getting used to
Run: 90 Minutes
I left about 4 to do a campus loop and then a stadium down-and-back. I also decided to bust out the iPod today, since it was the first really long run of the training cycle. This was ultimately not the best idea. The knee started to really hurt about 3 blocks into the run, but I adjusted my stride to drop less weight on my left foot and try and glide through it, which worked well.
I lost the gel I took out of the hole in my pocket, which pissed me off. Then at about the 45 minute mark, the skies decided to open up. Why do I think Gainesville is not going to have afternoon storms like Miami does in the summer? Seriously, I need to start either doing runs earlier or later. This 4 PM shit is just stupid. So I'm running and all of a sudden my headphones start getting scratchy. I realize some water has gotten into the connection and fucked it up, and now I'm worrying my iPod is going to be wrecked. It gave out at just about an hour, but I'm pretty sure this was the battery running out and not the thing getting irreversible water damage.
At any rate, the run was tough, I was chopping some steps on hills and was not thrilled to turn around and do the stadium down-and-back when I finished the loop. Pretty sure this is the heat causing this, but that's why it's called training, right? Just getting better, I suppose. But man, had it not been for that rain this run would have reminiscent of the one in the Orlando half.
Swim: long day-mental toughness day!
6 x 500, odds are RPE3, evens RPE 5
2 more Lipodrene
Yeah, that's a lotta ephedra, Bob. But if I'm gonna cut back on drinking and sex, by God I'm making up for it somewhere. I also like how the guy calls this mental toughness day. Sets of 10 laps, even 6 of them, are a lot less mentally tough than, say, one set of 60. I'm just sayin'.
Anyway, I had a full dinner and did some work before heading to the GHFC pool at 10. Night swimming is the best, really. Got my own lane, and again the swim felt great. I did not keep to the RPEs so much, but my stoke felt good as I worked on hand position when entering the water a lot. Felt a lot more glide-y than splashy. I lost count a lot during each set of 10, thinking mostly about the Ironman race itself. Anyway, long fucking day today, but I know in 2 months I'll look back wishing for a day like this. Training is still feeling good and I was even down to a post-dinner 212 pounds today.
2 Lipodrene
So, I basically skipped my workout yesterday to go to the NBA finals. I think in the grand scheme of Ironman training, a run I wasn't even sure I was gonna do because of my knee is not a huge thing to miss, and watching an NBA champion get crowned, well, that is a big thing to miss. Honestly, had Trevor been ready to pull the trigger that morning, I would have gotten the run in before we left for Orlando, but whatever. He knows training better than I.
But I decided to so Sunday's 90-minute run today instead of the 60-minute run the training card called for, and then do my long swim. So instead of missing a long run, I missed a relatively short one (tell me two years ago a 6-mile run is relatively short, and I call you a showoff jackass). Whatever.) Today was a long fucking training day, the kind I need to start getting used to
Run: 90 Minutes
I left about 4 to do a campus loop and then a stadium down-and-back. I also decided to bust out the iPod today, since it was the first really long run of the training cycle. This was ultimately not the best idea. The knee started to really hurt about 3 blocks into the run, but I adjusted my stride to drop less weight on my left foot and try and glide through it, which worked well.
I lost the gel I took out of the hole in my pocket, which pissed me off. Then at about the 45 minute mark, the skies decided to open up. Why do I think Gainesville is not going to have afternoon storms like Miami does in the summer? Seriously, I need to start either doing runs earlier or later. This 4 PM shit is just stupid. So I'm running and all of a sudden my headphones start getting scratchy. I realize some water has gotten into the connection and fucked it up, and now I'm worrying my iPod is going to be wrecked. It gave out at just about an hour, but I'm pretty sure this was the battery running out and not the thing getting irreversible water damage.
At any rate, the run was tough, I was chopping some steps on hills and was not thrilled to turn around and do the stadium down-and-back when I finished the loop. Pretty sure this is the heat causing this, but that's why it's called training, right? Just getting better, I suppose. But man, had it not been for that rain this run would have reminiscent of the one in the Orlando half.
Swim: long day-mental toughness day!
6 x 500, odds are RPE3, evens RPE 5
2 more Lipodrene
Yeah, that's a lotta ephedra, Bob. But if I'm gonna cut back on drinking and sex, by God I'm making up for it somewhere. I also like how the guy calls this mental toughness day. Sets of 10 laps, even 6 of them, are a lot less mentally tough than, say, one set of 60. I'm just sayin'.
Anyway, I had a full dinner and did some work before heading to the GHFC pool at 10. Night swimming is the best, really. Got my own lane, and again the swim felt great. I did not keep to the RPEs so much, but my stoke felt good as I worked on hand position when entering the water a lot. Felt a lot more glide-y than splashy. I lost count a lot during each set of 10, thinking mostly about the Ironman race itself. Anyway, long fucking day today, but I know in 2 months I'll look back wishing for a day like this. Training is still feeling good and I was even down to a post-dinner 212 pounds today.
Friday, June 12, 2009
T10 - Nonsex not nearly draining as sex-sex - Bike
Gainesville
I'm gonna channel White Dade here for a minute.....there's a reason I don't mess with Latin girls. Seriosuly. I'm up around 1:15 Wednesday night/Thursday morning and I get a text from that girl who'd stayed over a couple weeks ago, asking if she could come over. I figure, shit, it's 1:15, she's obviously been out all night, and she's asking me to come over. This can only mean one thing. But, you know, I'm trying to consider training here, so before responding I had to think how this would work.
She'll get here around 1:45. Figure 15 minutes of small talk and maybe a drink, then we'll start hooking up by 2. Fucking by 2:30. Asleep by 3. That leaves a solid 8 hours of sleep before I had to get up to interview this guy for my final project. No problem. So I tell her to come on over.
Well, the girl gets here and in the course of the 15 minutes of conversation, it comes out that she's Cuban. Ok, I figure, she's fairly Americanized so I can tolerate it. Although this time I did notice her noticeably-Cuban ass and stomach. But whatever, she was cute and nice enough. So we get to hooking up and this girl doesn't even want to take her top off. Apparently she takes sex a little more seriously than I do, and for the second time wouldn't go much past second base. And spent the night. Well, not having gotten off, and having gotten my adrenaline going during the middle-school makeout session, I didn't fall asleep until about 4:30. The whole time I was thinking "I could be getting valuable rest right now. thank you for wasting my time."
I woke up again at 8. She left at 9, once again making out, and once again stopping before pants came off. Seriously, I don't think ANYONE has ever stayed over twice without fucking. Not even my last girlfriend, where I can only remember one time that happened. And few with any girlfriends before that. This is what I get for messing with a Latin chick. Catholic guilt and overprotective fathers and whatnot. No more, I knew my "Whites Only" policy was there for a reason. And I doubt I'll be hearing from her again.
The good news, though, is that I learned nonsex, despite the lost sleep, is not nearly as bad for your workouts as regular sex.
Bike - 2 hours
2 Lipodrene
This was definitely the best bike I've had so far this training cycle. Hit 20 on most of the straightaways, stayed in aero as much as I could, and ended up averaging 17.9. Which, while not blazing or even up to my standards of past cycles, is the best I've had in a while on a solo training ride. Especially with the hills and streets and whatnot involved in the Hawthorne ride. So I guess losing some sleep isn't so bad, and nonsex is not so exerting. The girl still wasted my time, but at least she did me the favor of letting me conserve energy.
My low back still was ready to stop at the 1 hour mark, which is not good. I stopped at the halfway point for about 30 seconds to turn around, have a gel, and refill water (went a little longer than 2 hours to get to the end of Hawthorne where there's water fountains), but had to take a break again at about 1:23. Felt good after that, and was mulling another stop at Waldo when I got a flat at about 1:52. And despite my almost being out of water, and it being uncomfortably humid while I changed the tire, I felt a lot better after that 10 minute break and went hard the whole way home. The Cliff bar I had while changing the tire didn't hurt either.
All in all, the main issue with the bike is getting my low back to a point where I can bike for more than an hour without wanting to stop. I can maintain a fairly good speed, but pedaling hard drains my back, and I'm not sure how to condiiton it better. Improved posture is not an option.
Also, my knee continues to be extremely sore all the time, and even felt tight on the ride. Like it was swollen or something. Training is definitely going a lot better this time around, but I need to get this knee healed up or this Ironman is not going to go well.
I'm gonna channel White Dade here for a minute.....there's a reason I don't mess with Latin girls. Seriosuly. I'm up around 1:15 Wednesday night/Thursday morning and I get a text from that girl who'd stayed over a couple weeks ago, asking if she could come over. I figure, shit, it's 1:15, she's obviously been out all night, and she's asking me to come over. This can only mean one thing. But, you know, I'm trying to consider training here, so before responding I had to think how this would work.
She'll get here around 1:45. Figure 15 minutes of small talk and maybe a drink, then we'll start hooking up by 2. Fucking by 2:30. Asleep by 3. That leaves a solid 8 hours of sleep before I had to get up to interview this guy for my final project. No problem. So I tell her to come on over.
Well, the girl gets here and in the course of the 15 minutes of conversation, it comes out that she's Cuban. Ok, I figure, she's fairly Americanized so I can tolerate it. Although this time I did notice her noticeably-Cuban ass and stomach. But whatever, she was cute and nice enough. So we get to hooking up and this girl doesn't even want to take her top off. Apparently she takes sex a little more seriously than I do, and for the second time wouldn't go much past second base. And spent the night. Well, not having gotten off, and having gotten my adrenaline going during the middle-school makeout session, I didn't fall asleep until about 4:30. The whole time I was thinking "I could be getting valuable rest right now. thank you for wasting my time."
I woke up again at 8. She left at 9, once again making out, and once again stopping before pants came off. Seriously, I don't think ANYONE has ever stayed over twice without fucking. Not even my last girlfriend, where I can only remember one time that happened. And few with any girlfriends before that. This is what I get for messing with a Latin chick. Catholic guilt and overprotective fathers and whatnot. No more, I knew my "Whites Only" policy was there for a reason. And I doubt I'll be hearing from her again.
The good news, though, is that I learned nonsex, despite the lost sleep, is not nearly as bad for your workouts as regular sex.
Bike - 2 hours
2 Lipodrene
This was definitely the best bike I've had so far this training cycle. Hit 20 on most of the straightaways, stayed in aero as much as I could, and ended up averaging 17.9. Which, while not blazing or even up to my standards of past cycles, is the best I've had in a while on a solo training ride. Especially with the hills and streets and whatnot involved in the Hawthorne ride. So I guess losing some sleep isn't so bad, and nonsex is not so exerting. The girl still wasted my time, but at least she did me the favor of letting me conserve energy.
My low back still was ready to stop at the 1 hour mark, which is not good. I stopped at the halfway point for about 30 seconds to turn around, have a gel, and refill water (went a little longer than 2 hours to get to the end of Hawthorne where there's water fountains), but had to take a break again at about 1:23. Felt good after that, and was mulling another stop at Waldo when I got a flat at about 1:52. And despite my almost being out of water, and it being uncomfortably humid while I changed the tire, I felt a lot better after that 10 minute break and went hard the whole way home. The Cliff bar I had while changing the tire didn't hurt either.
All in all, the main issue with the bike is getting my low back to a point where I can bike for more than an hour without wanting to stop. I can maintain a fairly good speed, but pedaling hard drains my back, and I'm not sure how to condiiton it better. Improved posture is not an option.
Also, my knee continues to be extremely sore all the time, and even felt tight on the ride. Like it was swollen or something. Training is definitely going a lot better this time around, but I need to get this knee healed up or this Ironman is not going to go well.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
T9 - Swim - They All Need to Be Like This
Gainesville
Swim:
wu: 4 x 50 continuous, odds are breathe every side, evens bilateral.
main: 2 x 1000, 1 is RPE4, 2 is RPE 6
2 Lipodrene
This warm up is a great idea too, forcing me to breathe every other stroke for 2 of the laps. Considerable harder than the every stroke breathing I usually do. Really made me work on lung capacity, something I severely lack.
Aside from that, I swam at GHFC from about 9-10. Night swimming, I enjoy so much better. The major downside is having that workout hanging over your head all day, but otherwise, it's much more beneficial for me. I did both sets with solid intensity, feeling like i was gliding and pulling the whole way. Really felt great, expet my kneww kept bothering me every time I pushed off the wall.
So I talked to Trevor and assuming the knee does not feel 100% by Sunday, I'm going to lay off the runs until it does. I think missing some runs during weeks 19 and 18 in order to heal this up in the long run is going to make sense. So, no more running for a little while. Going to replace it with longer bikes I think.
Swim:
wu: 4 x 50 continuous, odds are breathe every side, evens bilateral.
main: 2 x 1000, 1 is RPE4, 2 is RPE 6
2 Lipodrene
This warm up is a great idea too, forcing me to breathe every other stroke for 2 of the laps. Considerable harder than the every stroke breathing I usually do. Really made me work on lung capacity, something I severely lack.
Aside from that, I swam at GHFC from about 9-10. Night swimming, I enjoy so much better. The major downside is having that workout hanging over your head all day, but otherwise, it's much more beneficial for me. I did both sets with solid intensity, feeling like i was gliding and pulling the whole way. Really felt great, expet my kneww kept bothering me every time I pushed off the wall.
So I talked to Trevor and assuming the knee does not feel 100% by Sunday, I'm going to lay off the runs until it does. I think missing some runs during weeks 19 and 18 in order to heal this up in the long run is going to make sense. So, no more running for a little while. Going to replace it with longer bikes I think.
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