Spazzing Out on the Swim

I'm not doing my scheduled run tomorrow. There I said it. My coach has been looking at my workout log and suggested that I might not be recovering from my workouts as quickly as I should be, since I am complaining of my legs being "mushy" etc. I think I am walking the line between "pushing myself to get in better shape" and "overdoing it." Yesterday was really tough, and followed another really tough day. Today was a tough swim and easy bike ride. But tomorrow is a skip (it should be a 30 minute run). I got a busy work day anyway so I am going to back of, rest, do some pushups and core and get ready for Saturday.

Today was a 2500 yd swim consisting of a 400 yd warm up, followed by a pyramid of sorts. I started with 3 50s, 3 100s, then 2 150s, 2 200s, and 2 150s followed by 3 100s, and 3 50s. All at a hard pace and with flipturns. The swim for me is my strength, but the workouts leave me very sleepy. I am proud of myself for pushing through the workout. Although my muscles were staring to spaz out in the water. It was weird. I felt my left foot seize, the my right, and then some kid came in my lane causing me to stop short and both my legs tightened up like crazy. Regardless, it made me very fulfilled at the end to finish.

I think with a little rest tomorrow, I will be able to head into Saturday fresh and tackle next week with a good level of commitment.

Song in my head - "You Are My Sunshine" and More Than Words because I am learning them on guitar. I am "EXTREMEly envious of Nuno Nettencourt's hair I will accept all suggestions of songs to learn.

The Old Man is Snoring

Long day today. My daughteralarmlclock went off at 5:30. So I got up, changed diaper, made bottle, stared at the TV which was off, made coffee (or maybe I didn't) I forget, and headed into the office. I am taking of a few new projects at work that are really exciting but scary at the same time so my mind races like crazy at night. Today was a 30 minute run in the pouring rain, and an hour long bike ride that I did inside.

I was able to get hooked up with Google Chrome and Netvibes today. It's like a whole new world has opened up for me.

Yesterday's long run was great on one level. I finished it. But my routine is really challenging so nothing is coming easy. The good news is, I am training for the run harder than I have before, I am getting great swims in with little stress, and I am learning a lot more on the bike. Bad news is really just the constant level of fatigue in my legs. I am pretty certain that this is all just contributing to a greater base of fitness. As long as I stay injury-free I should see the other side of this fairly soon. If this works, I see nothing preventing me from working on my speed this spring and being ready to race this summer.

I read a great article on my favorite triathlon-related site today Slowtwitch regarding preparing for the winter months. It really focused me on what I need to accomplish this winter. Today I put that to good use and worked on my cadence for the bike. I made the gear really low (or is it high? basically I made the gear easy) and tried to sustain a high cadence throughout. It felt awesome, I went much faster than I was used to with less effort. I am going to start focusing on cadence, form, and my revolutions on the indoor trainer from now on and use my stopwatch to keep time. A really eye-opening experience.

This blog is starting to get good so stick around and feel free to leave comments. If you have a blog let me know and I'll go to it and do the same.

Song in my head - Just Got Lucky by JoBoxers. I saw the video on an old MTV clip of a Motley Crue interview and had completely blocked any memory of this song out of my head. I can vaguely recall this from MTV though. I remember when we first got MTV, I used to watch it morning, noon, and night and they played a lot of great obscure stuff like this. How this is never on one of those One Hit Wonder compilations? I love the "Come On Eileen" wannabee video. What was up with the video directors back then?

In the poo

Woke up a half-hour late today. No reason. Other than couldn't fall asleep last night. Work is getting ridunkulously busy (good). So my mind is racing. I am very much a night person. Always have been.

This blog may pehaps be getting more better so stay tuned.

I ran an hour today on the indoor track. I felt really good for the first 45 minutes. I was at a conversational pace. I must be really slow right now because I was passed by everyone else running. Granted very few people were going 5-6 miles, but I certainly would have like to pass a very people who were, you know, running. Instead everyone walking and over 70 had to eat my dust. My legs are starting to come around slowly but surely. I have reached the point yet where I feel I am in shape. But I guess that is the way everyone feels at this time of year. The more in more in shape I get, the more I realize how out of shape I was last year and before that.

I like the routine of a long Tuesday run. It is my most productive day of the week (and everyone else's statistically speaking). And the run is the area that has the biggest room for improvement in my racing. My mindset at this point is, I have the potential to turn in a very fast swim. I should be "in shape" for my ride, and if all goes well, I should be able to running strongly and steadily. I was watching Kona 2009 again and Craig Alexander looked so fluid and strong running. That is what I hope for.

Song in my head during the run - some awful Christian pop/punk garbage (sometime I hate living in urban sprawl Americana). That music is not heavenly whatsoever, so therefore I will substitute it with a punk band that has a singer that can actually sing so I choose Rise Against doing "The Good Left Undone"

Day 2: MUP

Day 2 7:54 - I'm up. 'mup. MUP!!!! Thanks to my lovely almost ten month old daughter, I did not need an alarm clock today. Instead I was able to feed and change my Ainsley twice between 6:36 and 6:46 AM. I was able to get up, get some Cheerios, make some coffee, watch a few seconds of the 2008 Kona telecast, and make a few calls to the East coast all before 8. With all three girls back in bed I can now get into gear. Now I just don't know what to do with myself.

Today is a relatively easy day, but not that easy. I have a 2500 yd swim and nothing else before my hour long run tomorrow. It appears that this may be a lighter load than previous weeks in preparation for more stuff next week. I am still very tired physically. My legs are dead, and every day is a new area of soreness. Today my groins are sore as hell and I have no idea why. I usually feel that way after hockey. Maybe it's just the morning and I'm cranky.

If anyone in triathlon-land has a legal, non-chemical way of recovering from long runs and bikes and swims that take place six out of seven days per week I would appreciate it. If your suggestion comes in powder form and is produced by a company called "such and such Nutition" don't bother, I tried it and it doesn't work. I wonder what the pros do (other than genetic doping).

This may be my last day doing a morning post. I am in such a better mood at the end of the day.

Day One of New Year's Resolution

7:23 AM So my first day putting the Resolution of getting up before 7 is in full effect...and I'm a mess. It's such a simple, dumb goal but it has been a long time coming and is difficult (as witnessed by the shock that I am in right now). Today is best day to start this because it is a Sunday (my rest day) and everyone is not supposed to be up for a few hours so I have a couple hours to mope around the house like a zombie.

The goal is really about getting the balance back in my life as a Dad, real estate guy, and age group triathlete hoping to break 5:30 this summer. I've noticed trying to balance all three of these has become impossible and 1 or 2 of these has suffered. Dad always comes first for certain. But I have been have a difficult time shoe-horning my workouts in during day hours especially since runs require daylight and it begins to get dark at 4:30. There are a thousand other reasons but the simplest is there are just not enough hours in the day to complete long triathlon workouts if they are done during the middle of the day between work and kids, etc. Finally I have a few work things to get going and now is the best time, so I need a few hours to myself during the day without the kids running in and out of my office all day.

Well I am starting to get all my workouts in anyways and my body is just starting to get acclimated to the workload. I write this at a time however when I can't move a muscle. Yesterday was the culmination of a hard week where I did an hour long bike followed immediately by a 30 minute run. I am just drained today and need to get some energy in my body ASAP. The day before I completed my longest swim of the season so far and did fairly well the same day that I did an hour and fifteen minute bike ride. Good news is, my legs are getting there. Bad news is. I need about six days worth of sleep. I hope to catch up today with Ainsley asleep this afternoon and would like to get to bed early tonight. If that goes as planned I should be ready for another week of workouts.

No song in my head because my head is still asleep.

Happy New Year

This blog is not dead. It was only resting for the holidays. In addition, my 2009 training plan is not dead either. But just barely. The races are so far away I haven't even signed up for them yet. But I will, trust me. Thanks to the good people at trainingpeaks.com and D3Multisport, I am now emailed my workouts each and every day and I get feedback and input from their coaches. It falls into the category of "keeping me honest" and will really help me in the upcoming season. Some of the workouts are really hard and kill me the next day, but in this "base-building" time of year I am glad to be putting in lots of miles so that I will have plenty in the tank this summer.

New Years resolutions are: 1) get up early (7 at latest) and either begin work or workout - This really escaped my grasp as the kids started staying up later and the holidays took hold. I was forced to workout during lunchtime hours which filtered into worktime hours which killed my days. This sounds like a simple resolution but everything in my life that I need to adjust filters through this. Therefore if I can prioritize this I will be on track to accomplish all of my other personal goals. 2) Blog at least twice a week. The blog has always been a good diary for my training. It really helps focus me. If I procrastinate the blogging it usually means I am procrastinating in all other areas of my life.

A little bit of training housekeeping - I am all set for the winter since I bought myself some heavy winter running/cycling pants, a refelctive jacket for outside running and a Polar RS200 heartrate monitor. These are important training tools that help me get out there in the winter months and keep an eye on how hard I am working. I am thankful I have them and plan on putting them to good use.

Today is a tough Saturday brick that I must complete after a tough swim/bike day yesterday and in advance of my day off tomorrow. Looking forward to the rest tomorrow and I will update you on how I am progressing tomorrow. Happy New Year.

Song in my head - It's a Mistake by Men at Work. I saw the documentary of them at the US Festival this weekend. They headlined in front of 300,000 people. Unreal.

2008-2009 Begins Tomorrow Officially

Well I am back into the swing of things. I am looking at 2008-2009 in a similar manner as perhaps I would have looked at business school a few years back. I am now officially over the "hey, isn't this great I am working out" sensation. I am more looking at this upcoming year as an opportunity to build off of last year's base and get better at multisports.

After the last race in mid September, I relaxed for a few weeks, got back into my work, spent a lot of time with the kids (giving Adrienne a break), and drank a few dozens bottles of wine. The time off helped me heal up the knee and seal up the preceding. I then started thinking about what I wanted to improve upon this year. I need to get stronger, faster, and be in better shape for my races. This seems simple enough, but in the sport of triathlon achieving those goals requires a lot of work. While last year I was seemingly holding on for dear life during my races, this year I would like to attack the races and push through my previous times.

Right now I am in the weight room for about an hour three days a week (M,W,F) for the first time in a few years. I am just working on basic movements such as bench press, squats, chin-ups, dips and a few others that work muscles I need for the race. On off days I am in the pool working on kicking drills for the swim. Although the swim is my strength, my kick is weak. I basically do a breast stroke kick right now, which I would like to correct. If I can get more proficient with my flutter kick and get stronger I think I can be a lot faster in training and that will translate to faster in the race. This my third week on the program and I feel a lot better. I am constantly sore, so I am certainly doing the right thing and I am starting to get better at the kick.

This is what I am calling my pre-training phase. Once I get comfortable at this level I will begin bringing actual workouts into play and maintaining what I have done so far. But that should fall into place later. In the meantime, I have my first phone conversation with my coach for 2009 so wish me luck.

Song in my head: Shimmer by Fuel