Well, after a solid Wednesday, my last half ironman specific brick, I'm feeling well, smoked.
Wednesday was pouring rain so I ended up riding 1hr easy on the trainer, followed by 90min at Ironman power (about 210-220w) followed by 2x30min at half ironman power (220-250w). So, after close to 4hrs on the trainer, I headed outside for my run.
The run consisted of 2mi in zone 2, 5mi at zone 3 or low zone 4 and then a cool down. This tempo run has been real tough for me to nail due to mistakes with nutrition and starting the run too fast. I ended up taking it out what felt like an easy pace but in reality, worked out to about 7min/mile. Probably due to my aggressive start on the run, I ended up with a nasty side stitch. I was thinking, here we go again with a crap T-run, but as I learned from my last couple runs if I just take it down a notch and jog a bit I might be able to work it out. Sure enough, the side stitch subsided and I was able to keep it rolling finishing off the 5 miles a touch over 35min. I was very happy with the way the workout went.
Thursday was a technique swim with Coach Kari, and Friday was a solid swim and short run.
I was going to race a 5k this morning but due to an "on the edge sore throat" I decided to bail on the race and run easy with some short pickups on the track. I was surprised by my leg speed on the track hitting the majority of my 200m repeats right around 37-38s. I took a solid nap after that session and will do a bit of a spin to loosen up the legs. Hopefully I will be able to regain my mojo here in the next couple days and then put together a solid half at Rockman next week.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
A New Favorite Swim Workout
I've been swimming this workout once weekly. I suck with paddles so, I think this is getting at a weakness.
Warm up.
I've typically been swimming 400yds or so w/my snorkel and then hitting about 300yds of drills to try to ingrain good form for the next section.
Main Set.
10x75yds as 50 sprint/25 easy.
I've been doing this on a 1:30 send off trying to get the 50 sprint under 35s.
2000yds pull w/paddles and buoy as 4x100, 2x200, 400, 2x200, 4x100.
All on a 1:30 per 100yd send off.
Cool down
Warm up.
I've typically been swimming 400yds or so w/my snorkel and then hitting about 300yds of drills to try to ingrain good form for the next section.
Main Set.
10x75yds as 50 sprint/25 easy.
I've been doing this on a 1:30 send off trying to get the 50 sprint under 35s.
2000yds pull w/paddles and buoy as 4x100, 2x200, 400, 2x200, 4x100.
All on a 1:30 per 100yd send off.
Cool down
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Hill Repeat Wednesday
First off my condolences to the Larsen family. This has been on my mind a good portion of the last couple of days. As endurance athletes we push the boundaries of physical and mental limits on a daily basis. We reach a place of feeling almost invincible where we can take on any challenge and succeed. However, we are reminded that we too are human when tragedy such as this strikes. I suppose that the best we can do is just make sure we're living each day to its fullest.
With that being said Hill Repeat Wednesday was definitely a push in the right direction. The day started out with a 5:30 mount up onto the steed and we were off into the sunrise on a beautiful 60 degree summer morning in Madison. I spun out to Cross Plains and then, thanks to Blake Becker, I had a little workout route planned out. I rode route KP to F to J (which is pretty flat out to the turnoff to F and then F basically continues rolling with a gradual uphill until J) at my Ironman effort. At J the hill repeat portion began. The portion of Route F after J is exactly a 4mi hill climb. I spent close to 90min going up and down that hill at a half ironman effort (240-260w). My last interval I decided to give er a little more juice and ended up around 270w for the climb. After the last climb I rode back home at Ironman effort through the beautiful rolling green hills of Wisconsin back home in time to catch my conference call and start the "real world" part of my day.
I felt great, probably due to my new commitment to my foam roller, and was able to sneak in a 3.5 mile run right before dinner. Yes, a great day...however, I might not have the energy (or time) to repeat that one as often as I'd like...bummer.
With that being said Hill Repeat Wednesday was definitely a push in the right direction. The day started out with a 5:30 mount up onto the steed and we were off into the sunrise on a beautiful 60 degree summer morning in Madison. I spun out to Cross Plains and then, thanks to Blake Becker, I had a little workout route planned out. I rode route KP to F to J (which is pretty flat out to the turnoff to F and then F basically continues rolling with a gradual uphill until J) at my Ironman effort. At J the hill repeat portion began. The portion of Route F after J is exactly a 4mi hill climb. I spent close to 90min going up and down that hill at a half ironman effort (240-260w). My last interval I decided to give er a little more juice and ended up around 270w for the climb. After the last climb I rode back home at Ironman effort through the beautiful rolling green hills of Wisconsin back home in time to catch my conference call and start the "real world" part of my day.
I felt great, probably due to my new commitment to my foam roller, and was able to sneak in a 3.5 mile run right before dinner. Yes, a great day...however, I might not have the energy (or time) to repeat that one as often as I'd like...bummer.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Last couple of days
Sunday:
85mi bike/7mi run
I revisited a workout on Sunday that I did a couple of weeks ago. The goal was 90min easy, 90min steady, and 90min tempo. I was able to find some decent flatter roads to really focus on holding the prescribed power (sub 190w ez, 190w-220w steady, 220-260w tempo). The workout went well although I ran out of fuel in the beginning of my tempo set and just kept going because I was feeling good. This later would bite me right in the you know where on the run.
The data: easy-163w av/181w NP/115bpm av
steady-196w av/204w NP/129bpm av
tempo-223w av/230w NP/142 bpm av
From the bike I went right into a tempo run. The goal was 2mi to build (try to hold sub 150bpm) to 7min pace then 5mi at 7min/mi pace and 1 mi easy. This didn't go so well. The first two miles were decent and I avg'd 7:04/mi (145bpm). Maybe a bit quick to start. Then, in the middle of mile 3 I started getting crampy and couldn't take on nutrition because not only were my legs cramping but so was my gut. So, I slowed down a bit until the cramping eased up and started taking in nutrition. I ended up cutting the tempo portion to 4mi (7:20/mi pace/156bpm) and jogging in the last mile ez. I ended up with 7 miles done in 51:52 (152av). I was pretty well spent and ended up ordering a tomato/basil pizza to go with my recovery smoothie.
Monday:
18.5 mile run
I woke up on Monday and felt actually pretty good. I was on the fence on whether or not I wanted to hit the 18 mile planned run today. In fact I shot an email to coach Al telling him I probably was not going to hit it after I got back from my workout yesterday.
I was still on the fence when I ran the first loop of the arboretum. I am now doing all my long runs as 15 minutes running followed by 30 seconds of "airport" walking to take in some nutrition and reset. I just kept on clicking off 15 minute sets and pretty soon I was bringing it home. I ended up running the rolling course in a touch over 2:19. Oh yeah, that was about 18.5 miles. i averaged a 7:31/mi (142bpm) and picked it up the last couple miles averaging 7:16/mi (148bpm) on a mostly uphill section. I was pretty happy with that run.
Now its time to recover a bit. I hope that wasn't too much and my body doesn't rebel.
85mi bike/7mi run
I revisited a workout on Sunday that I did a couple of weeks ago. The goal was 90min easy, 90min steady, and 90min tempo. I was able to find some decent flatter roads to really focus on holding the prescribed power (sub 190w ez, 190w-220w steady, 220-260w tempo). The workout went well although I ran out of fuel in the beginning of my tempo set and just kept going because I was feeling good. This later would bite me right in the you know where on the run.
The data: easy-163w av/181w NP/115bpm av
steady-196w av/204w NP/129bpm av
tempo-223w av/230w NP/142 bpm av
From the bike I went right into a tempo run. The goal was 2mi to build (try to hold sub 150bpm) to 7min pace then 5mi at 7min/mi pace and 1 mi easy. This didn't go so well. The first two miles were decent and I avg'd 7:04/mi (145bpm). Maybe a bit quick to start. Then, in the middle of mile 3 I started getting crampy and couldn't take on nutrition because not only were my legs cramping but so was my gut. So, I slowed down a bit until the cramping eased up and started taking in nutrition. I ended up cutting the tempo portion to 4mi (7:20/mi pace/156bpm) and jogging in the last mile ez. I ended up with 7 miles done in 51:52 (152av). I was pretty well spent and ended up ordering a tomato/basil pizza to go with my recovery smoothie.
Monday:
18.5 mile run
I woke up on Monday and felt actually pretty good. I was on the fence on whether or not I wanted to hit the 18 mile planned run today. In fact I shot an email to coach Al telling him I probably was not going to hit it after I got back from my workout yesterday.
I was still on the fence when I ran the first loop of the arboretum. I am now doing all my long runs as 15 minutes running followed by 30 seconds of "airport" walking to take in some nutrition and reset. I just kept on clicking off 15 minute sets and pretty soon I was bringing it home. I ended up running the rolling course in a touch over 2:19. Oh yeah, that was about 18.5 miles. i averaged a 7:31/mi (142bpm) and picked it up the last couple miles averaging 7:16/mi (148bpm) on a mostly uphill section. I was pretty happy with that run.
Now its time to recover a bit. I hope that wasn't too much and my body doesn't rebel.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Run Rest Repeat
After my Saturday Big Day I followed up with my run on Sunday. I have been doing my long runs as a run/walk. I run 15 minutes and then take 30s to eat, drink, and walk to reset my body and hit it again. This has been working very well for me thus far as long as I bring enough calories with me on my runs. I have gone back to the camelback method that I used last year and was initially recommended to me by Lucho (that guy has a lot of good ideas).
So, on Sunday I was able to run a touch over 15 miles in 1:54 including my walk sections. This worked out to about a 7:30/mi at a 139bpm avg. I was pretty happy with this run and feel like its definitely time to up the distance moving forward.
Monday through Wednesday were easy days with a short flop in the pool on Monday, an easy run with some short pickups and a bit of TRX work on Tuesday followed by a decent swim on Wednesday and a 90 minute easy spin. I'm looking forward to hitting it hard again.
So, on Sunday I was able to run a touch over 15 miles in 1:54 including my walk sections. This worked out to about a 7:30/mi at a 139bpm avg. I was pretty happy with this run and feel like its definitely time to up the distance moving forward.
Monday through Wednesday were easy days with a short flop in the pool on Monday, an easy run with some short pickups and a bit of TRX work on Tuesday followed by a decent swim on Wednesday and a 90 minute easy spin. I'm looking forward to hitting it hard again.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Big Days
Today was the first of my Big Days leading up to Ironman Lake Placid.
The day began with 5x800yds swim descending each 800. I started the first one with my Finis swim snorkel to work on balancing out the stroke and then descended each 800 from there. I played around with some pace changes throughout the 800s just to keep it interesting. The last 800 I did as 100 ez/200 steady/100 mod-hard and then repeated it. I was very happy with the way I felt in the pool even though I definitely am carrying some fatigue in the body.
Next was a bike ride and since the weather was quite crappy today I decided to do this on the trainer. I also decided to go the trainer route as my buddy Tim gave me some good ideas for IM Placid training and I really wanted to stick in to IM specific zones. So, with the input of Tim and of course Coach AC I hit the trainer and knocked out 4x50min IM specific intervals aiming for 200-220w building each interval. The set went well and felt VERY IM specific. I really need to find some good flat riding or slightly rolling here in Madison so that I'm not limited to the trainer when trying to keep in a specific power zone.
Finally, I capped off the day with a six mile run. I took out the first couple miles keeping my heart rate under 140 and then let the heart rate drift into a low steady effort. I ended up right around 45min for my six mile run and went home to finish off the big day with a big ice bath.
Tomorrow is an early 15 mile run and then Mother's Day festivities.
The day began with 5x800yds swim descending each 800. I started the first one with my Finis swim snorkel to work on balancing out the stroke and then descended each 800 from there. I played around with some pace changes throughout the 800s just to keep it interesting. The last 800 I did as 100 ez/200 steady/100 mod-hard and then repeated it. I was very happy with the way I felt in the pool even though I definitely am carrying some fatigue in the body.
Next was a bike ride and since the weather was quite crappy today I decided to do this on the trainer. I also decided to go the trainer route as my buddy Tim gave me some good ideas for IM Placid training and I really wanted to stick in to IM specific zones. So, with the input of Tim and of course Coach AC I hit the trainer and knocked out 4x50min IM specific intervals aiming for 200-220w building each interval. The set went well and felt VERY IM specific. I really need to find some good flat riding or slightly rolling here in Madison so that I'm not limited to the trainer when trying to keep in a specific power zone.
Finally, I capped off the day with a six mile run. I took out the first couple miles keeping my heart rate under 140 and then let the heart rate drift into a low steady effort. I ended up right around 45min for my six mile run and went home to finish off the big day with a big ice bath.
Tomorrow is an early 15 mile run and then Mother's Day festivities.
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