End of workout cycle

I give myself a failing grade for my workout cycle. My last post was January 22. It is now April 2 and I have hardly gotten off my couch. I am sick today an have been for the last week. But I actually ran 1.5 miles and did some light cycling. Spring has rolled around and the sun has come out around here. I saw some old pictures from 2009 when I was in pretty decent shape. I got a little nostalgic. No better time than now to start moving again.

I head off to Hawaii this week. This is a great time to get started again. I am shooting a reality-style TV show in Kona Hawaii with some Ironman athletes. Maybe I'll have a chance to start back in the water, on the back, and on the road.

Bringing It!: Guitar, ALS and Unstoppable Spirit . . . Film Dir...

Bringing It!: Guitar, ALS and Unstoppable Spirit . . . Film Dir...: "At 16 years old, Jason Becker had already become a legend in the guitar scene. At 20, he was diagnosed with ALS - a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's diseas..."

2 Weeks In

I am 2 weeks into the program and I am doing okay. I have missed a few workouts but I have executed a few workouts as well. I am back on the the bike and in the pool. I am also doing very light weights.

This week was interesting. On Tuesday I did every lap of my 2500 yd swim and headed straight to weights. I am not a weight person anymore so I struggled immensely. It was a very successful day and for one day I felt I was back to where I was. The next day I woke up early and went straight on the bike without thinking. It was a good move because if I had an opportunity to think about it I would have skipped.

Thursday and Friday I skipped due to the crippling pain Tuesdays weights caused. Pathetically, I inflicted the damage by doing merely 3 sets of 10 squats with no weights. As I may have mentioned I am woefully out of fitness in the weight room.

But I am still at it. Training Peaks is the bomb. Every night my workouts are in my email. I have an opportunity to plan my day around my workout. My expectations are reasonable this go-around. I am allowing some skip days for recovery and scheduling reasons, but since I am committed to this, I get right back at it the next days.

Today was another miss due to my childcare responsibilities. We are toilet training Ainsley. Tomorrow I have a 1 hr bike and 1 hr run. Hoping to get them both in somehow.

2 Days Down

Two days into the training program. This is my third and I am taking the day off. The first day was a 45 minute bike. That I got on it was a huge victory, that I rode it for about 45 minutes was as well.

Yesterday was a swim with some light gym exercises. That I got to the gym was a huge victory, hat I got to the pool was as well. Once I jumped into the pool I realized how much this is going to suck. The last time I did Training Peaks was about 2 or 3 years ago and all the familiar memories came rushing back. Long workouts, cold days in the pool endless laps, fatigue. Triathlete are literally crazy people. I gutted through 30 mins of swimming in very cold water and did some half-ass exercises in the gym.

My life schedule does not have this much training built into it. The last time I was on this program I did not have kids in school and other kids not in school. Juggling these training hours is going to be really tough. Yesterday was a mother.

Today I am really really tired and need a break. I am going to lay off until I am ready to train again and then hit the workouts. Hopefully tomorrow I will be back in the pool and the gym floor.

Enthusiasm level - 2
Readiness - 1
Fatigue - 10
Happiness that I am back doing this again - 5

I am going to stick with this program as best I can. I will skip when I need to and I will not beat myself up mentally is I skip. Hopefully in this process I will find a healthy equilibrium for training.

18 months since my last post? Good God

A lot has happened since I last posted. Good thing blogs age better than fruit. No one is supposed to read this so I don't care what I say but I need to do something to get myself back in gear physically. I mean I am in good shape for a bum, but for my adult sport of triathlon I am a mess.

For a few months I have been telling myself to get back into the swing of things. It's just so easy to do nothing. I mean no pain, so its easy to no gain.

It's not like I've done nothing for 18 months. I've actually worked out sort of regularly. In 2010 I focused a lot on cals (pushups and chins), and running, with some swimming and cycling mixed in. In my personal life I quit drinking. I also worked toward eliminating meat and dairy from my diet. I also dedicated myself to learning guitar by joining a band and taking lessons. All those changes have altered my life both physically and emotionally.

Physically I feel good but not great. My fitness is probably fine for beginners but I am way off what I was. But I am not sure what I want out of my fitness existence. I feel the Ironman/half-Ironman fitness level is an all-encompassing endeavor that causes tons of physical pain and ripples throughout our life. The sprint/Olympic fitness triathlon fitness level seems practical but even that is a commitment.

So now I am searching for continued balance in my personal by adding a fitness element. I'm back on the Training Peaks software after false starts on consecutive weeks. Each evening I am emailed next day's workout. It's a very good system and provides a solid routine for getting going.

Tomorrow is a 45 minute bike. I have the indoor trainer in my office but my bike is currently a coat rack and my workout area is a dumping ground. So now half my workout will entail digging out a workout space. If I get the bike on the trainer and find a pair of bike shorts it will be a monumental victory.

Current weight - 161 (I don't eat meat or cheese anymore so I eat much less fat)
Fitness level - weak
Readiness - Unbelievably not ready
Excitement level (1-10) - 2
Enthusiasm (1-10) - 1

Race 4 Recap

I'm skipping my Race 3 recap and doing Race 4 because I didn't really feel like blogging Race 3. That will be incorporated in this recap.

Race 4 was the 2nd in the Fort Lewis Triple Threat triathlon series which are three identical races close to my house. I did Race 3 a month earlier. I was happy I finished because time was very tight with a newborn and family and work responsibilities. I hardly trained for Race 3 and I was very slow. The positives were that I raced, I practiced transitions, and racing conditions, and all the intangible stuff that can make the sport really hard.

This race I concentrated on getting a solid three weeks worth of work. My focus was on staying above 90 cadence, staying in the swim draft, and finishing "all out". I was able to rejigger my schedule around enough to get my training in. Instead of going to bed at 10:30, I would hit the trainer for 30-40 minutes of speed work. I snuck a few long rides in as well. In addition I ran a few times and employed "transition runs" after my bike rides to get used to race conditions. Finally I focused on simple acheivable goals that would guarantee improvement.

The race went really well. On Race 3 I somehow lost my line in the lake and wound up swimming by myself for the final few hundred meters. This race, I sighted towards the end to make sure I was always with someone. My swim last race was a disappointing 16 mins while this race I was a satisfied 15 mins over 800 meters. Out of the water I had a very good transition and smartly brought a tub filled with water to wash off my feet because they were filthy coming out of the water.

My bike started off pretty fast. Fort Lewis is flat and straight and ideal for practicing smooth, fast cycling. I maintained my 90 cadence which guaranteed me a much, much faster bike time. Psychologically I found myself hanging with some guys out there, which boosted my confidence. I finished the 15 mile ride on 49 minutes, thus besting my previous time by 11 minutes.

With two enormously successful legs finished, I could have hopped the three miles and been happy. But I wanted to put together a complete race that included a fast run and hunting down some of my competitors. I remember reading an article say that the last few miles of the run are all about guts. The three miles flew right by and I worked myself into my legs. I was tired but I wanted to finish "all out" just to understand the feeling of leaving everything on the course. I crossed the line at 1:30:ish with a full on sprint and found my way back to my gear.

Overall the race was a huge success. I trained hard, I stuck to my prerace goals, and executed them as well as possible. I came in 53 out of over 200, was in the middle of my age group and have a lot to build on. I can shave about a minute off my swim time, I can conceivably take 5 minutes off my bike, and there is always ways to run faster. I realize the only difference between below/average performance and very good performance is some good work prerace and an executed plan in the race. I'm not sure if I will get to do the third race in this series due a planned vacation, but I will get one or two more races in by the end of the season.

Race #2

My second race of the year was this past Sunday May 17th. Heading into the race I was still up in the air about my seasonal plans. I still could probably pull myself together by my A race in September which is the Black Diamond Half Ironman. I could also pull it back and do an Olympic that day or a few others if I wanted to. An additional option would be to do some sprints and work on my skills at the sport.

There is a lot more to the sport than running swimming and biking long distances. Most top pros started races many many times per year on short distances, progressed into the Olympic/International levels, made their names at half-Ironman and eventually had what it take to win Kona. Last year I skipped a few steps and slowly trudged my way through 2 halfs with a low level of success.

Doing the second race of the season was a perfect way for me to continue working on the sport even though my time is limited with the new baby. I hadn't really trained much other than a few swims and a few runs, but since it was a sprint, the distances are not a problem.

The race was a tiny tiny field at my home gym, but hey, it's triathlon. Not every race needs to be Kona. Perfect place for me to work on the sport for the sake of the sport.

My swim was excellent. I came out of the water 2nd out of ten. I focused this time on going slow and pacing myself. I had plenty of energy at the end and was able to kick it nicely on my final lap. The bike was easier than before and I went faster than before, while pushing more power. I held my position, hydrated well and got myself ready for the run. The run was a quick two miles on an outdoor, dirt track. The footing stunk, and my first lap or so as always was difficult. But I settled down and went kicked it decently as I finished.

My times really mean nothing because of the way the race was set up but I averaged about a 1:36 in the pool per 100. That might be my best swim so far and while it is not very fast, I merely wanted to swim smooth and position myself for the rest of the race.

Moving forward, I am back in full gear for the season. Sprint races work well for this year because I can skip a workout and not worry about my race condition. I can miss a week for travel, or family, and not freak out. I can race close to my house and not worry about hotels, parking, race checkins, and whatnot. And, just like Sunday, my Saturday night can be all messed up and it will not force me to toss and turn all night. I have other races in June, July, August and most likely September so I will get plenty of work in this summer. I will also be doing some 5K runs and perhaps a long, 2 day bike weekend if time permits.

My bike is still of course my Achilles heel but I am working through it. I plan on getting out there much more and working in the saddle. More on that later.

Race #1 and Baby Girl #3

April 19th was my first race of the year. Most spring races in the places where I have lived have been indoor. The water is just too cold and the weather in unpredictable. Since my January high, my February low, and my March rest, I had done a few workouts but nothing major. I had been focusing on work and family. The race was a layup because it was at my gym, it was short and was using a stationary bike.

I fully expected to have the baby before the race so I was a minute by minute decision. I woke up that morning, grabbed my gear and headed off. I took a couple gels, a six pack of Gatorade, and my swimsuit. Other than that no prep. The swim was 400 yds, bike was 8 mile on a trainer, followed by a 2 mile run.

I am always nervous about the bike. I had not been in the saddle since January and felt a little uneasy. I got a decent warmup on the swim. When the gun went off I pushed off like my life depended on it. At 200 yds, I was totally out of gas. I felt like someone was pulling on my suit. I finished the leg in second place but I was pretty tired and a little dizzy.

The bike was 32 minutes of boredom. My only goal was to stay in a good gear, avg about 16 mph and get off the darn thing. I lost some ground to some folks on the bike. With a two mile run, there is pretty much no hope to catch anyone so I finished nicely at around 17 minutes and was satisfied with my times of around 6:45, 32:30, and 17:00.

The victory here was that I got off my butt and did the race, as small as it was. In addition, I was totally pumped by the day itself. It felt great to do a short, doable race to get my blood flowing and heartrate up. It was a tremendous boost to come out of the water before most of the field. Overall a real success.

The next day baby #3 came, healthy and everyone is doing very well. I absolutely love being a Dad and would welcome many more. It had been a long, challenging 9 months and I was just thankful the pressure had been lifted off my wife physically and we can begin the next chapter. The first month has been a little tiring but I have been able to squeeze a few runs in with th kids and a few swims. I will follow up tomorrow with a report on Race #2 and some thoughts on where I am headed this year and next.

Singing Sweet Home Alabama All Summer Long

Ultimate hack song by an ultimate hack musician. But so catchy.

Yesterday I had a very good swim. I did a 400 warmup, then a 100, 200, 200, 100 pyramid. After two months off I still feel like someone is dragging me from behind but my endurance is decent so I am happy. I still have not committed to the race this weekend but it would be a good race to get done...even if it is my only race of 09.

Short Birthday Run

For my birthday I ran a mile and a half very fast. I was short on time while waiting for my daughter's gymnastics class to finish. So I hit the track and did a few warm-up laps and then tried to chase down some kids that were doing a fitness test ahead of me. I was able to go a mile at a pretty hard pace. It was a really good speed lesson to raise the endorphins.

There is an indoor sprint race on Sunday. I am a gametime decision. My fitness is fine. But the baby is not here yet and its 35 bucks for a race that should be much cheaper. I'll play it by ear and decide the day before or the day of.

Got a Garnett Celtics T-shirt as a present which was pretty cool.

Good Week So Far

After my March hiatus I am back at this working out thing. Today I swam for the first time in a while. I have gotten my work stuff out of the way and got some other stuff taken care of so the only thing left to do is start training. As mentioned on Monday, I ran on Sunday. I ran a couple miles again on Tuesday and today I swam about 1000 yds. Pretty easy workouts but who cares? There is a triathlon at my gym next week I am thinking of doing. It is really easy and would be a nice break to see if I have any fitness at all.

I am getting an idea of how I want to proceed this summer. I am thinking of doing a weeks worth of sessions over a two week period. That would allow me to train every other day on sport specific stuff and do alternative stuff such as weights, yoga or rest. I complained to my coach about needing more rest each week and he felt I would not be able to get my sessions in with more rest. But I thinks it amounts to over training, at least for me and my lifestyle, to crunch in 6 days over working out a week.

I am going to give this a shot and see how it works. But I feel great getting back out there again, I am pain free and stress free.

Baby Stepping back on the Horse

The last two days had beautiful weather so I got back at it. I did some backyard stuff with the kids hanging off me on Saturday and I ran a few miles yesterday while pushing the stroller. My muscles had atrophied to the point that I was nearly dead so I am sore today. But I am ready to get back in it. No more hip pain and no more stress. I am going to follow a one on, one off schedule and keep it simple. Hopefully I get my smile back.

Not April Fool's

Ok I am going to run either today or tomorrow. Its been a long enough time, I don't want to lose fitness and I need to get some fresh air. More on that later...

Derailed

My training for 2009 is officially off the tracks. I have not posted in about a month, I can't remember the last time I cycled, I have not run anything meaningful since mid-Feb and have been bothered by some hip soreness, and I quit using my coaching service because I don't have enough time to get my workouts in.

I think my problem was the stress associated with getting the workouts in each day, family, work, tax season, and a million other things. I was pretty sick yesterday and have been feeling really depressed and stressed out. I have a trip back to Boston next week and a few other work and family obligations to get settled before I re-evaluate.

My training had stopped being fun and started really bothering me physically and mentally. I'm going to see if I can get past this low and get back on the horse. But not for a few days.

What You Get Is What You Seek....Desire!!!!

The first person who knows the 80s glam band that sang those lyrics and sends it in the comment section...RULES.

Today is Friday and I really don't feel like working out today. The baby is sick, I've been up since 5, went to bed at 1, work is bothering me, its tax season and on and on and on. I skipped yesterday to get stuff done. I have to do the same today and tomorrow is normal Saturday workout.

Monday is a big day however. I have a 30 minute time trial at race pace. I have no idea what race pace is. All I know is I need to be 100% for it. I might try to work a swim in today and a ride tomorrow though.

Tomorrow is the Cycle For ALS. It is the yearly Spinathon for my charity, The Blazeman Foundation for ALS. There is no event in my area but I will probably donate on my own or try to schedule a ride by myself. In any event CLICK HERE to learn more about Jon "Blazeman" Blais for he is the inspiration for this blog.

Song in my head - I was thinking about the War On ALS and figured Don't Stop Believing was most appropriate. Currently ALS has no cure and very little has been discovered to be effective in fighting ALS. The War On ALS is here to raise money but also to raise awareness about this horrible disease which is an automatic death sentence to anyone who gets it. Team Blazeman is currently funding a research grant and also raising awareness in the Multisports community. My personal goal is to keep Jon Blais' misson alive while he is no longer with us. Thank you for supporting my efforts by reading my blog.

Progress

I went to bed last night thinking yesterday's post was a little moody and overblown and preachy. I considered taking it down or at the very least heavily editing it. However I woke up this morning with a call from Robert Blais, the father of Jon Blais, founder of Team Blazeman. He got to my blog through Facebook and wanted to reach out. It was a great conversation and really boosted my spirits tremendously.

With that, I set out on a 45 minute "easy" run today. My typical route is pretty hilly and by no means easy. I wanted to pick up the pace a bit so I decided to run to a marker about 2.6 miles away and run back home regardless of how long it took. My goal was to do it in 23 minutes. I ended up hitting my mark at 24, turned around and made it back by 46 minutes or so. I figure I ran at about a 9 minute pace. I felt really good, and I ran fast enough to make me think my season goal of running at an 8 minute per mile clip is attainable.

My workout routine is run-focused so I have a lot of opportunity to improve. I think this focus is good for me because I neglected my run last year almost entirely. It resulted in injuries and lack of fitness. This year, my goal is to build a strong run base and to get some speed in as well.

Song in My head - This Song by Kings of Leon. I have always been meaning to get into this band. I know they are really good, have awesome hair, and are multi-dimensional. Now I am into them.

What Have I Been Doing For 33 Years?

This may be a long post folks so strap in. The title of this post sums up my overwhelming thought process during my 1 hr ride this morning. I was riding along and thinking about how far I am from where I want to be. Professionally, I am not there yet and had to dust myself off after falling off the horse last week. Training-wise I am working my butt off, but my progress is so slow I can hardly comprehend where I was to begin with three years ago.

Let me take a step back. In 2002/03 while bored in a Business School class I started one of those "Bucket Lists" of things to do before I died. I sensed a freedom after two years of business school, preceded by three years suffocating in New York City, and four years drinking in college. I had a decent list going, some are obsolete - as they no longer mean anything to me, while others have been attained. One of those items was to do a triathlon (I had no idea how long, how hard, or whatever). I spent the next year and a half in a similarly suffocating environment in Boston while traveling each weekend to New Jersey where my wife was. Finally I moved out of downtown and had the freedom to swim and run and knock off that triathlon thingy.

Three years later, here I stand suffering through another week of workouts in an attempt to reach my new goal of getting 5:30 in a half-Ironman. In the interim, I have taught myself how to swim pretty much from scratch. Now I am at the point I feel strong in the water over any distance between a mile and probably 2 miles. Similarly I can perform flipturns, do the backstroke, and a lot of other things. I no longer feel self-conscious in Speedo and I regularly pee in the pool with no qualms.

On the bike and run, I am still babystepping my way to proficiency...and it sucks. Yesterday I ran for an hour, but my pace is so slow, I am practically walking at times. Today I am on the bike dreaming about a real live tri-bike. But the whole time I am thinking to myself that I can barely clip in/clip out, I know nothing about road cycling, and could barely make it through one day of a two day endurance ride.

This whole experience left me wondering, if this is where I am after 4 1/2 years of working out religiously, three years of triathlon prep, and 33 years of living, then WHERE THE F*** WAS I BEFORE???? Back in 03, I thought doing a tri and knocking off a slot in Kona was as easy as doing it. I guess my point, is, setting goals is really important, but the followthrough should not be delayed for even a second. I am just starting to realize that because the process is so gradual, it's sometimes hard to even quantify.

If I was to impart any advice on any readers with similar unstarted goals, I'd say, "START WORKING ON THEM TONIGHT, YOU ARE NOT GETTING ANY YOUNGER".

Song in my head - Another bucket list item was to learn to play guitar. I started playing in November (a full year and a half after buying one). I am killing myself for not learning it sooner. It's freaking easy. I am a huge Rock fan and always dreamed of kicking ass on stage. I have no real desire to play stadiums, but it would be awesome to know I was good enough to play anything I want. The two songs I have been practicing recently are the very simple but gorgeous Oasis classics Wonderwall and Live Forever. I have been practicing these like crazy for the past few days. I hope to be as awesome as Noel Gallagher one day. Til next time

Babe I'm Leavin' (not really)

After a rest day which everything except babysitting my kids, went wrong, I woke up today and felt somehow energized. No idea why, makes no sense, I went to bed at 3AM and for some reason felt great. I guess today was a bootstrapping day where everything fell apart yesterday so there was no other choice today but to start from scratch and move on.

Okay the entire previous paragraph needed to be expressed. I realize it makes no sense to anyone but, hey, no one is reading this anyway. I know.

Today was a longer swim day than I had done in the previous two weeks. After a 300 warmup, I did 500 nonstop with flipturns, followed by 5 sets of 300 (150 moderate, 50 kick, 50 backstroke, and 50 hard). The 500 nonstop was easy, but as I got to the end of my 5 sets I noticed I was very much out of gas. I blame my nutrition.

A good breakfast for me is a bowl of Cheerios or Oatmeal and maybe a banana with a good dose of water with coffee. I only had coffee and almonds because I was distracted all morning. I didn't bring any Gatorade or anything to the gym either. I also didn't eat well last night and went to bed hungry so my tank was empty. This has happened before and I suffered in the workout today. I still finished and did fine, but I learned the important lesson of sticking to good nutrition before and after training.

Song in My Head - Best...Song...Ever. I was in the supermarket after the gym and heard Desert Moon by Dennis DeYoung, former lead singer of Styx. I swear to God I had to stop myself from turning to the guy next to me and talking to him about this song. We had just got MTV when this came out in 1984/85 and they played this song ALL THE TIME. Awesome video as well I think I have heard this song three times since it was on the radio. Watching it again rules. Thank goodness for Youtube. Today is looking much better than yesterday.

Long May I Run

Hey new and old readers. I am expecting a little bump in traffic. Hopefully the Blogspot servers don't crash. According to Google Analytics the vast majority of my hits come from me, but I am getting the word out there gradually and mingling in the blog world a little more, so perhaps I will have a few more regulars. For those of you reading for the first time, please come back, also leave a comment. Its nice to get them. In addition, a good way to keep up with additional posts is to feed it into Facebook or to get a reader such as Netvibes. Once you get hooked up you can add my blog and be notified whenever there is a new post.

Monday was my long run day. I have been complaining for the last few weeks on how much my long runs have been killing me. Today was going to be a 90 minute run so I was expecting a little more of the same. Fortunately it was a great day. I set out of the house on my usual, hilly course. My heartrate was a lot lower than usual, I got pretty far out and found a golf course to run around, by the time I exited, I was a lot further out than expected and made my way back home. I arrived home in 105 minutes, which I am guessing was about 10 miles.

My legs were sore but strong. I even kicked it pretty hard for the last half mile so I feel my legs are starting to come around. This was the longest training run I have ever completed and amounts to just under the distance I have to run in the race. With that as a guide I think I am in decent shape for at least finishing with nine months to go. I was certainly encouraged by today.

In addition, my 6 boxes of Mallomars. For those of you who have never been to the Tri-State Area, Mallomars are the greatest cookie ever made. They are popular in New York and the surrounding suburbs and virtually nonexistent any where else in the country. There is a good article on them here. In Washington, they are impossible to find. So I had to go onto Amazon.com to get them. But they are here and I have 6 boxes (whoops 5).

Song in my head - "Down About It" by Lemonheads. This is off their 1994 album, Come On Feel The Lemonheads. I am learning this on guitar now so I am getting closer to learning all of the songs from this album on acoustic. My life then will be complete.

Resting My Case

Today is my official rest day of the week. When I last posted, I was not looking forward to Friday and dreading my Saturday workouts.

They actually went very well. To back up, I think I was suffering from some winter doldrums, which I am still in. It is cold and miserable here in the Pac Northwest, the sun rises at 7:30 and sets at 5 and there seems to be no time or energy to do anything. So to change my perspective, I threw on some Hawaiian music, swam, and basically had a little summer in January.

The swim went great. I had two sets of 500s plus 1000 in various warmup sets and whatnot. Did the 500s with flipturns with no problems. I have the timing down pretty well and I am learning to execute the turn with the perfect body position and streamline out properly. It is still tiring over 500 but any other distance is cake.

The next day I got up at 5:30, stared at the wall for 45 minutes, put my clothes on, and hit the Foothills trail for 2 hours followed by a 15 minute run. The ride went very well for my second time outside this winter. I was bundled well this time so no worries. My fitness was sluggish at first, but the second hour called for a few pickups so I sprinted on virtually every straightaway. It really made the ride fly by and I was happy with my speed.

To say I am beyond my fitness from last year is an understatement. I am doing well and trying to recover as best as possible. We'll see how next week goes.

Song in my head - Luchini by Camp Lo. This was a big song when I was DJing in college. I must've wasted $1000 on worthless CDs back then, easily, before Itunes. This was one of them.