Totals for 3/21/10-3/27/10

Pretty good week of training, I really like where I'm at swimming and running, the bike needs a little work but I'm sure I'll get there. I just need to get my diet right and get rid of about 10 lbs. then I'll be ready to kick some serious ass. Given I'm still almost 2 months out from my first race of the year, really happy with how things are going...

Swim - 10250 yards
Bike - 111.11 mi
Run - 22.92 mi
Strength/Core - 3 hr 50 min
Walking - 45 min

Training total:

Swim - 60450 yards
Bike - 18 hr 35 min trainer, 175.58 mi
Run - 123.9 mi
Strength/Core - 21 hr 45 min
Snow Shoveling - 1 hr 30 min (hey it's gotta count for something...)
Walking - 6 hr 5 min

Wow I need to work on hills

So I did my first longish ride of the year outdoors today. It was about 45 deg. and pretty windy when I set out, and I was definitely a little underdressed for the conditions. I especially regret not wearing my neoprene shoe covers. The first 10 miles or so were with the wind at my back on mostly flat multi-use trails. That was a lot of fun, but I knew in the back of my head thee would be a price to be paid for coasting at 24 MPH with very little effort. Then I get out in the wind-swept rolling hills of Iowa, on county roads north of the airport in Waterloo, heading into the wind for the first time. Holy crap that was tough, I haven't ridden in that kind of wind yet this year. There are also several pretty big hills in this stretch, and my legs are definitely not strong enough for those yet. Something to work on. Next was a turn toward Denver, with a nice crosswind trying to blow me over, and guess what, more hills. Once I got to Denver, I figured at least I would have the wind helping somewhat on the way back. Uh, wrong answer. The crosswind only intensified, and there were times I was struggling to stay upright. Finally I turn and get a couple miles with a tailwind, instantly up over 30 MPH, which is always a blast! But those last 10 miles against the wind were just brutal, a real test of mental and physical toughness. My toes were pretty much numb from the cold at that point. But I'm glad I got out there, these sufferfest types of days definitely help mentally come race day. 2 hour run tomorrow, hopefully my legs are feeling rested...

Totals for 3/14/10-3/20/10

This was a good week, I got in a lot of biking, and actually got outside on the bike 3 times, and I didn't totally suck, so that's encouraging. Not too much running this week though...

Swim – 7450 yards
Bike – 64.47 mi, 2 hr 30 min trainer
Run – 10.96 mi
Strength/Core – 2 hr 40 min
Walking – 40 min

Training total:

Swim - 50200 yards
Bike - 18 hr 35 min trainer, 64.47 mi
Run - 100.98 mi
Strength/Core - 17 hr 55 min
Snow Shoveling - 1 hr 30 min (hey it's gotta count for something...)
Walking - 5 hr 20 min

My poor bike

So I was biking outside tonight, and the Cedar River has finally receded enough for me to get on the bike trails heading toward Cedar Falls. I thought, awesome, now I can ride without worrying about getting killed. So I ride all the way up toward George Wyth State Park, and bam all of the sudden I'm rolling through the thickest, nastiest mud on the planet. Within 20-30 ft. my bike was absolutely covered and mud was jammed into the brakes and all the drive components. So I have to stop, walk back through said mud, and try to clean everything out. The I try to ride, and I was pretty much going balls out to go 14 MPH because of all the drag from the mud. For 10 miles. What an awesome ride...

60s in Iowa in March!

So the weather the past few days has been awesome, I've actually ridden outside 3 times this week. So much better than the drainer! I made a few upgrades to the bike and tweaked my position on the bike quite a bit. It's less comfortable right now, but I am WAY faster now. I've picked up about 1 MPH from a similar level of fitness a year ago. It is a more aggressive riding position, so hopefully I can get comfortable with it...

Totals for 3/7/10-3/13/10

Kind of a light week for me this week, I was gone for 3 days to Detroit, where I used to live, for my buddy Tom's Euchre party (it's a Michigan thing).

Swim - 7900 yards
Bike - 2 hrs. trainer
Run - 18.95 miles
Strength/Core - 2 hrs.
Walking - 1 hr.

Training total:

Swim - 42750 yards
Bike - 16 hr 5 min trainer
Run - 90.02 mi
Strength/Core - 15 hr 15 min
Snow Shoveling - 1 hr 30 min (hey it's gotta count for something...)
Walking - 4 hr 40 min

Spin class from hell

So rather than endure another thrilling session on my bike trainer, I decided to go to the spin class at the local Y tonight. I've been to it a few times and it's usually a decent workout but nothing too killer. Only tonight the regular instructor wasn't there and she was replaced by some kind of masochist. This lady decided to have the class ride at basically 90-100% resistance (including sprints at that resistance) for the entire hour. And it was really warm in the room, so not only were my legs trashed, but I was completely drenched on top of it...

Totals for 2/28/10-3/6/10

Another week into the training and I didn't really feel like doing much this week, especially on the bike. I just CANNOT get excited about riding on the drainer. I did get some decent runs and swims in though.

Swim - 8600 yards
Bike - 3 hr 20 min trainer
Run - 26.28 mi
Walk - 1 hr 20 min
Strength/Core - 4 hr 30 min

Training total:

Swim - 34850 yards
Bike - 14 hr 5 min trainer
Run - 71.07 mi
Strength/Core - 13 hr 15 min
Snow Shoveling - 1 hr 30 min (hey it's gotta count for something...)
Walking - 3 hr 40 min

Lazy Sunday

Motivation has been a real issue the past week or so, especially biking. I hate riding on the drainer (not quite as much as I hate running on the dreadmill but still). Today I pretty much lazed around all day, I pretty much only swam 2000 yards and that's it. I usually hate sitting around doing nothing, so I'm not sure what's been going on with me lately. Anyway hopefully my motivation and desire to do...something will return in the week ahead.

Some goals for the season

So I've been thinking about what I want to accomplish this season, and I think I've got some ambitious goals that will take a lot of hard work to follow through on.

1. Make it to the start line of my ironman injury-free and feeling well-trained and confident. This is always my #1 goal going into the season.

2. Finish both my sprint tris under 1:10 and place in age group in both.

3. Finish at least one of my 2 Oly races under 2:15. Both feature hilly bike courses, so my swim and run will have to be flawless to accomplish this one.

4. Finish Racine 70.3 under 5 hours. Based on my performance at Pigman HIM in the most brutal conditions I've ever raced in, this should be doable with decent weather conditions.

5. FINISH my ironman. No big time goals going into this one (except my super-secret goal I will tell no one about).

6. Run 5k under 18 min. I was only 20 sec. off last year and I was not exactly in great running shape then, so if I can drop a few pounds I should get there.

7. Have fun! Don't worry too much about results and remember that I do these to have fun.

8. Don't be too focused on training. I tend to bury myself in training at the expense of having much of a social life and I don't want to do that this year.

Fun fun

So I had to have a root canal today, actually part 3 of my root canal. It is not a fun experience, I wouldn't recommend it! But at least now it's done. I took the day off work, so I got a quick swim in and did a pretty hard 90 min. hill workout on the bike (on the trainer of course :(...). The good news is it's been sunny and above freezing the past few days, so the snow is finally melting. Spring is just around the corner! In honor of that I might have to go for a run today, even though my IT band has been acting up and my shins are a little sore from last night's run.

Tough day

I really did not want to get up early to swim today. I start work at 7 AM most days, so to get my swim in, shower, and dress, I'm pretty much up at 4:45 AM. Today definitely tested my motivation, but I did it. Special thanks to the 80 yr old guy I had to share a lane with swimming some odd combination of freestyle and breast stroke taking up 3/4 of the lane. Awesome. Later developed a massive headache at work, and finished my day off lifting and squeezing in a 40 min. run. Long day!

Totals for last week

So I thought I would keep track of my weekly training totals on here, maybe it will make me accountable and keep me from skipping. Sadly I'm already gimping around a little. Stupid IT band in my right knee is acting up again...

Run - 19.22 mi
Swim - 8400 yards
Bike - 4 hr 15 min trainer
Strength/Core - 3 hr 15 min
Walking - 1 hr

Training total:

Run - 44.79 mi
Swim - 26250 yards
Bike - 10 hr 45 min trainer
Strength/Core - 8 hr 45 min
Snow Shoveling - 1 hr 30 min (hey it's gotta count for something...)
Walking - 2 hr 20 min