Back home...no workouts

Back home in one piece. No workouts this weekend. I'm getting everything back in place to setup a successful week next week. Waiting on my bag that didn't make the connection in Denver, but it should be delivered here in a couple hours....no problem because I really didn't want to lug that big ol' bag from the terminal to my car. I usually travel pretty light, but this trip was different because we had to have several different uniforms, each with its own boots/shoes.

At the conference, I received the Marine Corps' new PT uniform (running suit). It's pretty nice, but I doubt I'll wear it around off base. I think it is a New Balance brand from what I can tell. When I zip up the top, there is a strange "poof" in the zipper at sternum level that I really don't like. I do like the colors and such, though. The pants are nice, and I can see myself wearing them to the gym in the morning when it's cold out right now.

We got in our Chariot to take Paul running/biking. It's really nice, and I don't have any buyer's remorse at this point. I'm excited about getting out with him on the nice days. I got a Deuter baby backpack, too, but we can't use it yet because Paul can't hold up his head very long yet. I'm excited about getting out to the rivers and fishing with him in it.

So, this week is about setting up for future weeks of successful and consistent workouts.

Combat Fitness Test results

Ran the USMC Combat Fitness Test (CFT) today. This is the first year that it's being run, so nobody in our group had run it before. It's a 880yd run with boots and uniform but not gear, max reps of a 30 pound ammo can over your head in two minutes, then a shuttle run with a buddy carry or ammo cans with a couple of pushups and a mock grenade throw. All in all, I did better than I thought I would, and I have to say that it is a difficult test but could easily be harder with the right tasks added.

The 880 yard run: I was in the third group and didn't see the first two groups, but I finished first in our group with a 2:47 if I remember right. My split was a 1:12 or 1:19, I'm not sure. But I remember thinking that I was going out too fast. The second lap went much better than I thought it would, and I didn't really die or bonk. I had to kick a bit when I started here boot steps behind me. It was a good race, and probably equivalent to the best I ran in high school!

The ammo can lift was good. I went first to set the bar. I got 70 lifts, and I think I could certainly do more now that I know how it goes. A couple other guys got high 70's and low 80's.

The shuttle run was more difficult than I thought it would be, and I left everything on the field there. It goes like this: start in pushup position, spring 30 yards, drop to low-crawl 30 yards, rise to crawl 30 yards, run around some cones for 20-30 yards, pickup your buddy and carry him back in a fireman carry, grab two 30 pound ammo cans and run to the other end (about 100 yards), throw a grenade (hit or miss a large square for + or - five seconds), carry ammo cans back. I finished in 2:27 including the five second penalty for missing on the grenade throw. I thought it was good, and it was, but a few others got up to ten seconds faster. Anyway, the running around the cones was much more difficult than you'd think it should be. Other than that, it is just a few full out 100yrd sprints carrying some extra weight. But it is very difficult.

That was my PT for the day. I'm glad I was feeling better, in fact I was at 100% after being sick earlier in the week. That's a good workout, for sure.

Can't wait to get back home and start real workouts!

Back at it...

I didn't work out yesterday because I was recovering from a short sickness. I took all last week off as an unscheduled recovery week because I was feeling pretty weak.

Today was my first day back at it, although not a 100% workout. I'm away from home, at San Antonio for Marine Corps work all week. So I just did whatever was available.

That something was a two mile run and a lifting routine. I kept it at two miles only because I had to run on a track and it was incredibly boring. I forgot to wear my heart rate monitor, too, even though I remembered to bring it.

In any case, I ran an average of 1:50 quarter miles, finishing two miles in about 15 minutes at an effort level of 2.7 of 5, which is a nice jog while putting forth some effort. It was great to run in shorts and t-shirt! And I wore my new Montrail Streak running/trail shoes, which turned out to be really nice but I'm not positive they are right for me. It feels like the shoes want me to pronate. But they're light and feel great.

The lifting routine was the same as usual and felt pretty good.

Overall, I feel good about finally getting back at it. I just need to string together several workouts this week so that when I get back home I can hit it hard in a new Build 2 phase.

Sick and out of town...

I'm in San Antonion for a Marine Corps conference. As I got on the plane yesterday, a bit of the stomach flu kicked in. That flight was the second worst flight I've ever been on. My entire body was aching beyond belief. I guess this is the day that I get sick this year. It has pretty much gone away at this point, and I'm quite thankful for that.

Of course, I didn't work out today. I think I probably lost about five pounds, but I don't have a scale to confirm. I'm certainly more tired than I've been in a long while.

I figure I'll try a short run tomorrow morning and also try to lift a much reduced weight. We'll see what happens.

Back into it....more skiing!

I took the week off, and I feel great! I got back into it today with a backcountry ski up to Scout Mountain. We made it up to the top, 2800ft vertical in 2 hours and 10 minutes! The snow was kind of rough in spots, but we found a sweet powder pocket in a creek area, and I got the best 10-15 turns of the year in there. Very nice. Great weather, too!

I'm putting down these stats: 4 hours of PT, average heart rate 140. A great day.

Next week I'm in San Antonio for the Marine Corps. I have to do a Physical Fitness Test (PFT) that is a 3 mile run, max crunches in 2 minutes, and max pullups in one set. I'm hoping to get a 21 minute run, 100 crunches in two minutes, and at least 16 pullups.

I'll also have to do the new Combat Fitness Test. It includes a 880yd run in boots and cammies, a 65 yard buddy carry, and max number of lifts of a 30 pounds ammo can, among many other things. I think I'll do well, but who knows. This is the first year for this physical test, and I haven't done any practice runs.

I hope to get in a few runs in the 75-80 degree afternoon weather or 45-50 degree morning weather. Supposed to be sunny all week, too. I was there last June, and that was right before all the flooding happened.

My weigth is suprisingly similar to last week, even though I didn't do anything all week. I have a bad habit of not eating lunch on Tuesday and Thursday when at home with Paul. That probably helps a bit. I probably lost some muscle, too.

In any case, I'm ready to hit it hard again when I get back.

Weekend Cross Training

We spent the weekend at Island Park, so I got in three days of cross-country skiing. I didn't do any lower body workouts since Monday when my legs felt really tired. I guess you can call this an unscheduled R/R week. I got about 2-4 hours of skiing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, all of it pretty easy and not very high-level intensity at all. But it was a lot of good fresh air. I think I'm ready to get on the back and see what happens. I'm not ready to get on the scale and see what happened to my weight.

Taking a break

I've decided to take a bit of an unscheduled reduction in volume. I've been quite tired lately, and I think I've overreached a bit recently. I've slept well the last two nights now that Tera is back home, and I still feel pretty tired. The last few workouts, I didn't feel any power whatsoever, although I had some endurance, for my legs anyway. My upper body feels alright. I'm going to take tomorrow off, too, from running or biking, and then see how Thursday goes for my muscular endurance bike workout. This is kind of the time when I'm just listening to my body. Also, I'm not terribly excited about the biking workouts like I used to be, either, so I figure I just need to back off a bit. July and August are a long way off, still.

Another brick today

I did the planned brick today to catch-up on some training hours. I finished the week completing 9.8 of 11.5 planned hours. That's about 90%, so I'm not that far off. I started the day with 30 minutes of hottub and stretching that was much needed. What a great way to start a nice sunny day in the winter! I had to stay home from a yurt reservation this weekend....a full moon with a couple of fresh inches of snow from Friday....the night skiing would have been awesome.

In the afternoon, I did a 67 minute bike (7min warmup, 60mins of steady state riding). My legs were tired to begin with, so I went down a gear to make sure I'd be able to run. I was excited about this brick workout because it was such a nice day out, 47deg and sunny with no wind. I almost took my bike out on the road, but I decided I didn't want to crash on some ice, and I still haven't practiced getting my feet out of the clip-in pedals. The bike workout certainly wasn't anything special. After a seven minute warmup, I did 60 minutes steady in gear 7 for the first 15 minutes and then gear 6 for the last 45. I kept up a cadence of 86 the entire way, and my heart rate climbed each 15 minutes from 148 to 158....it's interesting how the perceived effort level doesn't go up towards the end but the heart rate does. I'm guessing that is a sign that I'm struggling and getting tired. I'm pretty sure that my heart rate would stay the same throughout under the same effort level if I was in better shape. I sweated alot during this workout..more than usual for sure. I have a fan in the room, but I need to get it cleaned off because it's all dirty from being in the garage.

After a 5-10 minute transition to put on dry clothes, I hit the run, a standard 5.3 mile course that I haven't done yet this year. I took along some Hammer gels, and I needed them. I kept up an effort level of 3 of 5 the entire way. Lots of mud and ice again today. I came in at a pace of 8:23, which is good for right now and the first bike/run brick of the year. This is just a little bit slower than the times I had at the Bear Lake Brawl in September 08, so I'm happy about that. One goal of this brick workout was to see where I was at in comparison to that race. Without the snow and ice, I think I would have come in on 8:00 minute miles.

I don't feel terribly tired (yet!) either, which is really nice. I keep thinking of the first Olympic distance bike/run brick from last year and how terrible I felt afterward. I didn't do anything for a couple days after that one. I could workout again tomorrow if I needed to, but I certainly need the recovery time. Monday will definitely be an easy run!

I haven't been using any recovery drinks after aerobic workouts yet, and I'm going to start that now. I've been drinking a 100% protein drink after lifting weights, but that doesn't provide the right 4:1 carbs:protein ratio for recovery from aerobic workouts. I guess it's time to put in that order to Hammer for some Recoverite, and I'll get some more gel and HEED, too.

Still catching up this week...unsuccessfully

I'm in catch-up mode for this week's training. I slept in this morning because I had to be up with Paul each time he woke up during the night. Tera is out of town at a work conference. So I lost an hour this morning.

I lost another half-hour at lunch when I decided to just swim because I realized I wouldn't be able to swim a full 1500 and still do a full weight-lifting routine. The swim went well...first time with a heart rate monitor in the pool. I had to come off the wall much more slowly than usual or the chest strap would go down around my stomach. So, my time of 26:00 for a straight 1500 was really slow (that, and I wear big swim trunks with an open pocket to catch water for drag).

After work, I ran 3.5 miles and stopped by the gym to do the lifting routine. That went ok, except for all the ice and mud from another warm day. The lifting went well, but like last night, I just didn't feel strong.

So tomorrow I figure I'll do an 80 minute bike followed by a 40 minute run. It's kind of just to see where I'm at and to get the hours in doing something race specific. I'm planning to do it at a fairly easy pace just to make sure I can finish. Of course, if it's snowing, the run will either get canc'd or greatly shortened. I think it's supposed to be a nice day, though.

This is Build 1 Week 2, and it's not going very well. Last week, I got all my hours but this week fell apart early, as in Monday morning. At least I'm learning early in the year the importance of making sure I hit my workouts when scheduled because it is incredibly difficult to catch up. Last year, I just did whatever I felt like doing, using about a three day look into the future. This bigger, more complex training plan requires sticking to the plan for sure.

I'm also rethinking my swim workouts. Rather than doing 3x500 three times a week, I'm going to move to 3x500 once a week, a 1x1500, and something with a few drills and not so much intensity to it. That should help me recover more, too.

Not Every Workout Can Be Awesome

So I had to drive to Boise and back today for a 30 minute appointment....long story. That's six hours in a car, three hours each way. The good thing is that I got to drive my parents' one-week old Mercury Mariner; note to self, never drive a new car with leather seats cuz then you'll want one. I got to use their car because they stayed home with Paul.


I got home and I NEEDED to do a run and a bike. I missed Monday's run and didn't make it up on Tuesday. I didn't do Tuesday's bike workout either. So halfway into the week and I'm already short two workouts. This became a brick workout by default, and I certainly wasn't planning for it.

I started with the run at 5:30pm so I wouldn't have to run in the dark and mud and ice from a warm day. Nice and easy 3.5 miles with my dog, Sooner. 35 degrees, not much wind. I've been wondering what running before the bike will do to my biking capability because the Pocatello triathlon starts with a run, then the bike, then the swim.


After the run, I hopped on the bike for my weekly muscular endurance workout. I immediately found out what running first does to the biking. It sucks all the power out of your legs. I had basic aerobic endurance left, but no power to turn the big gears. In essence, I had to do the workout two gears easier than normal, and I really didn't want to be biking by the halfway point, but I stayed on just to finish the workout....something about things that don't kill us make us stronger was going through my head.


This was my first brick of the year. Compared to the first brick I did last year, it was alot easier. I remember that hot July day last year when I did 75% of an Olympic bike and run distance....it really kicked my butt and I needed two full days of nothing to recover....but I was definitely stronger because of it.


And I'm still about 1.5 hours behind schedule for the week. Looks like a busy weekend. Might as well do another brick, this time with the bike first to see where I'm really at.

Swim Training - Paul's first swim

This swim workout was interesting. I didn't swim any laps. I took Paul to his first swim! It was pretty cool. A day in history. Look out for Paul Darin Letzring in the 2028 Olympics! He prefers to chill on his back, but on his stomach he likes to cruise. So, I figure he'll be a freestyler, of course that's probably the most competitive stroke. Paul has been a subject of the past few posts, but this is indeed a blog about maxing out the Olympic triathlon at 20-60-40 splits....I'm still a newly proud Dad, so I can't help but put some posts about Paul......

In any case, here's proof of his first of many swim practices. He's 13 weeks old in this photo.

My workouts were pretty basic. I'm finding a rhythm for my workouts. Today I had flashbacks to the 8th grade....me and a few others stood outside the doors in the cold, dark morning waiting for the doors to the pool to open. Why is it that the swimmers are the ones who show up early, before the doors open? It seems that everyone else waits til about 6:10am to show up, certain the doors will be open when they get there. Anyway, I did 2x500, finishing on about 7:50 with 90 seconds rest. I had to skip a 500 because the doors opened late....my morning schedule is pretty tight with time, so if I start late I have to skip some laps. The weight lifting was pretty basic.

Paul cooperates!

Paul woke up only twice last night, so I got some good sleep...finally! I wasn't really deprived of sleep the way some folks are, but it was getting pretty old waking up all the time. If I went to bed at 10:30pm, Paul would normally wake up at 10:45pm before I got to sleep and then I'd be up til 11:15 to 11:30 while lights are on in the house. Then up at 5:00am or so. So I've been effectively living on about 6 hours of sleep. I can do that, but it's not preferable. Last night was good, I got about 8 hours of sleep. That was nice.

So when he woke up at 5:30am, Tera fed him instead of me. What did I do? Did I get up and go to the gym? No! I slept in, thinking the sleep is good for me (which it is!). I thought I'd run at lunch and then swim and lift after work. That was a good plan, except in my sleepiness I forgot I had a working lunch. Duh! So all I got today was a swim and lift.

That swim and lift was good, though. Swam the 3x500 in entirety for the first time and then lifted the heavier weights I addded last week. The swim sets were done in about 7:45 with 90 seconds rest. I can really feel the additional efficiency that "snapping the hip" gives me; it's usually good for at least on less stroke per 25 yards and a slightly reduced heart rate and effort level. After a month or so, I hope it becomes a habit. I didn't expect to be able to lift all the reps of the weight sets, but I got everything up except the bicep curls. The gym is still packed with the new year's resolutions; I hope they can maintain their goals, but inevitably 75% of them will stop going to the gym in a week or so.

Tomorrow I'll be able to make up that missed run because my parents are here.

My parents are here for a few days to help me with Paul while Tera is gone to a work conference in Tampa. I have a solo mission with assistance Thursday through Sunday. It will be interesting.

Sometimes when I'm working out really hard, I get an appetite that can't be satisfied, and I'll eat everything I can for a couple of hours. I could never figure out what causes that. Now I know. After the run yesterday, that appetite hit me hard, and I ate and ate and ate some more. The only thing I did was do the long run, so I'm attributing that appetite to the run. It turned out to be a good thing because I was full when we left for the Superbowl party, so I didn't eat alot of junk there. In any case, it's good to know what causes that appetite so I can prepare for it by having healthy foods on hand. Anything over about 55 minutes of workout causes it.

First Sunday run in a LOONNGG Time

I'm not one to workout on Sunday. I prefer to hang out doing something other than an actual workout. That's not to say that I won't be physicaly active on Sunday because I often hike, fish, or ski on a Sunday. But to go out running or biking on a Sunday is something new.

That's where I found myself today. It was a beautiful afternoon, blue skies, no wind, and about 35 degrees. I took advantage of the opportunity to do my third run of the week (I wanted to get four, but the meeting Thursday night prevented that). Off I went at 1:00pm on my longest standard course of 6.6 miles. I got back in 57:44. My baseline from September was 54:30 running hard at level 4. This 57:44 was run quite easily at a level of 2.7 (what I call "going for a jog and putting out just a bit of effort"). I figure if I was running hard, I would have at least got to 55:00. That means I think I'm at the same fitness level I was at the end of the September 2008. I'm quite excited about that.

Why do something people not understand basic safety principles and think that if it's legal, it's right?

Here's a story for you: Part of today's run was a loop around a local field that is a leashless area for dogs. I saw a dog get hit by a car, but he wasn't hurt. In this case, it was the dog's fault because it was pretty dumb about being next to a moving car. Five minutes later and still in that area, I saw a truck cruising up the street and possibly going faster than the speed limit and certainly faster than he should have been going, considering the many dogs and kids out playing in the area on this beautiful afternoon. I motioned my hand and said "Slow down, dude" as he drove by. No reaction from him. A few seconds later, he pulled up behind me and asked if I wanted something. I said I was hoping he would slow down because of all the kids and dogs in the area. He said "I'm going the speed limit." At that point, I started to get really frustrated because it was clear he didn't understand to simply slow down because of the kids and dogs, no matter what the speed limit was. I said I had just seen a dog get hit, and there are alot of kids in the area. Again, he said he was going the speed limit. I explained I didn't say he was speeding, just that he should slows down. As I felt some anger welling up, I just said, "I'm not going to argue. Do whatever you do." And I started running again. He drove my mumbling something akin to kissing part of his body.