I didn't notice it until today but switching up the workouts this past weekend really fatigued my legs. They aren't sore, but they have no life in them. I ran for 45 minutes and got in about 5.5 miles yesterday morning. I just felt like I had heavy legs and didn't have much life in them, but it wasn't that bad. I did a few strides as well but the run felt pretty good. What killed me was a bike ride after work on Tuesday. I just couldn't go at all. I would try to push and I had the lungs, which is abnormal, but the legs just didn't want to work. I called it quits after 45 minutes and went home. I ate a lot of protein last night to help recover. The only thing that I can think that did this much damage was mixing up the workouts this past weekend. That's good though because you're body gets stronger when you mix up the workouts, right? I may need a massage to help out, but I'm not going to get one.
Monday was a rest day with a weigh in of 186 pounds.
New Balance mileage: 130 miles
Nike mileage: 139.5 miles
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
300 Pound Triathletes (Crosspost)
I saw this post on Mark Sisson's blog about how how describes it as "fat but fit". I'll post more later, but I thought this was interesting and I just wanted to share it with my readers, uh, I mean myself. Also, I like the little cartoon picture at the top of the post, too.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Longhorn Tri Scouting Report
I rode the bike course for the Longhorn Tri this morning. I want to write about it so that I remember it for the race. The ride started out on 3177. It's a somewhat busy 4 lane highway, but with decent shoulders. Then, the course takes a right onto 290 and it's busier than 3177 but with wider shoulders. Then, the course takes a right on Old Kimbro Rd. For the next significant portion of the course, it's on farm back roads. There are a few patches of rough pavement, but nothing is that bad for that long. The road conditions vary from semismooth chip seal all the way to very smooth asphalt. It is very scenic with lots of farms, ranches, and fields. The course keep changing directions so it does break it up a bit and you aren't staying on a single road for very long stretches. There is all kinds of terrain. A few small rollers, so nice flat parts, and a few false flats which are somewhat annoying. There is a decent amount of shade along the roads as well but not much prolonged shade. The trees also block the wind a bit. The changing directions also prevents the wind from being a straight headwind or straight tailwind for a long period of time, too. Littig was kind of annoying because I think that was the roughest patch of pavement and it was a lot of false flats. Like I said, all of these roads are very lightly traveled two lane farm roads and there was very little traffic, but if there was traffic, it was big trucks and sometimes they were hauling trailers.
About half way through the course, you turn onto 1704. This stretch of road is very nice in some regards. The pavement is absolutely glassy smooth and it's fast. There is a pretty good amount of shade and there are some stretches of slight downhills. There are a few rollers, too. Now, the bad part about this road. It's a two lane highway with no shoulder and a decent amount of traffic. Then, you take a turn onto 969. Once again, a 2 lane highway with little to no shoulder but slightly less traffic. A right onto Blake-Manor leads into a somewhat significant hill. The pavement is mostly smooth for the majority of this road. A left onto Taylor puts you on probably the roughest parts of the course, but it still isn't too bad. As usual for this course, it's pretty scenic and you won't get bored with the course. Very nice Texas farmland. Decker Lake and Nez Pearce have some rough patches as well. Mostly fissures in the pavement and stuff like that, but still very lightly traveled. Gilbert leading up to 973 is nice. It's a slight uphill, but very fresh asphalt. Then, you take a left onto 973 which is the most dangerous part because it's a left at a red light and 973 is somewhat busy. It's a 2 lane highway with no shoulder and I got buzzed once that scared the crap out of me. On this road is a slight hill and then the toughest hill of the entire course. It's pretty big for Texas standards but not htat bad. It's maybe a 2-3 minute climb and you have to get in the little chain ring unless you are a beast. Oh, I got in my little chain ring maybe 3-4 times if that gives you any indication of the hilliness of this course, but I also tend to go up hills in the big chain ring, too. Once you crest the hill, you're about 2 miles from the transition area and there is another slight hill up into the transition area.
Overall, it's a very scenic course on either highways with big shoulders or little traveled farm roads for the most part. Some rolling hills, false flats, and flat, fast sections with only 2 or 3 moderate hills. Lots of changing directions as well to keep it interesting. I think Keith Jordan did a pretty good job selecting this bike course. I'm happy with it.
About half way through the course, you turn onto 1704. This stretch of road is very nice in some regards. The pavement is absolutely glassy smooth and it's fast. There is a pretty good amount of shade and there are some stretches of slight downhills. There are a few rollers, too. Now, the bad part about this road. It's a two lane highway with no shoulder and a decent amount of traffic. Then, you take a turn onto 969. Once again, a 2 lane highway with little to no shoulder but slightly less traffic. A right onto Blake-Manor leads into a somewhat significant hill. The pavement is mostly smooth for the majority of this road. A left onto Taylor puts you on probably the roughest parts of the course, but it still isn't too bad. As usual for this course, it's pretty scenic and you won't get bored with the course. Very nice Texas farmland. Decker Lake and Nez Pearce have some rough patches as well. Mostly fissures in the pavement and stuff like that, but still very lightly traveled. Gilbert leading up to 973 is nice. It's a slight uphill, but very fresh asphalt. Then, you take a left onto 973 which is the most dangerous part because it's a left at a red light and 973 is somewhat busy. It's a 2 lane highway with no shoulder and I got buzzed once that scared the crap out of me. On this road is a slight hill and then the toughest hill of the entire course. It's pretty big for Texas standards but not htat bad. It's maybe a 2-3 minute climb and you have to get in the little chain ring unless you are a beast. Oh, I got in my little chain ring maybe 3-4 times if that gives you any indication of the hilliness of this course, but I also tend to go up hills in the big chain ring, too. Once you crest the hill, you're about 2 miles from the transition area and there is another slight hill up into the transition area.
Overall, it's a very scenic course on either highways with big shoulders or little traveled farm roads for the most part. Some rolling hills, false flats, and flat, fast sections with only 2 or 3 moderate hills. Lots of changing directions as well to keep it interesting. I think Keith Jordan did a pretty good job selecting this bike course. I'm happy with it.
Woah, this nutrition thing works!
I keep having crappy long workouts. I'm just zonked towards the end of every workout, especially on the brick runs. Well, not today! I went riding wit Colleen, Shellie, and Maggie. Maggie is a really good cyclist and she and I dropped the other two pretty quickly. Oh, we rode the exact course for the Longhorn Tri in October and I'll report on that later. We ended up riding for about 3:20 or so and got about 60 miles in. Then, I went and did a 30 minute brick workout. I was actually feeling pretty strong during the run and felt like I could keep going for awhile. Here's what happened. I really upped my nutrition this workout. During the ride, I had 3 bottles of Infinit which had about 300 calories each. I had 2 bottles of Gatorade with about 100 calories each. I also had two Rice Krispy treats with 100 calories each. That's 1300 calories over the course of 4 hours of exercise. That seems about right. I also had a 3 Nuun tablets and about 8 Thermolyte tablets so my electrolytes were up as well. During the workout, I had 5 bottles of fluid and peed only twice. That indicates to me that I still need to take in more fluids, but I'm happy to realize that my nutrition is pretty well dialed in now. Oh, the run. It was tough at first, but I eased into it and kept running almost the entire time. I felt fine, too.
New Balance run mileage: 130 miles
Nike mileage: 134 miles
Weekly run mileage: 28.5 miles
New Balance run mileage: 130 miles
Nike mileage: 134 miles
Weekly run mileage: 28.5 miles
Saturday, August 25, 2007
My HRM strap is NAS-TAY!
I picked up my HRM strap this morning to put it on. It was about 3 feet from my nose and I could smell it. I put it all the way up to my nose and I nearly passed out. Man, that thing stinks! It's going in the dishwasher at some point by the end of the year!
After the horrible workouts last weekend from the heat, I decided to go ahead and get up early this weekend to workout when it was cooler. This morning, I was up at 5:30 and actually running by 6:45. Oh, my coach switched up the workouts this weekend and put the long run on Saturday and the long bike and brick on Sunday. I like this and wish he would do it more. I was on the trail by 6:45 like I said. Also, I was trying some different things today. I put bandaids on my nipples to prevent chafing. That worked and they stayed on the entire time. Awesome! I also put chamois butter in my shorts and that didn't work. My taint still got chafed. I need to try something else out and I think I'll pick up some actually running shorts and try them on a next run. The compression shorts that I used are the suspected culprit in my "down below" problems. Another good thing. I did 3 laps of the 4.5 mile loop at Lady Bird Johnson Lake. I came home and used MapMyRun to verify the distance. The 4.5 mile loop is actually 5 miles. Now, that makes a lot of sense and makes me happier because I then dropped 30 seconds/mile off of my time! I did 15 miles today in 2:09 and that put me at about an 8:36/mile pace. That's more like it! Now, running earlier in the morning is a lot better than running at noon. When I was off the trail, it was only 82 degrees or so. I don't think I ran faster, but I do think that I ran easier. It didn't seem as difficult to run. However, I did have trouble breathing the second half of the run. Hopefully, it'll be another week or so before my asthma medication kicks in and then I can breathe easier. Oh, my workout today was a 2-2:15 run with 3x15 min strong, 5 min easy in the second half. I did do the strong intervals, but I was really tired by the third. My legs just feel heavy when I run. I know that I have big legs and that's probably why, but this is just something that I noticed. I also have a nice big blister on the ball of my right big toe, too. It's in the usual spot.
After that, I went to Deep Eddy to do a recovery swim. Their lane lines were closed so I went to Barton Springs instead. I haven't been there in awhile. It was OK. The water was colder and more refreshing than Deep Eddy and that is good. I swam 3 laps and I was done. I was suppose to swim for 45 minutes which is about 4 laps, but I just cant' swim that long at Barton Springs. It's a mental. I went to ATC, got some tacos and Powerade, and I'm now at home chilling for the rest of the day. It's a great feeling to have all of your workouts done by 10am in the morning.
New Balance mileage: 130 miles
Nike mileage: 131 miles
After the horrible workouts last weekend from the heat, I decided to go ahead and get up early this weekend to workout when it was cooler. This morning, I was up at 5:30 and actually running by 6:45. Oh, my coach switched up the workouts this weekend and put the long run on Saturday and the long bike and brick on Sunday. I like this and wish he would do it more. I was on the trail by 6:45 like I said. Also, I was trying some different things today. I put bandaids on my nipples to prevent chafing. That worked and they stayed on the entire time. Awesome! I also put chamois butter in my shorts and that didn't work. My taint still got chafed. I need to try something else out and I think I'll pick up some actually running shorts and try them on a next run. The compression shorts that I used are the suspected culprit in my "down below" problems. Another good thing. I did 3 laps of the 4.5 mile loop at Lady Bird Johnson Lake. I came home and used MapMyRun to verify the distance. The 4.5 mile loop is actually 5 miles. Now, that makes a lot of sense and makes me happier because I then dropped 30 seconds/mile off of my time! I did 15 miles today in 2:09 and that put me at about an 8:36/mile pace. That's more like it! Now, running earlier in the morning is a lot better than running at noon. When I was off the trail, it was only 82 degrees or so. I don't think I ran faster, but I do think that I ran easier. It didn't seem as difficult to run. However, I did have trouble breathing the second half of the run. Hopefully, it'll be another week or so before my asthma medication kicks in and then I can breathe easier. Oh, my workout today was a 2-2:15 run with 3x15 min strong, 5 min easy in the second half. I did do the strong intervals, but I was really tired by the third. My legs just feel heavy when I run. I know that I have big legs and that's probably why, but this is just something that I noticed. I also have a nice big blister on the ball of my right big toe, too. It's in the usual spot.
After that, I went to Deep Eddy to do a recovery swim. Their lane lines were closed so I went to Barton Springs instead. I haven't been there in awhile. It was OK. The water was colder and more refreshing than Deep Eddy and that is good. I swam 3 laps and I was done. I was suppose to swim for 45 minutes which is about 4 laps, but I just cant' swim that long at Barton Springs. It's a mental. I went to ATC, got some tacos and Powerade, and I'm now at home chilling for the rest of the day. It's a great feeling to have all of your workouts done by 10am in the morning.
New Balance mileage: 130 miles
Nike mileage: 131 miles
Friday, August 24, 2007
Finally had a good swim
I actually had a pretty decent swim this morning and got in about 3600 yards. The beginning stuff was the usual drills and pull buoys and paddles. The last few sets were 12x100 all on a 1:50 interval. The first 4 were at 80%. The middle 4 were at 85%. The last 4 were at 90-95%. When I go fast, I go fast and don't really differentiate between 90% and 100%. I was really moving, for me, on the last 4 and the last one was actually a 1:26/100yds. Not bad doing that after swimming 3400 yards before that. It hurt like hell though, but it felt good to end a workout with a strong swim like that.
Yesterday was a 27min run during lunch. It was hot and I ran slow. After work was a 90 min spin with some faster, longer intervals. That hurt, but in a good way. I really can't wait to get back to shorter stuff next year so that I can work on increasing my lactic threshold and getting used to getting my heart rate high and keeping it there.
Wednesday was the core workout and a skipped swim workout. I decided to go home and try to get some rest because I was feeling worn down. I'm still feeling tired and I expect to be in bed by 9pm tonight. Luckily, next week is a recovery week so maybe I can sleep in a bit and get some chores done around the house. Oh, my weight this morning was 184.
New Balance mileage: 115 miles
Nike mileage: 131 miles
Yesterday was a 27min run during lunch. It was hot and I ran slow. After work was a 90 min spin with some faster, longer intervals. That hurt, but in a good way. I really can't wait to get back to shorter stuff next year so that I can work on increasing my lactic threshold and getting used to getting my heart rate high and keeping it there.
Wednesday was the core workout and a skipped swim workout. I decided to go home and try to get some rest because I was feeling worn down. I'm still feeling tired and I expect to be in bed by 9pm tonight. Luckily, next week is a recovery week so maybe I can sleep in a bit and get some chores done around the house. Oh, my weight this morning was 184.
New Balance mileage: 115 miles
Nike mileage: 131 miles
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
I forgot something
I forgot to post something about my Saturday workout. During that ride, my focus was to stay in the aero position. I have issues being in aero for that long and I really need to practice it. I always get lower back pain on my left side that I almost never get in training. Also, left hip flexor usually gets fried at about the same time. Well, of the 4 hour ride on Saturday, I spent about 3:15 in aero. It felt pretty good. Being in aero for that long is something that you have to get used to and I need to get used to it. During the ride, I could definitely feel a difference and it was good practice. Also, my back hurt a bit so that is kind of good that I can replicate that when training.
Now, for the rest of the week, I did the core workout on Monday. I'm not sore after it like I was last week. However, my left shoulder is jacked up. I'm working with Rachel to fix it up a bit, too. We'll see how that works out. I hate asking her questions about PT issues because she's not at work and she isn't getting paid for it. I also saw the doctor and got put back on an asthma medication so hopefully I'll be able to breathe easier in the next week or so. Breathing deeply while working out has been bothering me lately and I think it's because of a combination of the heat and I haven't been on asthma medication in over a month now. My Monday weigh in was actually on Tuesday morning and it was 187.5. That's a bad trend that's developing. I weighed in on Tuesday instead of Monday because I woke up at 7:04 on Monday, I had to be at work at 7:30, and it takes 20 minutes to get to work. Tuesday was a run workout with Texas Iron. It was only 90 degrees so it wasn't that hot. After this past weekend, I'm trying to avoid the heat more. I think it's a mental thing though. Anyways, after a 15min warmup, we did 10x400 steady, 200 easy. I ran with Richelle, Emily, and Allison. We maintained 1:45 for the 400's the entire time and it felt great to run that consistently. I probably could've done 1:40 but 1:45 is good enough because I still felt like I was working pretty hard to maintain them. It was a good workout and I'm happy with it. With the cooldown, the total workout was about 7.5 miles.
New Balance mileage: 112 miles
Nike mileage: 131 miles
Now, for the rest of the week, I did the core workout on Monday. I'm not sore after it like I was last week. However, my left shoulder is jacked up. I'm working with Rachel to fix it up a bit, too. We'll see how that works out. I hate asking her questions about PT issues because she's not at work and she isn't getting paid for it. I also saw the doctor and got put back on an asthma medication so hopefully I'll be able to breathe easier in the next week or so. Breathing deeply while working out has been bothering me lately and I think it's because of a combination of the heat and I haven't been on asthma medication in over a month now. My Monday weigh in was actually on Tuesday morning and it was 187.5. That's a bad trend that's developing. I weighed in on Tuesday instead of Monday because I woke up at 7:04 on Monday, I had to be at work at 7:30, and it takes 20 minutes to get to work. Tuesday was a run workout with Texas Iron. It was only 90 degrees so it wasn't that hot. After this past weekend, I'm trying to avoid the heat more. I think it's a mental thing though. Anyways, after a 15min warmup, we did 10x400 steady, 200 easy. I ran with Richelle, Emily, and Allison. We maintained 1:45 for the 400's the entire time and it felt great to run that consistently. I probably could've done 1:40 but 1:45 is good enough because I still felt like I was working pretty hard to maintain them. It was a good workout and I'm happy with it. With the cooldown, the total workout was about 7.5 miles.
New Balance mileage: 112 miles
Nike mileage: 131 miles
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Long Run
Long run today. Was suppose to do 2 hours but did 12.3 miles in 1:53 instead. It was hot again because I didn't start 11:30 or so. And my pace showed it because I ran that 12 miles at 9:10 pace. I really can't wait until winter to start running faster again. I'm having a smoothie and I'm not feeling good either. I'm a little nauseous. Oh, I had to crap pretty much the entire run and that wasn't comfortable. As soon as I stopped, it went away.
New Balance mileage: 112 miles
Nike mileage: 123.5 miles
Weekly run mileage: 28 miles
New Balance mileage: 112 miles
Nike mileage: 123.5 miles
Weekly run mileage: 28 miles
Saturday, August 18, 2007
I actually had a good workout today!
I've been trying to ramp up my long workouts on Saturday lately because I have a half Ironman in about 6 weeks or so. Today's workout was a 3.5 hour easy bike followed by a 50 minute brick run. Well, I did all of it. I've been bagging the workouts or cutting them short lately for various reasons. It was important for me to actually complete a workout and I did it today. I went for a ride leaving at 8:00 this morning. The fucking weather.com website lied to me. They said there was only a 10% chance of rain. Well, it rained on me for pretty much 30 minutes into the ride until 1:30 into the ride. It wasn't that bad riding in the rain. The problem with riding in the rain is if you have glasses on, it's nearly impossible to see. If you don't have glasses, the rain hurts like hell. Finally, it cleared up. When I rode long the last time a few weeks ago, I hit a wall about 3 hours into the ride. Today, there was no wall at all and I think that's a good sign. I came home and had gotten in a total of 4:05. I went for a run and it hurt. But the important thing is that I kept running. I ran the entire time that I was suppose to run though. I got back in about 50 minutes which was a very good thing. When I run, I don't have access to any fluids. I only had 5 bottles on the bike when I should've had close to 8. I wasn't cramping, but it got H-O-T towards the end of my run. The sun came out and the wind died down. When I left my house, the idiots at weather.com said it was 90 degrees and there was a heat index of 104. I felt it the last 10 minutes of the run. I was getting in bad shape. I was light headed and I would get cold flashes. My hands and arms were tingly, but I kept going. Once I finished, I didn't feel that great because the dizziness and tingling continued for about 10 minutes. I started feeling better and had a smoothie. Seriously, I'm really happy that I got the entire workout done today and that I powered through the heat on the run and didn't give up at all.
New Balance mileage: 99.5 miles
Nike mileage: 123.5 miles
EDIT: I wanted to add some other things. I trudged through the run at 9:05 miles, but it worked. I ran a total of 5.5 miles today. At first, my knees were sore, not still, but they loosened up as I ran. I felt good about 10 minutes into the run until about 35 minutes into the run. This is something that I should expect in the future. I also came home and took about a 2 hour nap. This was one of the naps where I was on my couch trying to type up the post and the next thing I know, I'm rolling around on the couch waking up 2 hours later. I guess I needed sleep.
New Balance mileage: 99.5 miles
Nike mileage: 123.5 miles
EDIT: I wanted to add some other things. I trudged through the run at 9:05 miles, but it worked. I ran a total of 5.5 miles today. At first, my knees were sore, not still, but they loosened up as I ran. I felt good about 10 minutes into the run until about 35 minutes into the run. This is something that I should expect in the future. I also came home and took about a 2 hour nap. This was one of the naps where I was on my couch trying to type up the post and the next thing I know, I'm rolling around on the couch waking up 2 hours later. I guess I needed sleep.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Wow, I thought I had bad swims before. . .
I swam this morning. My lats were still very fatigued from the core workout on Monday still. Seriously fatigued. They're still sore to the touch right now and it's been over 4 days. I was very pokey in the pool and I was actually trying. I only swam about 2700yds and I got out because I needed to get to work.
Yesterday was another naked run in the morning for about 30 minutes. It wasn't a good run. I didn't feel good the entire time. After work was a 60 minute spin with 2x5min hill climb, 2 min rest and then 5x2min fast, 1min easy. My weight was 186.5. Not much else to add.
New Balance mileage: 99.5 miles
Nike mileage: 118 miles
Yesterday was another naked run in the morning for about 30 minutes. It wasn't a good run. I didn't feel good the entire time. After work was a 60 minute spin with 2x5min hill climb, 2 min rest and then 5x2min fast, 1min easy. My weight was 186.5. Not much else to add.
New Balance mileage: 99.5 miles
Nike mileage: 118 miles
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Body Fat Check
I went in this morning and got my body fat checked. It was 16.2% It's higher than I would like but here are the stats:
Chest: 14
Abs: 25
Thigh: 16
Weight: 184
Pounds fat: 29.8
Pounds lean: 154.2
Body fat percent: 16.2%
Higher than I wanted and I was somewhat surprised that it was that high. I'll just use it for more motivation. For other motivation, I'm really, really sore from the core workout on Monday. My lats, chest, and shoulders are hurting somewhat badly. I want to keep going to get back in shape from the workouts.
Tuesday's workout was a spin in the morning that didn't happen. I got to the gym and I had everything set up on the bike except for my shoes. They were at home. I spun after work and then went on a hilly run workout. After a 15min warmup, I was suppose to do a 6-8x1 mile hilly loop that we did 2 weeks ago. I only did 5 of them. It was 98 degrees when I started at 7:30pm so it was hot. Also, my legs were just really, really fatigued on the 5th loop. My time fell off by 20 seconds so I called it a night. I went to soak in Barton Springs for 10 minutes to cool off and that felt good. I was going to swim today, but I couldn't fit it in. I decided to rest since I'm still sore and I had to work on the house today since my countertops were installed.
New Balance mileage: 99.5 miles
Nike mileage: 115 miles
Chest: 14
Abs: 25
Thigh: 16
Weight: 184
Pounds fat: 29.8
Pounds lean: 154.2
Body fat percent: 16.2%
Higher than I wanted and I was somewhat surprised that it was that high. I'll just use it for more motivation. For other motivation, I'm really, really sore from the core workout on Monday. My lats, chest, and shoulders are hurting somewhat badly. I want to keep going to get back in shape from the workouts.
Tuesday's workout was a spin in the morning that didn't happen. I got to the gym and I had everything set up on the bike except for my shoes. They were at home. I spun after work and then went on a hilly run workout. After a 15min warmup, I was suppose to do a 6-8x1 mile hilly loop that we did 2 weeks ago. I only did 5 of them. It was 98 degrees when I started at 7:30pm so it was hot. Also, my legs were just really, really fatigued on the 5th loop. My time fell off by 20 seconds so I called it a night. I went to soak in Barton Springs for 10 minutes to cool off and that felt good. I was going to swim today, but I couldn't fit it in. I decided to rest since I'm still sore and I had to work on the house today since my countertops were installed.
New Balance mileage: 99.5 miles
Nike mileage: 115 miles
Monday, August 13, 2007
Q: What do you call a broken gecko?
A: A reptile dysfunction! (say that out loud to yourself)
Today's workout was actually a workout. Usually Monday is a rest day but I decided to tell work to fuck off and left early to go to the first core workout that I've been to in over 4 months. I wasn't that out of shape, but I have a feeling I'm going to be a little sore tomorrow. My lower abs were the weakest as well as push ups. It'll get better, though. After that, it was an 8x200yd swim in Deep Eddy. There was some nice scenery there today, too. That water felt great because it was over 95 degrees outside today. It was relaxed and I worked on form. It was a great swim.
Today's workout was actually a workout. Usually Monday is a rest day but I decided to tell work to fuck off and left early to go to the first core workout that I've been to in over 4 months. I wasn't that out of shape, but I have a feeling I'm going to be a little sore tomorrow. My lower abs were the weakest as well as push ups. It'll get better, though. After that, it was an 8x200yd swim in Deep Eddy. There was some nice scenery there today, too. That water felt great because it was over 95 degrees outside today. It was relaxed and I worked on form. It was a great swim.
My knee hurts
My knee hurts today. I think I did something to it running yesterday. It is more on the medial side of my right patella and it's more muscular than joint related. That's good. My PF has been acting up lately and I did some exercises for it this morning. My back also spasmed when I was putting in my contacts so I nearly poked my eye out because of it. I did some exercises for that as well and it seems to be a bit better now. I keep getting scar tissue and heel spurs in my left foot. I'm thinking about getting something done with it because it's pretty bad. Whenever I roll a ball under my foot, there are about 3 different places where it goes "Crunch!" because of the rough materials in my heel. It doesn't really hurt, but it can't be good either. Ultimately, I know that I need to get rid of the PF, but that just seems really difficult at the moment. I'm really worried about it when marathon season approaches over the winter. I've said it before, but I just need to get serious about this PF.
Also, a weight update. I was 185.5 on Friday and then 186.5 today. That's not the correct direction. I probably should get my body fat tested to see how much of my weight gain is muscle and which is not muscle. I'll try to do that this week.
EDIT: Since I'm at work and I'm being super passive-aggressive today and avoiding all work and everyone that'll give me more work, I've been surfing the net. One of my guilty pleasures is the Starbucks pumpkin scone. I know these aren't healthy for me, but I have one maybe once or twice a month if that often. Well, here's the nutritional info on one of those suckers:
Pumpkin Scone: Zone 20/22/29 (710 cal/37 g fat/1 g fiber/90 g carbs)
Zone 29 for Starbucks is the Austin/San Antonio area. I found this information from here and as you can see, this zone has the worst pumpkin scones. I think I'll be putting more thought into it when I decide if I want a scone or not. However, all things pumpkin are one of my guilty pleasures so this is going to be a difficult decision.
Also, a weight update. I was 185.5 on Friday and then 186.5 today. That's not the correct direction. I probably should get my body fat tested to see how much of my weight gain is muscle and which is not muscle. I'll try to do that this week.
EDIT: Since I'm at work and I'm being super passive-aggressive today and avoiding all work and everyone that'll give me more work, I've been surfing the net. One of my guilty pleasures is the Starbucks pumpkin scone. I know these aren't healthy for me, but I have one maybe once or twice a month if that often. Well, here's the nutritional info on one of those suckers:
Pumpkin Scone: Zone 20/22/29 (710 cal/37 g fat/1 g fiber/90 g carbs)
Zone 29 for Starbucks is the Austin/San Antonio area. I found this information from here and as you can see, this zone has the worst pumpkin scones. I think I'll be putting more thought into it when I decide if I want a scone or not. However, all things pumpkin are one of my guilty pleasures so this is going to be a difficult decision.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Another naked run
I do these from time to time where I go out and run without an HRM or a watch on. Pretty much the only thing that I go by is distance. Today, it was 7 miles around Town Lake, I mean Lady Bird Lake. When I got out of the car at 9:45, it was already 91 degrees. I think not having an HRM was beneficial today because I would've been frustrated running at 9:30min/mile and having my heart rate at 160bpm. I just ran at what felt like a comfortable pace. It was getting tough after about Mile 5 but I kept it up. I tried working on my form a bit but I don't think it went that well. Also, it was 97 degrees when I finished running. It was hot today. Overall, the naked run felt pretty good and I probably need to do more of these runs without being constrained to a number on my wrist.
New Balance mileage: 99.5 miles
Nike mileage: 108 miles
Weekly run mileage: 13 miles
New Balance mileage: 99.5 miles
Nike mileage: 108 miles
Weekly run mileage: 13 miles
1 second!
This week has been a recovery week. I love recovery weeks. I can have somewhat of a normal life again. It's nice! After my Tuesday run, I swam on Wednesday. Nothing special. I moved up a lane and I was the slowest person in my lane which is expected. Nothing special from that night that I can remember. Thursday was my favorite workout. The 8 mile time trial around South Mopac. I just love TT'ing for some reason. Well, I know I love it because I'm good at it. I did the loop in 19:37 which is one second faster than my last time. 1 second! That's nearly insignificant but it's still an improvement. Also, the conditions were bad. It was about 95 degrees and somewhat windy. I still beat guys with disc wheels and aero helmets which makes me smile because I have a normal helmet and my training wheels. It's all about the engine, baby! My 19:37 time is an average speed of 24.4mph. I'll get sub 19min soon enough. Friday was a rest day and Saturday was suppose to be an easy ride of 90 minutes and then a 60 minute swim. However, I ended up doing a really easy 2.5 hour ride with Rachel so that was fine for me.
Well, that's it so far. I'm about to go on a recovery run in about 15 minutes and I'll write more later.
Well, that's it so far. I'm about to go on a recovery run in about 15 minutes and I'll write more later.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
It's hot!
It's now hot here in Austin. Not, kinda hot and humid. It's hot and dry. I like this weather. Much better than the humidity. I went on a fartlek run of 50 minutes. It was 15min warmup, 5x3min fast, 1min easy, 15min cooldown. Nothing special. Also, my Monday weigh in was 184.
Last week's run mileage: 13.5 miles
New Balance mileage: 92.5 miles
Nike mileage: 108 miles
Last week's run mileage: 13.5 miles
New Balance mileage: 92.5 miles
Nike mileage: 108 miles
Monday, August 6, 2007
Venting (helmet issues)
You know how I thought I lost my helmet over the weekend. Well, I just got to work now and it's sitting on my desk. I came into work and checked my desk twice on Saturday. It wasn't here. I'm trying to be cool about this, but one of my coworker's joke cost me $130 and I'm not happy about it.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Fatletes can podium!
Well, I guess I'm proof that fat athletes can get on the podium. Ok, I'm just kidding. I finished 3rd place in my age group in the Jack's Generic Tri today. Now, here is my race report from last year. I guess it worked out that I didn't work out hard yesterday. I got 7 hours of sleep last night and woke up pretty rested this morning. I also wasn't very stressed about this race. I got to the race site and got everything set up. I still find it amazing how little stuff that I have in my transition setup compared to most other people. I saw a lot of people that I haven't seen in awhile. I went for a swim to warm up. I never run or do anything like that for a warmup swim. I almost always just go for a short swim and that's it. I just waited around until the gun went off.
The Swim
The water was warm, but not that bad. Obviously no wetsuits were allowed. The warmup swim helped me to figure out to sight better on the swim. It was kind of rough at the start but I need to get used to that. Actually, there were people around almost the entire time. I got kicked in the calf a few times and it felt like my calves were going cramp but they didn't. Also, I didn't kick anyone in the nuts like I did last year. I came out of the water in 8:35 which is about 30 seconds slower than last year, and it was a pace of 1:43/m for 500 meters. However, I was 6th in my age group so that's not bad and I was 69th overall.
T1
My T1 time was 1:18. My T1 times are usually pretty fast and I was actually the fastest T1 time in my age group. I'm pretty happy with that. All I had to do was put on my helmet and go. I had my shoes on the pedals. I didn't go with sunglasses today because it wasn't that sunny and they tend to get covered in sweat. I didn't feel like dealing with that today. I grabbed my bike and was out of T1.
The Bike
The last time I raced, I had issues with my shoes and pedaling and crap. This time, I was able to actually start moving and not nearly crashing 4 times. That was actually the guy in front of me. I started out on the bike and I kept remembering to take it easy because that was my goal. The bike was pretty uneventful. I passed a few people in my age group and I was passed a few times. Overall, I didn't drop any places on the bike. I kept my heart rate at around 155bpm for most of the way. It would go up on the hills but that's to be expected. Nothing really hurt since I'm used to my left lower back hurting. When I go hard on the bike, my legs get tired and crampy. That didn't happen at all today. It was different. I came off the bike in 41:15 for a pace of 21.5mph. That was good enough for 6th in my AG and 68th overall. Avg HR was 154bpm or something like that. My time was only about 9 seconds slower than last year.
T2
I came into T2 and noticed something was different immediately. I didn't have jello legs when I got off the bike. Oh, it was kind of cool at the dismount line. I came in hard and fast and scared the crap out of people. I also locked up my rear wheel and fish tailed a bit. That was fun. I got to my spot and saw Noah right behind me. I put on my socks, my shoes, grabbed my race belt and hat and started running. Noah ended up passing me in T2 and was on the run course before me. Damnit. T2 time was 1:06 which was 7th in my AG. Not bad, but I could shave a few seconds off my T2 time. I just need to figure out how since I don't think I could shave off more time besides putting on socks or just running faster. Socks do take up a lot of time, though. Fastest T2 was 0:56. Ok, back to the run.
The Run
I was on Noah's heels the entire first half. He would get about 10 yards in front of him and then I would get back to about 2 yards. He passed me within the last mile at The Rookie Tri. I was expecting him to break me but that didn't happen. I just kept him in my sights and I was exactly where I wanted to be. I run a lot faster chasing someone than when I'm getting chased. I noticed that I would gain on him on the uphills, too. This course isn't flat and has a few small rises on the course. The last rise is up to the turn around point and I closed to within a few feet of him. He stopped to get some water and I grabbed a cup, poured it on my head, and didn't stop. I dropped Noah very quickly after that and I dropped him pretty quickly on the subsequent downhill. I'm pretty good at the downhills because I know how to use my weight to gain moment and get going quickly without taking up to much additional energy. I kept running expecting someone else to catch me but I kept pushing myself. I got passed but it was by people in other age groups. I just kept running and I never stopped to run the entire run. It seems like my experiment with going easier on the bike paid off. I came off the bike with fresh legs, I felt good, and I had a great run. I crossed the line at 21:27 for a 3 mile run. That's a pace of 7:09 which is the fastest I've ever run in a race, including The Rookie Tri back in April which was 7:14 pace for 2 mile run. I just can't express how good I felt this run and it shows. I was also 1:40 than my run time from last year's Jack's Generic. However, I still need to work on my running because I was 17th in my AG and 98th overall. That doesn't matter as much as me having a great run for me! I'll get there. I'm sure of it.
Overall
Like I said, I came in 3rd in my AG with a time of 1:13:43. 1st place ran a 15:43 run and was just smoking. 2nd was 5 minutes in front of me so no chance of running him down soon. My time was 49th overall out of 755 people. I did a lot better compared to last year's race. I'm just really happy with my race today and I was able to get on the podium. Also, I just want to note that I was 6th on the swim, 6th on the bike, and 17th on the run but I was 3rd in my AG. I think a lot of it was my transitions and that I'm pretty consistent across all 3 sports. Oh, I was about 30 seconds faster than last year. What other numbers can I put up here? Oh, I was top 5% of my AG with 59 people in it. I was also top 7% overall because I was 49th out of about 755 people.
Ok, I'm done now. I'm going to bed pretty happy tonight.
The Swim
The water was warm, but not that bad. Obviously no wetsuits were allowed. The warmup swim helped me to figure out to sight better on the swim. It was kind of rough at the start but I need to get used to that. Actually, there were people around almost the entire time. I got kicked in the calf a few times and it felt like my calves were going cramp but they didn't. Also, I didn't kick anyone in the nuts like I did last year. I came out of the water in 8:35 which is about 30 seconds slower than last year, and it was a pace of 1:43/m for 500 meters. However, I was 6th in my age group so that's not bad and I was 69th overall.
T1
My T1 time was 1:18. My T1 times are usually pretty fast and I was actually the fastest T1 time in my age group. I'm pretty happy with that. All I had to do was put on my helmet and go. I had my shoes on the pedals. I didn't go with sunglasses today because it wasn't that sunny and they tend to get covered in sweat. I didn't feel like dealing with that today. I grabbed my bike and was out of T1.
The Bike
The last time I raced, I had issues with my shoes and pedaling and crap. This time, I was able to actually start moving and not nearly crashing 4 times. That was actually the guy in front of me. I started out on the bike and I kept remembering to take it easy because that was my goal. The bike was pretty uneventful. I passed a few people in my age group and I was passed a few times. Overall, I didn't drop any places on the bike. I kept my heart rate at around 155bpm for most of the way. It would go up on the hills but that's to be expected. Nothing really hurt since I'm used to my left lower back hurting. When I go hard on the bike, my legs get tired and crampy. That didn't happen at all today. It was different. I came off the bike in 41:15 for a pace of 21.5mph. That was good enough for 6th in my AG and 68th overall. Avg HR was 154bpm or something like that. My time was only about 9 seconds slower than last year.
T2
I came into T2 and noticed something was different immediately. I didn't have jello legs when I got off the bike. Oh, it was kind of cool at the dismount line. I came in hard and fast and scared the crap out of people. I also locked up my rear wheel and fish tailed a bit. That was fun. I got to my spot and saw Noah right behind me. I put on my socks, my shoes, grabbed my race belt and hat and started running. Noah ended up passing me in T2 and was on the run course before me. Damnit. T2 time was 1:06 which was 7th in my AG. Not bad, but I could shave a few seconds off my T2 time. I just need to figure out how since I don't think I could shave off more time besides putting on socks or just running faster. Socks do take up a lot of time, though. Fastest T2 was 0:56. Ok, back to the run.
The Run
I was on Noah's heels the entire first half. He would get about 10 yards in front of him and then I would get back to about 2 yards. He passed me within the last mile at The Rookie Tri. I was expecting him to break me but that didn't happen. I just kept him in my sights and I was exactly where I wanted to be. I run a lot faster chasing someone than when I'm getting chased. I noticed that I would gain on him on the uphills, too. This course isn't flat and has a few small rises on the course. The last rise is up to the turn around point and I closed to within a few feet of him. He stopped to get some water and I grabbed a cup, poured it on my head, and didn't stop. I dropped Noah very quickly after that and I dropped him pretty quickly on the subsequent downhill. I'm pretty good at the downhills because I know how to use my weight to gain moment and get going quickly without taking up to much additional energy. I kept running expecting someone else to catch me but I kept pushing myself. I got passed but it was by people in other age groups. I just kept running and I never stopped to run the entire run. It seems like my experiment with going easier on the bike paid off. I came off the bike with fresh legs, I felt good, and I had a great run. I crossed the line at 21:27 for a 3 mile run. That's a pace of 7:09 which is the fastest I've ever run in a race, including The Rookie Tri back in April which was 7:14 pace for 2 mile run. I just can't express how good I felt this run and it shows. I was also 1:40 than my run time from last year's Jack's Generic. However, I still need to work on my running because I was 17th in my AG and 98th overall. That doesn't matter as much as me having a great run for me! I'll get there. I'm sure of it.
Overall
Like I said, I came in 3rd in my AG with a time of 1:13:43. 1st place ran a 15:43 run and was just smoking. 2nd was 5 minutes in front of me so no chance of running him down soon. My time was 49th overall out of 755 people. I did a lot better compared to last year's race. I'm just really happy with my race today and I was able to get on the podium. Also, I just want to note that I was 6th on the swim, 6th on the bike, and 17th on the run but I was 3rd in my AG. I think a lot of it was my transitions and that I'm pretty consistent across all 3 sports. Oh, I was about 30 seconds faster than last year. What other numbers can I put up here? Oh, I was top 5% of my AG with 59 people in it. I was also top 7% overall because I was 49th out of about 755 people.
Ok, I'm done now. I'm going to bed pretty happy tonight.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
I promote safe blogging!
And why do I do that? Because I'm wearing a cycling helmet as I type this post? Why am I doing that? Because I'm a dumbass. Why am I a dumbass. Well, just because, but the most recent excuse is that I know I woke up with my Giro Atmos cycling helmet in my possession and when I woke up this morning, I was no longer in possession of said helmet. I have absolutely no fucking clue where the damn thing is at. The problem that I have is that I have a race tomorrow. So, I went to Jack & Adams and bought a Bell Speed R helmet. I'm wearing it to make sure I don't have any problems with it before I race tomorrow. So far, I think it's more comfortable than the Atmos and it fits better. I like the Atmos' adjustment system slightly better though. I kind of needed a new helmet but I didn't want to drop $130 on a helmet today though.
Ok, now my workouts. Thursday was an easy 30 minute run during lunch and a canceled Mopac time trial. Friday morning was a swim with T3. I really think that I just hate swimming that early in the morning. Today, was suppose to be a 3.5 hour ride and then a 45min run. I didn't do that because of my missing helmet conundrum. I mowed my yard instead. My intention was to go the long run and run today and then do the race tomorrow. I'm doing the race just to do the race so I didn't care that much if I had tapered for it or not. Now that I accidentally tapered, I guess I gotta do well now or something. Speaking of, I'm going into the race tomorrow with a different strategy. I'm going to try to go easier on the bike and then see how that affects my run. I usually have cement feet once I get off the bike and I'm going to experiment a bit with that tomorrow.
New Balance mileage: 89.5 miles
Nike mileage: 102 miles
Ok, now my workouts. Thursday was an easy 30 minute run during lunch and a canceled Mopac time trial. Friday morning was a swim with T3. I really think that I just hate swimming that early in the morning. Today, was suppose to be a 3.5 hour ride and then a 45min run. I didn't do that because of my missing helmet conundrum. I mowed my yard instead. My intention was to go the long run and run today and then do the race tomorrow. I'm doing the race just to do the race so I didn't care that much if I had tapered for it or not. Now that I accidentally tapered, I guess I gotta do well now or something. Speaking of, I'm going into the race tomorrow with a different strategy. I'm going to try to go easier on the bike and then see how that affects my run. I usually have cement feet once I get off the bike and I'm going to experiment a bit with that tomorrow.
New Balance mileage: 89.5 miles
Nike mileage: 102 miles
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Feeling Good
For once, I'm feeling pretty good this week. On Monday, my weigh in was 182 which is a number that I haven't seen in awhile. Tuesday at lunch was an easy 75min spin with 4x5min simulated hill climbs. Tuesday night was a run. After a 15min warmup, I did 5x1 mile on a hilly loop. I held the intervals pretty well. The last one was the fastest at 7:42 and that was because I wasn't saving anything. Did a cool down for a total distance of 7.5 miles. Today was a swim at night instead of the morning. I think I like night swim better than morning swims. I lead the lane the entire workout, too. Well, that's about it. I just feel like I'm having a good week with workouts.
New Balance mileage: 89.5 miles
Nike mileage: 99 miles
New Balance mileage: 89.5 miles
Nike mileage: 99 miles
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