Winter training has gone well so far, and now it's time for a final push of bike-traininer training, building volume on the run, and getting into the pool in a serious way. In a few weeks, I'll start transitioning to outdoor riding (as soon as the sand gets cleared off the roads). Til then, I'll continue increasing the resistance on the trainer and pushing hard.
Today I did my first nine mile run (9.65 actually). This year, I want to follow a 3-6-9 running plan: run hard 3 miles, 80% race pace for 6 miles, and really easy for 9 miles once each week. I'll add in a few other short runs, too, I think. My 9.65 mile course is as flat as I can find around here while staying off roads and keeping it mostly flat and interesting. I came in at 1:24:55 (about 8:50 miles), and I'm quite happy about that for my first run and an average heart rate of 142. I was hoping for something between 1:20 and 1:30 with heart rate of 140, so that result is dang near perfect. Also, so far I don't feel any major issues from pushing my single-run volume up so fast: three weeks ago, my longest run since October was 3 miles, two weeks ago, it was six miles, and then this week was 9 miles.
My swim form is coming along nicely. I swam 3000 yards this week with no issues. Amazingly, my times are equivalent to where I left in August! I'll take that any day. Now it's a matter of cutting some time (from 1:30/100yds to 1:15/100yds), and I'll be where I want to be.
I'm anxious to see what my 40k TT route comes out during the first go in late March (hopefully). That's when I'll see if this winter's work was actually worth it.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
February Cross-Training Part 2
A few more photos of xc skiing in Harriman State Park
Beautiful stop along Henry's Fork in Harriman State Park. The Tetons are in the background but don't show up very well in the photo.
Beautiful stop along Henry's Fork in Harriman State Park. The Tetons are in the background but don't show up very well in the photo.
We had some extra nutrition!
Along the Buffalo River
My new favorite family photo.
February Cross-Training part 1
These are some photos from an annual family trip with friends to a cabin on Bill's Island on Island Park Reservoir in Island Park, Idaho. It's a weekend of cross-country skiing, some ice-fishing, and some good-ol'-fashioned family fun. I also count it as a cross-training weekend for triathlon!
Paul makes his way through the snow on the lake...tough work!
Training starts early around here.
An awesome day of xc skiing on the Buffalo River and Henry's Fork. This photo was taken right below Island Park dam.
Who wouldn't love a day like this on Henry's Fork in Harriman State Park?
Paul goes to swim practice
Paul has his sweats on and walks into the gym.
Me and Paul in the pool.
Paul gets used to the water. It took him a few minutes to warm up and start having fun.
Whoo...that was a tough set of intervals!
Paul can't actually swim yet, but he's starting to like the water.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sufferfest videos
My first double-post day!
I recently downloaded the Sufferfest trainer videos from www.thesufferfest.com. I love these videos, and they never fail to make my legs sore for 48 hours. I prefer the Fight Club video because it has longer interval sets, which is what I need to focus on. The price is right at $10 each. It's a download, so you don't have to screw around with DVDs and such. This is definitely the way to go if you're looking for some 60 minute trainer videos. Both videos use clips from real races, interesting communication from the video-maker to keep things interesting, and cool warm-up and cool-down videos.
I recently downloaded the Sufferfest trainer videos from www.thesufferfest.com. I love these videos, and they never fail to make my legs sore for 48 hours. I prefer the Fight Club video because it has longer interval sets, which is what I need to focus on. The price is right at $10 each. It's a download, so you don't have to screw around with DVDs and such. This is definitely the way to go if you're looking for some 60 minute trainer videos. Both videos use clips from real races, interesting communication from the video-maker to keep things interesting, and cool warm-up and cool-down videos.
Race Schedule
This season's race schedule is proving difficult to put together, mainly because of family events and reserve duty that I haven't had to deal with before. The Pocatello 50 mile trail run was sold out before I could put together a team, and one teammate isn't available this year anyway because he's on National Guard training (and this also dropped our Grizzly Man plans in April). Over Memorial Day, my niece is graduating high school, so I can't do the Rigby triathlon.
However, Janet's Triathlon in West Yellowstone is still available for me, and if the date is June 19, as expected but not published yet, I'll be doing that for sure. This was the first tri I ever did, and we do a family trip to Yellowstone National Park; it's a great weekend overall. This year, we hope to rent a cabin in the Hebgen Lake area the night before to make it a bit easier.
I'll be gone for much of the last part of August, so I can't do the Rexburg or Bear Lake tris, both which I would love to do so I can compare times against previous years to guage improvements. Also, I love the venues. But I won't be doing them. The Bear Lake Brawl was moved to August instead of the weekend after Labor Day, unfortunately.
I am thinking about doing the Jordanelle and Twin Falls tris, but we'll see. I have to fit in some fishing trips somewhere, too!
However, Janet's Triathlon in West Yellowstone is still available for me, and if the date is June 19, as expected but not published yet, I'll be doing that for sure. This was the first tri I ever did, and we do a family trip to Yellowstone National Park; it's a great weekend overall. This year, we hope to rent a cabin in the Hebgen Lake area the night before to make it a bit easier.
I'll be gone for much of the last part of August, so I can't do the Rexburg or Bear Lake tris, both which I would love to do so I can compare times against previous years to guage improvements. Also, I love the venues. But I won't be doing them. The Bear Lake Brawl was moved to August instead of the weekend after Labor Day, unfortunately.
I am thinking about doing the Jordanelle and Twin Falls tris, but we'll see. I have to fit in some fishing trips somewhere, too!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
February update
Winter training is going well, and the focus on the bike is really paying off. I don't use a power meter, but I can tell from the increased cadences at the same resistance and gears and heartrates that I am making progress. This week, I increased the resistance on the trainer another full turn, so I'm now working the same workouts a full two turns more resistance than last year at this time. That's progress.
I wanted to start swimming at the beginning of February, and I did actually start. BUT....I had some "crunching" in my shoulder that shouldn't be there and has never been there before, so I put off the start two weeks to make sure that doesn't come back. I think my strength training worked better than expected, especially the "swim pull" exercise, that my muscles are stronger than the stabilizers in the shoulder can handle. Also, I've always had a bit of cross-over in my stroke and not enough hip roll, so it's a matter of getting new and improved form before summer workouts begin. With better from, specifically not crossing over the center line, my hand entering the water flat rather than thumb-first, and a better hip roll combined with bi-lateral breathing, that "crunching" should go away. The 500's I swam before the crunching arrived were at about 7:45, and I swam two of them, so my times are better than normal for this time of the year. That leaves me some extra training time to continue focus on the bike and work on the improved stroke form.
With the swim shoulder problem, I've stopped lifting weights earlier than expected, and I'm filling that 45 minutes with running. I'm doing a definite training no-no by basically doubling my run volume in a week's time, but so far my body is handling it. I'm really tired, but my body is handling it. The runs are doable and close to my times in October, so that's good. All the biking is keeping my run times down pretty good. Unfortunately, I'm not doing enough back-country skiing to match last year, and that skiing is a really good endurance workout....only three days on the slopes so far this year because we didn't have enough snow until early January.
Overall, I'm really excited about where my bike is at, and satisified with my run. I'm anxious about what will happen with my swim, though.
As far as race planning, I have three races picked out right now. My reserve drill schedule is putting a huge damper on the races. My big races are normally at the end of August, but this year I'll be on my two-week training exercise at that time. So, I'm doing the Janet's Tri in West Yellowstone in June, followed the next week by a race in Jordanelle, UT that I'm excited about. I"m thinking about a race in Idaho Falls in mid-July, but the course is kind of strange....a 1,000ft climb on the bike and a six-loop run with a 300ft climb in it.....definitely not what excites me but could be painful in a good way....last year's winner had a 2:35 in the Olympic Distance so it's definitely challenging.
This weekend is three days of cross-country skiing with the family in Island Park and Harriman State Park. Last year was awesome, and this year should be better because Paul is a bit older!
I wanted to start swimming at the beginning of February, and I did actually start. BUT....I had some "crunching" in my shoulder that shouldn't be there and has never been there before, so I put off the start two weeks to make sure that doesn't come back. I think my strength training worked better than expected, especially the "swim pull" exercise, that my muscles are stronger than the stabilizers in the shoulder can handle. Also, I've always had a bit of cross-over in my stroke and not enough hip roll, so it's a matter of getting new and improved form before summer workouts begin. With better from, specifically not crossing over the center line, my hand entering the water flat rather than thumb-first, and a better hip roll combined with bi-lateral breathing, that "crunching" should go away. The 500's I swam before the crunching arrived were at about 7:45, and I swam two of them, so my times are better than normal for this time of the year. That leaves me some extra training time to continue focus on the bike and work on the improved stroke form.
With the swim shoulder problem, I've stopped lifting weights earlier than expected, and I'm filling that 45 minutes with running. I'm doing a definite training no-no by basically doubling my run volume in a week's time, but so far my body is handling it. I'm really tired, but my body is handling it. The runs are doable and close to my times in October, so that's good. All the biking is keeping my run times down pretty good. Unfortunately, I'm not doing enough back-country skiing to match last year, and that skiing is a really good endurance workout....only three days on the slopes so far this year because we didn't have enough snow until early January.
Overall, I'm really excited about where my bike is at, and satisified with my run. I'm anxious about what will happen with my swim, though.
As far as race planning, I have three races picked out right now. My reserve drill schedule is putting a huge damper on the races. My big races are normally at the end of August, but this year I'll be on my two-week training exercise at that time. So, I'm doing the Janet's Tri in West Yellowstone in June, followed the next week by a race in Jordanelle, UT that I'm excited about. I"m thinking about a race in Idaho Falls in mid-July, but the course is kind of strange....a 1,000ft climb on the bike and a six-loop run with a 300ft climb in it.....definitely not what excites me but could be painful in a good way....last year's winner had a 2:35 in the Olympic Distance so it's definitely challenging.
This weekend is three days of cross-country skiing with the family in Island Park and Harriman State Park. Last year was awesome, and this year should be better because Paul is a bit older!
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