Friday, July 28, 2006

7/28/2006 Strength Training

I have nothing particularly interesting to say about this workout. It was very early in the morning and I worked out.

eliptical = 10 minutes on Fat Burning
JC Bands Lunges with rows, Blue Bands - 12 each side.
Wall sit w/20 lb. wts.
bicep curls = 90 seconds
shoulder press = 90 seconds
walking lunges = width of court/back doing lat raises with 15lb. wts
hip adductor=2 sets/12 reps 90 lbs.
hip abductor=2 sets/12 reps 90 lbs.
lower leg raise w/overhead 8lb (abs) 2x25

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

7/26/2006 Running

I was torn as to what to do this morning. Every other Wednesday is a tough one, because I work Tuesday night until midnight and then am due back in at 9 am. It makes for a slow, agonizing morning. I really wanted to get to the gym, but decided to run instead. I just couldn't get myself to drive a half hour to workout when I could just walk out the door and run. It all worked out for the best. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and the run got the blood pumping and woke me up.

I ran 6 miles starting with a loop through Meghan's Run and then down to 222 and back up 132 hill. I was able to complete 6 miles in 50:45. I felt good about tackling the 132 hill today after letting it beat me the other day. I paced it out and my heartrate never reached over 179 bpm. I'm not sure what that means, but I didn't peak out, and was able to maintain steady breathing.

Here are some more stats from my hrm:

Avg. HR: 155
Peak HR: 179
Min HR: 67
Total Cal: 822

I also tried out the recover function on the monitor. I did a 2 minute recover, and it started at 160 bpm and ended at 118 bpm. I'm not sure what this means just yet, but I had intended on bringing the manual with me to read up and forgot. I'll have to find out more about this.

Monday, July 24, 2006

7/23 - 7/24/2006 Backpack Trail Run & Bicycling

7/23/2006 East Fork Backpack Trail Run

Close to 5 miles of running through the woods up and down hills jumping logs and running through creek beds trying not to go face first into the dirt because of a stump or a root. I aaaalmost made it without biting it, almost. This is one of the toughest races I have attempted. Since this is the second time I ran it I thought I would be prepared, but nothing can prepare you for the disorienting feeling of running through the woods. There are no mile markers, and nothing to really mark your distance just tree, tree, tree... and a narrow trail to try and pass people on. It's actually fun, really.

I don't know what the exact mileage for the race was, as the course was changed by the park service. They figured that it was close to 5 miles, so that is what the pace and other figures were based on. The official time for my race was 45:27. I am pretty happy with the result considering it was a very tough course with lots of hills and lots of obstacles. As I referenced earlier I did take a dive. Luckily it wasn't a bad one, but it was a full on Pete Rose dive on to the trail. The most unfortunate part of it was that I had my sunglasses in my hand and crushed them in the fall. Bummer.

7/24/2006 Bicycling

It was an incredible day for a ride and I made the most of it. I decided to try to crank out some miles today by trying a new route out to ride. It was a nice long route that took me out 132 to Bethel and back around 133 through Williamsburg to 50 to Owensville and back to Batavia. The only thing that marred the ride was in the last mile two spokes unexpectedly snapped for no apparent reason. Other than that bit of unfortunate luck it felt great to get out and ride just for the sake of riding. It was perfection.

Odo: 793.4 miles
Dist: 43.59 miles
Time: 2:35.03
Avg: 16.8 mph
Max: 40.5 mph

Thursday, July 20, 2006

7/19 - 7/20/2006 Running & Commuting

7/19/2006 Running

I haven't been running as much over the last month or so as I was earlier in the summer, and when I do run it is usually with Rick on 3 to 3 1/2 mile runs. I need to get my mileage up to prepare for the upcoming races. I was able to do that the other day by knocking out a 6 mile run in approximately 53 minutes. It was a pretty good run, although I did get stopped by the 132 hill. I made it about halfway up before I had to stop. I walked it out for about 25 yards and then finished up the run strong.


7/20/2006 Commuting

The first half of the ride was smooth as usual. It was a warm morning, mid 70's, so it didn't take long before I was pouring sweat. I took the route through Milford again. It has turned out to be a nice route, especially in the morning with enough range of terrain to keep it interesting and challenging. It was a pretty uneventful ride.

Odo: 724.4 miles
Dist: 25.49 miles
Time: 1:35:38
Avg: 16.0 mph
Max: 29.2 mph


The ride home was a different story altogether. The first half of the ride was pretty smooth. Coming down into Fairfax though I started to feel some weariness in my legs and more problematic a severe pain in my ass as some chafing started. By the time I reached Rt. 50 and Rt. 222 I was extremely tired and my ass ached. So the ride home was a test of endurance and pain threshold. It was also a lesson. I need to pack a bottle of gatorade or something for an energy pick up in the afternoon. The ride was miserable.

Total Stats:

Odo: 749.8 miles
Dist: 50.86 miles
Time: 3:16:40
Avg: 15.4 mph
Max: 29.2 mph

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

7/17/2006 Strength Training

It was about 95 degrees today, so I decided to avoid the heat and hit the gym. Here ya go.

eliptical = 20 minutes on Fat Burning
JC Bands Lunges with rows, Blue Bands - 12 each side.
Wall sit w/20 lb. wts.
bicep curls = 1 minute 30 seconds
shoulder press = 1 minute 30 seconds
walking lunges = width of court/back doing lat raises with 15lb. wts
hip adductor=2 sets/12 reps 90 lbs.
hip abductor=2 sets/12 reps 90 lbs.
lower leg raise w/overhead 8lb (abs) 2x25

Friday, July 14, 2006

7/12 -7/14/2006 Running & Bicycling

7/12/2006 Running

Rick and I did some running on Wednesday evening. I do most of my running and racing in the morning, so whenever I run in the evening it feels....different. Rick is starting to get into the running a bit. He hasn't complained about his legs hurting as much the last couple of runs, which means he is feeling better, or he is just learning to cope with the pain. The trials and tribulations of a runner, why wouldn't everybody want to run? or why would anybody is probably a better question. Anyway, his times are getting better as well. He says he wants to be able to run our 3 mile run in 21 minutes which is a bit of a stretch at this point. He's at just over 25 minutes, so it will take a while to get down that low. Hell, I would like to be able to run a 21 minute 3 mile just in training runs. I think I convinced him to set a little more reasonable goals for now and just concentrate on gradually getting faster and farther to get ready for the Little Miami instead of getting hung up on our dinky 3 mile training run. We ran the usual, and I did 3.5 miles in approx 30 minutes. I think I've convinced him to do the backpack run with me too, so that will be fun!

7/14/2006

I'm to lazy to write something new, so here is a re-print from what I wrote in the sparkpeople message board.

I'm back on the commuting trail today. I took a different route today which allowed me to spend some time off the road and on our local bike trail. It was a very nice ride, but I tell you what it was already hot at 6:30 am. I may be looking at a tough ride home. Weather's calling for 88 degrees and 75% humidity. Wish me luck!

I got really lucky on the commute home. It was storming in various parts of the city as I was leaving work, but I managed to miss the rain. As a bonus the rain cooled things down a bit. Since it was so nice I too my time and added a few miles. I'm gonna shoot for 2 commuting days next week.

The stats:

Odo: 698.9 miles
Dist: 51.19 miles
Time: 3:13:26
Avg: 15.8 mph
Max: 32.8 mph

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

7/11/2006 Strength Training

I've always approached weight lifting and strength training in the past as a process of building muscle. I would always work toward adding more weight in some endless quest to get stronger. What I'm coming to learn is that what I'm doing now is different. Strength training has become more of a way to keep the muscles strong to improve performance in running, bicycling and the like. It is a way to keep my knees and back strong so I don't get injured. This realization adds a new perspective to my workouts and has allowed me to relax a bit more in the gym and just concentrate on good form rather than trying to add more weight.

eliptical = 15 minutes on Fat Burning
JC Bands Lunges with rows, Blue Bands - 12 each side.
Wall sit w/20 lb. wts.
bicep curls = 90 seconds
shoulder press = 90 seconds
walking lunges = width of court/back doing lat raises with 15lb. wts
hip adductor=2 sets/12 reps 90 lbs.
hip abductor=2 sets/12 reps 90 lbs.
lower leg raise w/overhead 8lb (abs) 2x25

Sunday, July 09, 2006

7/09/2006 Caesar Creek Duathlon

Let me begin by saying that I was very, very close to ditching this race. I worked the night before, and didn't get home until close to midnight and had to get up the morning of the race shortly before 6 a.m. I also didn't sleep very well, so the morning of the race I seriously contemplated shutting off the alarm and going back to sleep. I'm really glad that I didn't. Because of the contemplation though, I got a late start and cut it pretty close getting to the race site.

I showed up to Caeser Creek State Park to a packed parking lot with people scrambling around to pick up packets and get prepped for the 8 am start. After a long wait in line to pick up my numbers and timing chip I had just enough time to set my bike up in the transition area and get to the starting line with less than 2 minutes to spare. That left no time for warm up and very little for stretching. Aside from the being physically unprepared it left me feeling a little bit unprepared mentally. I was already getting a bit of a defeatist whisper in the back of my mind. I tried to push it down and concentrate on relaxing and having a good race. My goal was to beat my previous time on this course of 1:34:30 and maybe even breaking 1:30:00. Most of all, I wanted to relax and have a good time, because these times mean jack in the scheme of things, but I want to enjoy these races otherwise there is no reason to be there. I set up my stopwatch/heart rate monitor and let it fly.

I'm not going to analyze this race to death right now. I am very, very happy with the results. Despite the rushed start, and some doubts early on in the race I was able to meet my goals and almost....aaaaaalmost beat the 1:30:00 time. The secret to the race seemed to be something I've been striving for which is to (and this sounds kind of dumb) run smarter, not faster. Here are the official results:

Age Group: 3rd Overall: 27th
1st 5K: 24:11.16 Pace: 7:48 Transition: 01:23 Bicycle: 39:07.07 Pace: 19.0 mph
Transition 2: 01:09 2nd 5K: 24:42.51 Pace: 7:58
Total Time: 1:30:33

I am very happy with the times I posted for the two 5K runs. One of the things I wanted to do was to run a complete race. Often times I come out fast and then fade on the second 5K. I was able to hold back just a bit on that first 5K to save something for the bicycle and the second 5K. I am very happy with the improvement in the bicycle time over the last race. In April I pedaled the 20K course in 41:55 at a pace of 17.7 mph. You can see from the stats above there was a great improvement on virtually the same course. I think the mileage I'm putting on commuting is really helping to improve my cadence and ability to handle the larger gears to push up to faster speeds.

Here are some more stats from my bicycle computer:

Odo: 647.7 miles
Dist: 12.93 miles
Time: 41:07
Avg: 18.9 mph
Max: 31.4 mph


and a whole mess of data from my new toy. I'm not sure how I'm going to put this information to use just yet. It is interesting though to see how my new heart rate monitor can keep all this for me. Maybe after I gather some more information I'll be able to analyze it and get some help in improving training.

Heart Rate in zone: 01:16:00 (Zone 5 169-188)
Avg. Heart Rate: 173 bpm
Peak Heart Rate: 186 bpm
Min. Heart Rate: 93 bpm
Total Calories burned: 1757


SplitTimeAvg. HR
1st 5K mile 100:07:06171
mile 200:08:34178
mile 3.100:07:23182
Transition???00:01:05182
22K Bicycle41:18:17170
2nd 5K mile 100:07:27172
mile 200:09:10174
mile 3.100:07:36178

The improvement in this race really lifted my hopes for the rest of the year, and raised the possibility of signing up for the series next year. It would be fun to approach the races as a season, and give a real focus to my training over the winter and next spring. Something to think about...

Saturday, July 08, 2006

7/07/2006 Commuting by Bike

I finally got back on my bike again after a couple of flat tires and our trip for a commute! Thankfully this one went smooth. I was nervous on the morning commute, because I fully expected the tire to blow, so everytime I hit a bump I checked it. It turned out to be a great ride on a nice cool morning. The average when I reached the hospital was actually 17 mph. It dropped to 16.3 after I got to the hospital and cruised around the hospital to kill a little time and add a couple miles.

Odo: 616.6 miles
Dist: 24.03 miles
Time: 1:28:00
Avg: 16.3 mph
Max: 46.3 mph


The ride home was a little tougher. Well, actually I didn't go home. We decided to go to the movies and dinner, so I rode to Milford. I'm actually glad I didn't have to ride home, because I avoided the 32 hill which is always a killer. I was feeling a bit stiff from sitting all day, and the added weight of the backpack was causing some pain in my lower back.

It was a good ride though. It would be a nice alternate route to come home. It's only a couple miles longer, and I would get to avoid the brutal hill.

Odo: 633.5 miles
Dist: 40.92 miles
Time: 2:34:28
Avg: 15.9 mph
Max: 46.3 mph

7/06/2006 Strength Training

It's been entirely too long since I've done any strength training. I've decided I need to re-commit to my training program so I'll be ready for the Little Miami Triathlon in October. I've been doing a lot of bicycing and running, which is good. I've let the upper body work slide though, so I need to get back into that and working core and back. I'm also having some back pain issues while riding. Usually when I hit 20-25 miles on the bike my back starts to ache. If it's fatigue the workouts should help strengthen the muscles.

eliptical = 15 minutes on Fat Burning
JC Bands Lunges with rows, Blue Bands - 12 each side.
Wall sit w/20 lb. wts.
bicep curls = 1minute
shoulder press = 1 minute
walking lunges = width of court/back doing lat raises with 15lb. wts
hip adductor=2 sets/12 reps 90 lbs.
hip abductor=2 sets/12 reps 90 lbs.
lower leg raise w/overhead 8lb (abs) 2x25

Friday, July 07, 2006

6/30 - 7/03/2006 Running & Running in Muskegon

6/30/2006 Running

Friday morning I decided to get in one last run with Rick before leaving for Michigan. It was hard telling whether I was going to get around to doing anything during the trip. We ran the usual 3 mile course together in about 24 minutes. I finished up the last 1/2 mile for a good 3.5 miles in about 30 minutes.

7/2/2006 Running in Muskegon

I woke up before everyone else Sunday morning. After spending 10 hours on the road on Saturday a run was definitely in order. The house we stayed in was in a nice little subdivision with lots of roads and to run on. I can't say precisely how far I ran, but I ran for 45 minutes at a steady pace, so I'm guessing it was about 5 miles in 45 minutes.

7/3/2006 Running with Eli

Monday morning I took Eli, the border collie, with me on my morning run. He is such a cool dog that stayed right next to me the whole time. Our dog Gracie could learn a thing or two about walking on a leash from him. Gracie yanks and pulls so much that it's just no fun to run with her. Anyway we ran for about 35 minutes for about 3 miles. We had to make a few stops along the way.