LONG SWIM/LONG-FAST RUN
Went out with LA Tri Club for the first time. A whole new world. Many of those guys are FISH. We did an ocean swim drill of 1/4 mile repeats: out to a buoy and back to shore at an angle, then running between cones. I wore my H2O Velocity suit—great for buoyancy. I needed it, as the water was colder than in Redondo from the last couple of weeks. Glad I have it. Anyway, repeated the exercise 4x for a total of a mile swim, then did about a 4.25 mile run with some 2 minute speed efforts thrown in on the return trip. Did this in Venice.
Overall, fun. Now that I know what the swim is and that I can handle it, maybe next week I can push a little more. I think I finished towards the middle or maybe the end of the pack…hard to tell as of course we got all spread out. But ocean swimming is definitely essential for me.
One great advantage of the H20 suit: it’s easy to do a power stroke to sight! So I won’t have to slow down too much and breaststroke in order to see where I’m going. But my stroke is also improving…getting straighter. So this will probably be a weekly thing: meeting the Triclub folks (who seem nice—got a couple of names: Nitra and Bouback. Good god, where are the normal names? Nice to meet others doing this event. Bouback, who ran with me and Nitra, did the San Dimas race a couple of weeks ago and finished a hair behind me. Anyway, fun, and I felt safe. Ins and outs…running between is a pretty good drill…you redistribute the blood in your legs.
This week will be weird; going out of town Sunday and therefore can only run. But I’ve already done two runs this week! (Yesterday was a speed bike: 10 miles in about 31 minutes), plus a recovery 5K.
Redondo is my next race and therefore I think I need to shore up my swimming…1/2 mile in the ocean is pretty far. Maybe add a swim workout per week, drop the recovery run? I have about about 3 weeks—so 2 weeks of hard training, one week of taper.
Tuesday: FB/RR
Wednesday: LS/FR
Thursday: LB (w/TriClub?) or RB/LS
Friday: LS OR OFF
Saturday: RB/RS—bike to gym, swim, bike home.
Sunday: LR in SD
That makes the 9 workouts. Keep up the intensity!
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Monday, May 16, 2005
Race Results! Tri #1 (San Dimas)
Start Time: 7:36 AM
T1: 7:40
T2: 8:10
Finish: 8:31
Swim Time (200-300 yds): 4 min
Bike Time (8.33 miles): 30 min (3.6 min/mile; 17 mph avg)
Run Time (3 miles): 21 min (7 min/mile)
Total Time: 55:42
Place: 2nd in Age Group (30-34); 8th overall.
Good job! Very happy and pleased at these results.
Pre-race
Go!
Transition
Ride
Coming in
Final Run
Congratulations
With Kate, Heidi and Mom
The next week was back into the swing of it: one sprint, one recovery, and one distance workout in all three disciplines.
TRILAB workout on 5/21 was a FULL OLYMPIC DISTANCE effort: 1/2 mile swim (that’s a little short, actually) 23 mile bike, 6 mile run. Apparently I did it in 2 hours, which seems fast, but hey, I was first. Outsprinted my nearest competitor, who actually overtook me for a minute or so, by inches at the end. I just had something left and he didn’t. Fitting, it was Peter—who had been outdoing me throughout the whole camp. I was definitely not putting in race effort—really cruising on the bike, chatting with people as I passed them. The run got more serious as I realized that I had a real shot at winning, so I nose-to-the-grindstoned it. Anyway, lots of congratulations and back slapping on my effort at the San Dimas course the week before—no one but I really got the satisfaction of my intraclub win. But it was great to actually experience an Olympic distance event!
Just now I went back and reread my entire triathlon journal starting in January! Wow, what a ride it’s been. My times have certainly improved! Swimming and running are much faster now. And in San Dimas I was running 7 minute miles for 3 miles; I had been hoping for 7:30 at that race! So I’m definitely much faster.
T1: 7:40
T2: 8:10
Finish: 8:31
Swim Time (200-300 yds): 4 min
Bike Time (8.33 miles): 30 min (3.6 min/mile; 17 mph avg)
Run Time (3 miles): 21 min (7 min/mile)
Total Time: 55:42
Place: 2nd in Age Group (30-34); 8th overall.
Good job! Very happy and pleased at these results.
Pre-race
Go!
Transition
Ride
Coming in
Final Run
Congratulations
With Kate, Heidi and Mom
The next week was back into the swing of it: one sprint, one recovery, and one distance workout in all three disciplines.
TRILAB workout on 5/21 was a FULL OLYMPIC DISTANCE effort: 1/2 mile swim (that’s a little short, actually) 23 mile bike, 6 mile run. Apparently I did it in 2 hours, which seems fast, but hey, I was first. Outsprinted my nearest competitor, who actually overtook me for a minute or so, by inches at the end. I just had something left and he didn’t. Fitting, it was Peter—who had been outdoing me throughout the whole camp. I was definitely not putting in race effort—really cruising on the bike, chatting with people as I passed them. The run got more serious as I realized that I had a real shot at winning, so I nose-to-the-grindstoned it. Anyway, lots of congratulations and back slapping on my effort at the San Dimas course the week before—no one but I really got the satisfaction of my intraclub win. But it was great to actually experience an Olympic distance event!
Just now I went back and reread my entire triathlon journal starting in January! Wow, what a ride it’s been. My times have certainly improved! Swimming and running are much faster now. And in San Dimas I was running 7 minute miles for 3 miles; I had been hoping for 7:30 at that race! So I’m definitely much faster.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Long Bike—Taper Day Two
13.7 miles in 57:32
AHR: 131
MHR: 146
Avg speed: 14.2
Top speed: around 33
Griffith loop again. Felt good, gave it a little more push than I was thinking I would. Still didn’t top my best speed doing the reverse loop with intervals about a month ago. But felt good. Tomorrow, long swim plus recovery run, then Saturday recovery swim and bike. Keep going!
[Rest of the week: easy workouts generally—practice triathlon with TRILAB group (2/3 mile swim, 6 mile bike, 2 mile run), in which I came in second without really trying. I especially took it easy on the run…really let myself ease into it. Was happy to be second even with that level of effort!]
AHR: 131
MHR: 146
Avg speed: 14.2
Top speed: around 33
Griffith loop again. Felt good, gave it a little more push than I was thinking I would. Still didn’t top my best speed doing the reverse loop with intervals about a month ago. But felt good. Tomorrow, long swim plus recovery run, then Saturday recovery swim and bike. Keep going!
[Rest of the week: easy workouts generally—practice triathlon with TRILAB group (2/3 mile swim, 6 mile bike, 2 mile run), in which I came in second without really trying. I especially took it easy on the run…really let myself ease into it. Was happy to be second even with that level of effort!]
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Long Run —Taper Day One
6.4 miles in 1:00:14
AHR: 129
MHR: 139
Good, easy run. Lots of stretching before and after. Kept HR in easy range, no pushes for speed. Mild discomfort in lower legs again, but not bad. Will put in a long bike tomorrow, a long swim and a recovery run on Thursday, Friday off, then do an easy swim and an easy bike with Trilab on Saturday, working transitions and easy form, sticking with the slow group, then race day on Sunday! Hurrah! Like this plan…it actually keeps me at my 3 workouts/discipline/week pace, one per speed slow, med, fast, assuming the race pace IS fast—that will count as my speed workout.
Good work again, mostly for the restraint. A couple of times I was tempted to go for it on the speed, really push—but I didn’t. I just went easy pace, though I went for the full hour…a slight negative split. Nice to feel how easy it can be. I could have run a marathon, I bet! Very manageable. Same thing tomorrow on the bike. Maybe do 90 minutes to 2 hours. Easy as pie.
AHR: 129
MHR: 139
Good, easy run. Lots of stretching before and after. Kept HR in easy range, no pushes for speed. Mild discomfort in lower legs again, but not bad. Will put in a long bike tomorrow, a long swim and a recovery run on Thursday, Friday off, then do an easy swim and an easy bike with Trilab on Saturday, working transitions and easy form, sticking with the slow group, then race day on Sunday! Hurrah! Like this plan…it actually keeps me at my 3 workouts/discipline/week pace, one per speed slow, med, fast, assuming the race pace IS fast—that will count as my speed workout.
Good work again, mostly for the restraint. A couple of times I was tempted to go for it on the speed, really push—but I didn’t. I just went easy pace, though I went for the full hour…a slight negative split. Nice to feel how easy it can be. I could have run a marathon, I bet! Very manageable. Same thing tomorrow on the bike. Maybe do 90 minutes to 2 hours. Easy as pie.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Long Swim/Fast Bike/Fast Run
TRILAB
Approx. 2 hours
This was a long, fun workout—very tough, especially the bike/run, which were real effortful pushes. The swim workout was good: in the pool, with Gina and the advanced swimmers – Eric, Stefan, Goatee Mountain Biker Todd…was that all? Can’t remember. Anyway, we pushed through lots of drills—and hell, I was the fastest one! Too bad tri swims aren’t in pools, I’d do well. I did 150 yards in 2:16…pretty good—averaging 45 seconds per 50. When I started I couldn’t do a single 50 in 45 seconds, full out! Learned a type of wall turn that’s easier and faster than what I’m used to. We probably did 1500 meters. Drilling, drilling, drilling. Gina seemed to think my main problem was overreaching—what she called “disco fishing”—crossing my centerline on my overhead extension. So I worked on that and got better. Also got better at gliding, which she wanted me to exaggerate. And speed was good. Usually I’ve had to sacrifice form for speed, but soon I think they’ll come together. Gotta keep with 3x/week—it makes a difference.
As for the bike/run, we did a short course with lots of turns: a total of about 10 miles in roughly 1/2 hour…I averaged over 19 mph again AND—finished first, beating Eric at the finishline. He’s a fast starter, but he slows at the end. Same thing on the run—beat him in the last 3/4 mile or so, but was bested myself by goatee man Todd, who ran strong the whole time. He was good, that’s for sure! The run lasted about 22 minutes, and I averaged 149 hr. between that and the bike. I’ve learned that the bike will just be painful on the quads. It’s such a concentrated exercise. Fortunately there are ways to move the pain around…keep working the hams on the bike. MHR was probably in the 160s—my HRM got messed up again and is reading way too high. Funny, my exercise HR is WAY below that of other people. I can’t go to 175 like a lot of folks…
Anyway—the run was about 3 miles. So it was almost a mile swim plus 10 miles of bike plus 3 miles of run: pretty much a full sprint tri—plus a little bit, and with slower transitions. And I feel good today (Sunday). So—that’s good. I’m going to go for an easy bike after I train Scott this morning. That’s going to be it for me this week. I’ve DONE all 3 disciplines 3 times now! So this will be sort of a bonus workout! But I’m going to go easy.
Great work! This was really my final “hard work” week. Next week I’m going to follow the taper plan in the Harr book so I’m good and rested for the tri on Sunday in San Dimas. After that, hey, it will be back to hard training, maybe for Newport or Redondo? We’ll see.
Approx. 2 hours
This was a long, fun workout—very tough, especially the bike/run, which were real effortful pushes. The swim workout was good: in the pool, with Gina and the advanced swimmers – Eric, Stefan, Goatee Mountain Biker Todd…was that all? Can’t remember. Anyway, we pushed through lots of drills—and hell, I was the fastest one! Too bad tri swims aren’t in pools, I’d do well. I did 150 yards in 2:16…pretty good—averaging 45 seconds per 50. When I started I couldn’t do a single 50 in 45 seconds, full out! Learned a type of wall turn that’s easier and faster than what I’m used to. We probably did 1500 meters. Drilling, drilling, drilling. Gina seemed to think my main problem was overreaching—what she called “disco fishing”—crossing my centerline on my overhead extension. So I worked on that and got better. Also got better at gliding, which she wanted me to exaggerate. And speed was good. Usually I’ve had to sacrifice form for speed, but soon I think they’ll come together. Gotta keep with 3x/week—it makes a difference.
As for the bike/run, we did a short course with lots of turns: a total of about 10 miles in roughly 1/2 hour…I averaged over 19 mph again AND—finished first, beating Eric at the finishline. He’s a fast starter, but he slows at the end. Same thing on the run—beat him in the last 3/4 mile or so, but was bested myself by goatee man Todd, who ran strong the whole time. He was good, that’s for sure! The run lasted about 22 minutes, and I averaged 149 hr. between that and the bike. I’ve learned that the bike will just be painful on the quads. It’s such a concentrated exercise. Fortunately there are ways to move the pain around…keep working the hams on the bike. MHR was probably in the 160s—my HRM got messed up again and is reading way too high. Funny, my exercise HR is WAY below that of other people. I can’t go to 175 like a lot of folks…
Anyway—the run was about 3 miles. So it was almost a mile swim plus 10 miles of bike plus 3 miles of run: pretty much a full sprint tri—plus a little bit, and with slower transitions. And I feel good today (Sunday). So—that’s good. I’m going to go for an easy bike after I train Scott this morning. That’s going to be it for me this week. I’ve DONE all 3 disciplines 3 times now! So this will be sort of a bonus workout! But I’m going to go easy.
Great work! This was really my final “hard work” week. Next week I’m going to follow the taper plan in the Harr book so I’m good and rested for the tri on Sunday in San Dimas. After that, hey, it will be back to hard training, maybe for Newport or Redondo? We’ll see.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
10 Days Out
LONG RUN/RECOVERY SWIM
Did 4.5 miles around the neighborhood. Easy pace for the first three, then tempo pace for the last 1.5 miles—finished that in 11 minutes. A good pace for after 3 miles. Nice job. Then went to gym and did 1000 meters of drills and one sprint—50 meters in 34 seconds. Personal best? Don’t know…would have to check. AHR at 128 or so; up to the 150’s for my last tempo run. Another good one…calves still a little tender from my fast run last weekend (!)—hope they do okay on race practice day (Saturday), though I still don’t know quite what we’re doing: a practice tri? Race day in 10 days. Yipes.
Did 4.5 miles around the neighborhood. Easy pace for the first three, then tempo pace for the last 1.5 miles—finished that in 11 minutes. A good pace for after 3 miles. Nice job. Then went to gym and did 1000 meters of drills and one sprint—50 meters in 34 seconds. Personal best? Don’t know…would have to check. AHR at 128 or so; up to the 150’s for my last tempo run. Another good one…calves still a little tender from my fast run last weekend (!)—hope they do okay on race practice day (Saturday), though I still don’t know quite what we’re doing: a practice tri? Race day in 10 days. Yipes.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Long Bike/Hard Run
Griffith loop again: 13.71 miles done in 56:55 minutes. Then 25 minute run up to and down from observatory. AHR: 128; MHR: 146. Felt strong the whole way. Pre stretch and post stretch—good. “Long” bike wasn’t supremely long—didn’t and probably won’t get in a 2 hour bike this week, unless it’s Sunday. But bricks are important right now.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Long Swim/Fast Bike
75 minutes or so total
SCAQ swim again. Felt pretty good for most of it, then got tired towards the end and required a little more rest and slowed down. Maxed at 1:24 on my sprint 100, a second better than last week…almost ditched the last 100 meters of my workout, I was so tired…
Picked it up on the bike: 5 min warmup, then one-minute sprints at level 15, around 110 rpm, separated by 2 minutes of rest, 5 reps total, and a 3 minute cooldown. Good cadence drill. (oh yeah, this was a stationary bike effort, not a real bike effort—so sort of a cross-training thing). But it was a 10 mile deal in about 25 minutes (could that be accurate? Probably not…on the bike last week I did 10 miles in about 33 minutes, full out. This was not the same degree of intensity). AHR was 129, max was 149. Not bad…took 2 minutes between efforts.
Yoga stretching, 5 min.
Didn’t run today as lower calves still feeling last Sunday’s run effort. I SHOULD run tomorrow. Maybe a recovery run after a longer bike? Then a longer run on Thursday coupled with a recovery swim. Maybe I’ll do 4-5 laps at an easy pace, then go to the gym to splash around for 20 minutes. Should be good. But tomorrow, Griffith loop and an easy 20 min run? Sounds good to me.
SCAQ swim again. Felt pretty good for most of it, then got tired towards the end and required a little more rest and slowed down. Maxed at 1:24 on my sprint 100, a second better than last week…almost ditched the last 100 meters of my workout, I was so tired…
Picked it up on the bike: 5 min warmup, then one-minute sprints at level 15, around 110 rpm, separated by 2 minutes of rest, 5 reps total, and a 3 minute cooldown. Good cadence drill. (oh yeah, this was a stationary bike effort, not a real bike effort—so sort of a cross-training thing). But it was a 10 mile deal in about 25 minutes (could that be accurate? Probably not…on the bike last week I did 10 miles in about 33 minutes, full out. This was not the same degree of intensity). AHR was 129, max was 149. Not bad…took 2 minutes between efforts.
Yoga stretching, 5 min.
Didn’t run today as lower calves still feeling last Sunday’s run effort. I SHOULD run tomorrow. Maybe a recovery run after a longer bike? Then a longer run on Thursday coupled with a recovery swim. Maybe I’ll do 4-5 laps at an easy pace, then go to the gym to splash around for 20 minutes. Should be good. But tomorrow, Griffith loop and an easy 20 min run? Sounds good to me.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Run/Bike Reverse Brick
Run: LONG DISTANCE, race effort: 6.4 miles, usual neighborhood route, flat.
Time: 45:55
AHR: 148
MHR: 164
Bike: Also 6.4 miles, recovery pace.
Time: 25 minutes
Hurrah! Nice effort! Averaged 7:17 per mile on a race-effort push. Finished the first two laps at 11:18 and then 22:48 – second lap just a little slower. Can’t remember third lap time, but I deliberately eased off as I could tell I was on my edge…last lap was another good effort though. So good work. Afterwards I took the bike out and did 4 easy laps, just to stay bikey and cool down. Run effort great though. I’m going to do well in this sprint thing if I just keep going and don’t get hurt. This next week will be my last hard effort week—next week will be a cooldown week, a taper week.
PLAN
Monday: off
Tuesday: SCAQ swim/Recovery run
Wednesday: LSD Bike
Thursday: LSD Run—slower than today! Just run for an hour or so/Recovery Swim, drills + some longer distances. Work the 300-400 meter range.
Friday: off
Saturday: Speed: Swim/Bike/Run
Sunday: Recovery Bike
This is indeed assuming that we will be doing a triathlon-style drill at the end of the week with Trilab. If we don’t, I’ll pick up the slack on Sunday—whatever discipline I don’t do I’ll add it in on Sunday.
Anyway, good workout week!
Time: 45:55
AHR: 148
MHR: 164
Bike: Also 6.4 miles, recovery pace.
Time: 25 minutes
Hurrah! Nice effort! Averaged 7:17 per mile on a race-effort push. Finished the first two laps at 11:18 and then 22:48 – second lap just a little slower. Can’t remember third lap time, but I deliberately eased off as I could tell I was on my edge…last lap was another good effort though. So good work. Afterwards I took the bike out and did 4 easy laps, just to stay bikey and cool down. Run effort great though. I’m going to do well in this sprint thing if I just keep going and don’t get hurt. This next week will be my last hard effort week—next week will be a cooldown week, a taper week.
PLAN
Monday: off
Tuesday: SCAQ swim/Recovery run
Wednesday: LSD Bike
Thursday: LSD Run—slower than today! Just run for an hour or so/Recovery Swim, drills + some longer distances. Work the 300-400 meter range.
Friday: off
Saturday: Speed: Swim/Bike/Run
Sunday: Recovery Bike
This is indeed assuming that we will be doing a triathlon-style drill at the end of the week with Trilab. If we don’t, I’ll pick up the slack on Sunday—whatever discipline I don’t do I’ll add it in on Sunday.
Anyway, good workout week!
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