Hmmm

Hmmm, I can't remember anything special about last week. Oh wait, it was a recovery week. Nothing special I guess but I did do my 15 miles of running. The PF in my right foot is still present though. Sucks ass. I'm going to go back to my PT next week to see what I'm doing wrong. I really think that my orthodics are causing it in my right foot. My left foot feels great though. My shoulder still aches a bit from time to time but it is definitely getting better. Oh, I did swim 1300yds one day. I really do need to pick back up the swimming. My shoulder should be fine but I'm felling lazy when it comes to swimming. I've been concentrating on running so much though and I think that is going well. Oh, my long run on Sunday was 3:30 slower than the week before. I attribute it to being about 15 degrees hotter, 50% more humidity, and the fact that I wasn't well nourished since I'm trying to lose weight.

Now for this week, I had some intervals on Tuesday. Felt like crap on Wednesday from a headache all day long so I didn't do anything. Tonight, I did hill repeats on Lost Creek. My times were 7:53, 7:10, 7:00.5 (damnit), and finally 6:46. When I did LC repeats the last time, my fastest time was about 7:15 and that is all that I had. That was about 3 months ago so my bike is getting better which makes me feel good. Another good thing is that I'm losing weight as well. My official weigh in will be tomorrow but it should be around 192 or so. I'll update after it though.

Asics shoe mileage: 221 miles

First Crit

On Thursday of last week, I did my first crit at the Driveway Crits Series. I've heard about them for awhile and finally decided to check them out. I knew it was going to hurt like hell and it did. I hung on to the main pack for maybe 4 laps and did the last 3 laps on my own. It was a bit nerve wracking at first because of the proximity of the other cyclists. I hung out at the back. I found a few riders that were annoying because they were taking horrible lines. It was fun.

Friday I saw. Saturday was a lazy day. Sunday was a WINDY 90 minute bike ride with a 2 mile run. Monday was the usual 6.88 mile run around Town Lake. I actually did it in 52:10 which is my fastest so far after coming back from PF. Oh, I'm starting to get PF in my right foot now. Blows, but I'm doing everything to get rid of it. I still have it a bit in my left foot but it isn't that bad anymore. And my shoulder is feel better, too.

Asics shoe mileage: 206 miles

I Hurt

The last few weeks have been tough for me. Lots of stuff going on and I can't seem to get caught up on anything. Now that school is over (my final was last night), I plan on relaxing a bit which leads to me updating my blog more than once a week. And as usual, I am here to complain and bitch a bit. My calves hurt. A lot. I went to the Texas Iron run workout on Tuesday night. We didn't do anything special except for a 0.68mi loop that has some downhills and uphills. Since I wasn't feeling that mentally tough because of stress and heat, I ran with the girls. We ended up doing the loops in 5:20, 5:20, 5:21, and 5:26. Laurie's lungs were about to leap out of her throat on the last one but I pushed her. I could've gone faster on each of the runs but I need to develop some more mental toughness. I'm actually thinking about switching to the Tuesday run workouts since I need to work on my running so much. Oh, yeah, the pain. The road was uneven so I stepped in some potholes and twisting some things a bit and my calves are letting me know that they aren't happy. It seems that every muscle in my calves, posterior tibialis, peroneals, soleus, gastroc, are all simultaneously mad at my in both calves! I'm going to beat them up with a tennis ball for awhile now and see if they lighten up a bit. But this freaking sucks.

Oh, I rode an hour in the heat and wind yesterday. I'm skipping the swim workout today and I'm doing my first crit tonight. It should be very ugly.

Rookie Tri Race Report

Well, I had my first race in a year and a half this morning. First one since Longhorn Tri back in October of 2007. If you don't know, I've been laid up for the last year with injuries. I wasn't too nervous about this race because I know that I love racing. I've been saying that I'm not in that great shape, but I'm actually in OK shape. Got there, did my thing, only had 2 RPs, and got ready. My wave went off at 8:06 and within 10 seconds, I remember how much I missed this shit. I did my warmup swim and it hurt a bit but I'm glad that I did it. The water was awful! I couldn't see past my elbow if my hand was outstretched and it smelled like rotten eggs. I kept pushing myself a bit and was breathing only to 1 side. It's what I do when swimming fast. Considering my shoulder issues, I'm very happy to come out of the water with a 5:47 (1:56/100m) which was 9th in my AG. I came out of the water a second behind Joe, a fellow Texas Iron athlete, smacked him on the ass and went into T1.

Came out of T1 very fast. Just a helmet and grabbed my bike and I was off. Found out that my T1 time was 1:10 which was tied for fastest in my AG. On the bike, I passed a couple of people immediately while they were struggling getting into their shoes on the bike. Seriously people, don't cross the mount line, stop, and then take 45 seconds. Move past the line and then go. The bike course isn't a fast bike course. There are a few bits of mildly rough road, and a few hills. Joe and I were going back and forth and I passed a lot of people in the previous AG. I always try to push it on the bike, but I had to back it off a bit. It was my first race in awhile and I still needed to run but my legs were burning pretty much the entire time. I almost pulled an Ali when I hit a huge crevice in the road. I hit it hard and I was thinking that I popped a tire, but I didn't. I came into T2 pretty fast with a time of 32:13 (20.9mph).

Once again, I actually had a great T2 with 1:01 which was tied for 4th in my AG. I was talking to Joe as well because we came into T2 at the same time. He passed me within about 45 seconds on the run but I knew that was going to happen. Oh yeah, the run. The part that I knew was going to hurt the most. My legs felt like lead but I kept trying to put one foot in front of the other. I was wheezing and couldn't breath, but I kept my ass moving. Nothing really special to note about this run besides the pain which reinforces how much I need to lose weight and work on my running. Total time was 15:08 (7:34/mi) which was something like 17th in my AG.

This was a total time of 55:20 which was 5th in my AG. I'm actually pretty happy with this result. It follows my expected results in previous races. I would've been happy with top 10 but I'll take 5th especially this is my first year in a tougher AG. I'll get faster though and it won't hurt as bad. This is what I needed to keep me motivated for my training. Overall, I had a great day.

2009 2007
Swim: 5:47-1:56-9th 5:21
T1: 1:10-1st 1:15
Bike: 32:13-20.9-4th 31:55
T2: 1:01-4th 1:13
Run: 15:08-7:34-17th 14:28
Total: 55:20-5th 54:13

Asics run mileage: 191 miles

Recovery Week

This week was a recovery week which considering my current training level is just another week. I barely did anything this week. I only got 1 ride and 1 swim in all week, but got 4 runs and 2 weight sessions. My shoulder and foot are feeling much, much better and I'm going to start increasing my distances for swimming and running each week again. I've been at 15 miles/week for a few weeks now for running. My knees aren't as stiff and sore after my Sunday long runs anymore. I'm still feeling like a slug running but it is getting a bit better. The recent humidity spell isn't helping though. Oh, I do have some good news. I've become very focused again and my weight is down to 192.5 on Friday. I'm starting to lose weight again!

And one more thing to note. My first race in a year and a half is next Sunday.

Asics run mileage: 180 miles

Testing texting

Shoulder is better

I've been a stickler for the most part for my PT program regarding my shoulder. It actually feels much better at this point which is nice. I'm also babying it by not using it too aggressively either. My PF is doing better as well because I'm actually doing the stretches and exercises.

I had a track workout on Tuesday morning. First one in a long time and it hurt like hell. I did 10x400m and I probably averaged around 1:48/400m. First one was 1:35 which was WAY too fast, 2nd was 1:53 which was too slow, and then I settled into a good pace for the last 8. I need to do more stuff like that. Other than that, my runs were fine and even got a couple of swims in as well. Biking is meh since I'm so good at it. Actually, oh, here is another good workout. On Thursday, we had a brick workout with Texas Iron. We did 2x(~3.5mi bike, ~1.2mi run) but the bike and run were hard. I ended up dropping a few people on the bike because we were suppose to do these in groups of 2-4 and trade off on pulls pretty frequently. Looks like I still have some decent cycling legs. Then, on the run, I averaged about 7:25/mile which is way faster than I was expecting. This is really good because my first triathlon in a year and a half is in about 12 days from now. It's kind of exciting to see how I'll do. Oh, I got in about 15 miles last week.

Also, I've been a pussy lately about a bunch of things. I'm done being a pussy. Part of it is because I've been a head case for the last few weeks and I've found that the best way for me to overcome that is to get really focused about something. I'm keeping track of all of my calories and exercise again while still trying to do every workout that my coaches give me. I need to harden the fuck up and get serious, focused, and disciplined to clear my head.

Asics run mileage: 165 miles

Another week is done

I've gotten another week of workouts done now. I actually did pretty good this week about sticking to the schedule. Well, practice was rained out on Thursday and I didn't do my swim today, but other than that, I did the workouts. As for doing exactly what I was suppose to be doing, that's a little bit of a different story. I'm still hampered by limited run mileage. However, my PF is getting better again even after just 2-3 days of treatment for it. Also, the Angry Knees that I usually get after my long run on Sunday didn't really happen today. I'm still going to hold at 15 miles per week for the next 2 weeks before bumping it up again just to see how my body does.

Even though I haven't been doing the exact workouts that I'm suppose to be doing, I've been pretty consistent in training for the last 2 months and I think it is starting to show. I'm not hurting as much as I used to but I may not be getting that much faster. I'm still a pussy when it comes to bricks but yesterday's brick run wasn't so bad. Things are getting better in regards to working out and I'm starting to feel much, much better about it.

Asics shoe mileage: 150 miles

Run Mileage

Just another run mileage update for this past week. It was 11.7 only. I was suppose to do another 3.1 mile run around my neighborhood but I skipped it for some poor excuses. I'm going to hold my mileage at about 15mpw for a few weeks because I'm feeling some plantar fasciitis coming back and I want to take care of that. Also, from doing yardwork for a week, my shoulder is jacked up again but it doesn't hurt when swimming. What the fuck?

Asics shoe mileage: 135 miles

Run Mileage

I ran 14.8 miles this week. I'm going to hold there for a few weeks because I'm getting a bit of heel pain again. Not good.

Asics shoe mileage: 123 miles

Another good workout

Today was my long run. I was going to do it yesterday, but I wore cotton socks instead of workout socks. I was afraid of blisters. I was going to do some exercise at PWC but I only had my running shoes and didn't want to do the workout in them. I didn't get much done yesterday except for making lousy excuses. When I did run today, I had a pretty damn good run. It was pretty chilly out this morning but I love running in that weather. I ended up leaving from Jack & Adam's and did two of the 3.44 mile loops. I saw some friends and I actually felt a lot better at the end of the run than at the beginning. My HR was higher in the 2nd lap, but I felt better and felt like my form was better as well. Overall, I ran 7.5 miles in about 59:17. Now, the ride I did yesterday was great. But by yesterday, I mean tomorrow. I still need get about another mile in this weekend though to get my total mileage for the week. I'll probably do that tomorrow.

Asics shoe mileage: 108 miles

That's the fucking workout that I needed!

Tonight's workout was the 8 mile South Mopac time trial loop. This was after an 3 mile run this morning with 5x1min mod, 2min easy. As I was warming up, I really didn't know how I was going to do since my legs weren't feeling it. I kept warming up and doing a few faster intervals to get my heart rate up. Going into the TT, I would be satisfied with anything under 21:00 and happy with anything under 20:40. You see, for the last 4 TTs that I've done around this loop, they've always been 19:40+/-0:04 no matter the conditions nor my fitness level at the time. I've been feeling really out of shape lately so I thought I was going to be really slow for me tonight.

Tonight, I went out and just kept going. I got my heart rate at 170+ fairly quickly. It hurt like a TT is suppose to hurt, but I wasn't going all out quite yet. When I've been doing intervals lately, my HR gets in the 160-163 range and that's it. At 170+, I didn't know how long I could last before I blew up. I just kept a high cadence and kept pedaling my ass off. I didn't take it strong up the Escarpment hill and I even think I went to the little chain ring. Didn't want to blow my load yet. I was passing a decent amount of people at the time though. I just kept going. Turned around at the half way point and was over 10:00 (10:48 to be exact). I knew that I could do the backside faster than that so I had a decent shot at breaking 21:00. I just kept going at it but I was feeling the affects as usual. I actually felt like I was letting up a bit on the way back. I picked off a few more people, but the ranks were thinning out. Once again, stayed in my aero bars and kept pedaling. Climbed up the last hill and was almost toast. I knew I had maybe half a mile and I could kick it up a bit so I tried. As I was coming up the last hill, I was grunting and puffing to get up out of the saddle and across the line.

I stopped my watch and it read 20:06. I knew the official time would be a little bit faster than that. It was 20:03. Holy fucking shit, I blew my goals away. Finally, I wasn't around 19:40, but I was way, way faster than I was expecting. I guess I do have a few extra horsepower sitting around somewhere. This was a workout that I really, really needed mentally though. I didn't do as fast as I have in the past, but I didn't do so bad either. This proves that even though I feel completely out of shape, I'm just being a fucking pussy about going faster. I need to push myself more because I have it inside of me. The way out was 10:48 with an avg HR of 166 and the way back was 9:18 with an avg HR of 166 so I was pretty even the entire time. I had a max of 177 which was right at the end. If I did it again, I could break 20:00 easily. I'm really stoked about this because I still have a lot of fitness left inside of me, but I'm not letting it out because of issues mentally.

This is the exact type of workout that I needed as a kick in the ass and it feels great. I have regained a lot of my confidence now.

Recovery Week

Last week was a recovery week and I still missed a few workouts. L-A-M-E! Running is still going well and I think I put in 13.3 miles last week. Well, close to it. I do my long runs around Town Lake Trail, aka Lady Bird Lake Trail, and there are 3 different maps for the distances which makes it a bit confusing. I'm going to say that the "5.8 mile run" that I did on Sunday was closer to 6.94 miles according to this map. I did it in about 57 minutes or so. I don't know what was going on, but I didn't feel that comfortable during the long run. I had a good, hard bike ride on Saturday afternoon as well.

Asics shoe mileage: 94 miles

Running is going well!

I've been running consistently pretty well for a few weeks now. Two weeks ago, I ran about 8.6 when I was suppose to run 11. I just didn't get around to the last 2.4 miles for whatever reason (laziness). This week, I did all 12.1 miles that I was suppose to do. This upcoming week, I'm suppose to run 13.3 miles. I'm not having any heel pain or anything like that, but I am getting a bit of soreness in my soleus. My PT and me will get it worked out though.

I'm still cycling about twice a week and swimming about as frequently as well. I don't have anything holding me back from cycling but I'm still having shoulder issues. Even though I am getting out and working out, I'm still having some motivation issues. I am feeling more fit and trim, but not that much. It'll come around eventually though. I has really affected me taking nearly a year off.

Asus run mileage: 81 miles

Overdue Update

I don't know what the hell is wrong with me. I have the desire to get back into shape, but I'm completely lacking the motivation and discipline to do it. I'm doing work outs, but I'm kind of autopilot through them. I think the issue is that I'm doing a lot of base stuff without pushing myself hoping that speed will come with that. However, I need to hurt a bit and push my limits before the speed will come. Also, I'm unable to lose weight, but the culprit for that is beer and I'm drinking it about 2-3 times a week now. Bad, Eric!

I am making progress. My foot is feeling a lot better. I did a 5 mile run around Town Lake and it was absolutely beautiful. It wasn't that fast, but I felt great during the entire run. I did have some pain in my lower leg, but it moved around and it never got that bad. I ran 11 miles this week and 10.5 miles last week. This is an amount of mileage which makes me feel a lot better about my progress.

My shoulder is feeling better as well. I haven't had as much progress with it as my foot, but that's OK. I'm still swimming though but only about 800yds at a time.

Asics run mileage: 60 miles

I'm back with Texas Iron!

Well, I rejoined Texas Iron this month. It's nice to be back to a regular routine in a group setting. I'm following my workouts much more regularly now and that is a very good thing. I think I am making some improvements with fitness, but not much with weight loss. My run mileage is increasing as well. My PT wants me to do 11 miles this week and hopefully it won't cause any issues. I'm some new shoes, Asics Gel-Nimbus, and I think I'll like them better than the NB 106x series. They have gel in them instead of the EVA foam so hopefully they'll last longer. My PF in my left foot has made some huge strides lately working with my PT. I really hope that it is gone for good this time so that I can get back into running.

My shoulder is still having issues. I'm still having some adhesions with the tissues in there which is causing some pain. Once again, I'm working with my PT to get this resolved. I have been keeping up swimming 2-3x/week though. It's only about 800yds at a time, but I'm still getting in the water.

Asics run mileage: ~35 miles

What's going on?

Man, no update for awhile. I've been trying really hard to get back into training and I just realized that it isn't happening by myself. Even though I'm probably not ready to run that far yet, I've decided to get back to Texas Iron in February. I just need that extra motivation to get in my ass in gear. The good news is that I'm up to running 6 miles a week this week. My PT wanted me in some different shoes and now that I'm in them, it should be better. My foot and my shoulder are both feeling better. Things are actually progressing! Except for my weight which keeps going up.

Wow, has it been a month?

I can't believe that it has been a month since I've last updated. Well, there really isn't much new. I'm getting my 3 runs in a week but I'm stuck at 4.4 miles per week because I'm getting some pain down in my heel. I'm getting about 2-3 rides a week, but nothing really hard or long. It's OK though. Finally, I'm swimming 2 times per week at about 650yds each. My foot is feeling OK. My shoulder is feeling better as well. I think the bicipital tendonitis has cleared up, but I have some other painful adhesions in my shoulder. Oh, over the Christmas break, I've been taking yoga about 3 times per week. I've also completely lost track of my shoe mileage so I'm going to assume about 5 miles per week.

NB shoe mileage: 75 miles

Update

As usual, my boring update about me doing nearly nothing. I ran 4 miles last week which is getting better. I'm still having a bit of pain in the foot though. It seems more muscular than inflamed fascia though. My shoulder seems to be getting better as well. I was feeling a bit frustrated on Thursday so I went out and did a hard bike ride at lunch. I was high from that ride until Friday night which was great. I need to do more of those because lately when I get on the bike, or any workout in particular, I'm such a pussy about it. This is one thing that I know that I lack when I'm training by myself. I need to train with others to push me because it is going to be tough for me to do it on my own. And as I push myself, I get in better physical shape which makes me feel better. I'll get back to Texas Iron soon, though.

NB 1062 mileage: 49 miles

Shoe Mileage

Not much to say here. I'm trying to get back into a regular workout routine because the holiday pounds have already started creeping on to my stomach. I'm up to 196.5 on Friday. No more! I ran 3.7 miles this week with the longest run of about 1.5 miles. If I keep this up, I'll be at 15 mpw by the end of February.

NB 1062 milage: ~45 miles