Back at it...finally

A week after the Tour of Sufferlandria, I got back on the horse. I didn't intend to take a whole week off, but that's what happened. It was mostly mental, but there was also a physical aspect.

I took Monday and Tuesday off 100% as planned.

Wednesday I ran four miles. A nice and easy workout. I hadn't ran in two months or so, and I paid for it unexpectedly. I thought I might have a bit of soreness the next day. But for the next four days, I had trouble walking without a limp....after only a four mile run!

So that took out any aspect of workouts til yesterday, Monday. Yes, I know that a nice recovery ride or run would have solved the problem, but I had some sort of mental block going on.

Yesterday I wanted to do a little trainer ride in the morning. Alarm set for 5:10. Kid cries from 5:05 to 5:09, so that's a perfect setup to get out of bed and go at 5:10. I didn't. I reset the alarm for 5:40, then 6:10, then 6:40, then 7:00. Aaarggghh!!!

But I did run four miles at lunch. Actually a bit more because I had to do a short detour past my house to let the dog out. 37 minutes overall. And I'm not sore today at all!

As a side note, I think it is truly AWESOME that I can start a lunch run at work and always have the option of a detour past my house for whatever reason, to let the dog out, turn on the slowcooker, or get somthing I forgot, whatever. That is a part of the small town life that I won't ever give up.

Anyway....back on track here after a week off. Looking forward to a few days of consistency, then a few days of skiing, and then a month or mor

Pocatello 50 sign-up DONE!

First off, Happy New Year everyone!  I'm sure you have great plans and goals for the year. And I wish you every good vibe possible to make those great things happen.

For me, part of those great plans and goals is to once again run part of the Pocatello 50 race. I'm doing the 20-miler course, starting at Valve House and going to the south side of Scout Mountain, across the ridgeline, and then back down. In fact, I just skied the first few miles of the course last week.

It's an awesome race here in Pocatello, and from what I hear it is getting some really good comments across the nation as a great race.

I ran this same course a few years ago as part of a relay. The race has matured a bit, and it doesn't have a relay anymore. Instead, there are a couple different individual-effort options. I'm excited about the opportunity to do this course again, as I normally do things better the more I do them.

So check out the Pocatello 50 if you are thinking about a nice, long trail run somewhere this year.

The Good Side Lost A True Warrior over the weekend

Sunday morning brought tragic news to me. A friend, fellow Marine, San Diego Policeman and a great warrior for the good side was killed Saturday while on duty with the San Diego Police. Jeremy Henwood was a great man and will be missed.

Therefore, running has been the therapy of choice. I went through the five stages of grief every two miles or so and finished three full grief "cycles" on a six mile run yesterday.

Weight Training book available in hard copy on Amazon

The Weight Training Routine for Olympic and Sprint Triathlons is available in hard copy for those of you without an e-book reader of sort (iPad, Kindle, Nook, etc).

Next up on the Pacific Crest race report is a review of the detailed goals versus reality, available probably Friday. 

Below, the book on the left is the hard copy. The book on the right is Kindle. They have different covers but the same text. You can also go to Smashwords to get it for and iPad or other reader, and it is currently on sale on Smashwords.

   

I've set it up so that you'll be able to read portions of the inside, but it doesn't show up yet. Give it a couple of days or go to the Kindle version to see a portion of it to see if it's what you're really looking for. BTW, Kindle version allows returns, and it's very easy to do, so you can always return the book if you don't like or it's not what you thought it would be.

It's hot here in Pocatello! I ran yesterday in 90 degrees. I realized at mile 4 that I needed to slow down and cut it short by a mile (from 6 to 5) so I could ensure proper recovery. Well, I cut it short and then ended up walking alot of mile 5. And I'm quite sore today. It's incredible to know that I'm in pretty good shape right now but a simple workout like that can make me quite sore, as in walking funny even on a flat. Good thing I cut it short because it's very disappointing to be sore from a basic moderate effort run like that.

Great Run: Up City Creek in Salt Lake City

While in Salt Lake for work, I got the chance to run up City Creek, starting from my downtown hotel. I scoped out the map during the meeting, and then hit it directly after release from our day's duties.

As I climbed uphill, I realized this was going to be an all uphill, then all downhill type run. I adjusted my expected timeline accordingly to save my knees. Upon entering the park area, I ran next to the creek for a while, following some very serious terrain undulations until I was forced onto the road, at which point I got on a nice single track above the road. This was much easier going, but still all uphill. Very nice running up the canyon at an easy pace to get my long run in for the week. At the watershed boundary and conveniently an hour into the run, I took a short two minute break before turning around. 

The way down was difficult even though I stuck to the road. My knees and quads were screaming! 

I made it down, back to the hotel in 55 minutes. Upon hitting some flat ground, I actually sped up to a quick trot just because I could.

After a quick shower, I got a burger. Then I needed a burger and shake. The burger was easy. I couldn't find a place near the hotel that sells ice cream. So I stopped into the hotel bar and had a couple glasses of merlot with a chocolate molten lava ice cream thing...WOW! That was good, but I still needed that orea shake. I found it two blocks away at the Carls Jr after stopping into a couple other restaruants to see if they had ice cream.   With that fix, I went home and hit the rack.  

4x90secs destroys my legs...aka Running Hill Workouts

With the arrival of spring (but not necessarily the departure of SNOW!), I switch up the running a bit by adding some short, hard intervals. This is either my hill workout or a track workout with some 800s and 400s. Because I dislike the 800s and 400s so much, I tend to do the hill workout more often.

For reference, there is an article about hills over at triathlon.competitor.com. Go to http://running.competitor.com/2011/04/training/learn-to-power-over-hills-hill-repeat-repeat-repeat_24020 for the whole thing. For some info on my hill, keep reading!

I call my hill the Alpha Kilo....meaning "Ass Kicker," appropriate enough because it never fails to kick my ass. It is the perfect lunch workout (unless it's raining, which then the trail gets too muddy and slippery). From my office, it's a ten minute jog over to the bottom of the hill, including five minutes on a trail and under or through the junipers. On a nice, hot, dry day, I really like being amongst the junipers and sagebrush.

Anyway, the hill is .15 miles with 177 feet gain, giving it an average grade of 24.6%. See the hill at http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/31789296.

This hill is great! It takes me a bit over 90 seconds to get to the top. Only the last 45 seconds are in pure "I need it to stop NOW!" pain that gets my heart rate up to its true max. I used to think my max heart rate was about 184; then I did these hills really hard for the first time and found that I can still get my heart rate above 190! That really hurt that day. But the pain of these hills is a fun pain, whereas running 400's is a bad, no-fun-at-all pain.

The standard hill workout is a 10 minute jog over to the base of the hills, a few minutes of mental prep, and then I hit 3 or 4 reps on the hill....90 seconds up, 2.5 minutes down (very hard to keep traction coming down), 90 seconds to prep for the next rep, and then the next reps. Then it's a ten minute jog back to work. Total about 45 minutes, and I am COMPLETELY DONE for the day afterwards.

Think about that. I only have to do 3-4 reps of 90 seconds each to completely destroy my legs for the day. That's an effective workout right there.

Summary of links for the "BarryP Program" at Slowtwitch

I've made some good gains this past winter by simply running consistently. If you run consistently at a moderate pace, you will consistently make moderate gains.  Read this post for my proof -- that standard 10k run is now down to 47:30, by the way.

Anyway, here's the list of posts/articles written by BarryP and posted at Slowtwitch. Take the time to read them if you want to improve your running. I didn't do that program 100%, but it was the sole inspiration for becoming at least somewhat more consistent in running.

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1612485;search_string=runtraining;#1612485 

I also recommend increasing your swim volume to improve your run. Add an extra 500 yards per workout. That's only an extra 10 minutes or so, and you'll should see big improvements. What's the easiest way to find that 10 minutes? Practice fast transitions on a daily basis....get in and out of the locker room as fast as possible.

Recovery Swims really work

A few posts back, I commented on an article at www.triathlon.competitor.com by Matt Fitzgerald that talked about using swimming as a recovery from running. Also, I put forth a really big effort on my three-mile run at Marine Corps drill this past weekend, and I also had to do some situps and pull-ups, all of which made me quite sore and tired Monday morning. I planned to sleep in on Monday and then "swim it off" at lunch on Monday, but I bailed because I was tired and wanted to have lunch with my parents who are in town to see their new grandson.

Anyway, I did the recovery swim today at lunch (after sleeping in!). And it worked out GREAT! This morning, my abs were still sore, and my lats were still quite sore from the efforts on Sunday. Interestingly, my quads and glutes are sore, too, and I don't know remember the last time they were sore from a run effort.

I did about 40 x 25yd all freestyle, concentrating on a good form that was streamlined and strong. I kept the pace really easy. It was actually fun and relaxing to swim this way! Better yet, I was stretching out those lats and abs that were so sore, and the legs were moving from a bit of a kick.  All in all, I got out of the pool refreshed nearly 100% and ready to hit it tomorrow morning.

Bottom line: the "recovery swim" is the real deal and you should make use of it. Plan for a recovery swim next the next time you have a breakout run session planned. If you're like me, you'll love the results.

Run Progress Test = SUCCESS!

One of my main goals this year was to run consistently at a moderate pace to bring down my run time. I haven’t been 100% consistent, but I’ve hit many of the workouts. My weight is still kind of high, but it seems like I’ve plateaued and the weight will start coming off (we’ll see!).

Anyway….yesterday was a Physical Fitness Test at drill. It’s a standard three-mile course that we’ve been running once every month. This month, I wasn’t expecting to run it really hard, but when we started, I felt good and decided to go with it. There were a couple other Marines running about 20 yards ahead for the first half, and I was just trying to stick with them to see how long they would hold the pace. I didn’t know how fast we were running, but we hit the half-way point at 8:40. Wow! At first, I started thinking that we were slow, running an 8:40 mile, but then I remembered it was 1.5 miles at that point, and I started thinking “Hey, maybe I can hit the holy grail of 18:00 and max this thing!”  Going into the turn-around, I had surged a bit, and then kept up that surge right after the turn and passed the two other Marines.  I held the pace, and put forth a 105% effort to come in at 17:40, holding off a last-100-yard surge from another Marine.

This is a life-time Personal Record. I never ran this fast even in my college days. So, my strategy for run training is working. Yeehaw!

Now I just need to confirm if the bike training is working. The indoor test a couple weeks ago was nice, but I’m not confident it gives me the whole picture.  It might be a while yet til I get a nice afternoon with enough time to do my 40k route. I’m excited about it, but I think I’m going to be a couple minutes shy of the goal. I wanted to double my bike volume from last year, and I’m only about 60% higher than last year; my average run volume has fully doubled, and that successful progress is evident.

Feeling committed = SNOW!

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about feeling a bit more committed to my workouts than last year. Today, that rang very true. At 11:00am I ate a large bagel and three brownies that were laying around the office area. Mmmmm...damn they were good! The sun was shining brightly through the window as I wiped the chocolate off my cheek. Then at 11:45, as I was getting my gear ready to run, another storm blew in....and now it was 30deg, windy, and very wet snow falling very fast.  I still ran my regular 10k route....mostly because I just felt like I want to get back into a consistent mode after the last few days.

I always put this type of workout into the "double" group. I would have normally bailed but I went, and lots of other people probably bailed today, too, (or whenever their last bad weather day was). Anyway, I consider this kind of workout getting a double affect of just doing it. In fact, today was more like a triple because I was really tired, the weather and footing really sucked, and I didn't see anyone else out there.........and then I had three more of those damn brownies later in the day!

New level of committment?

On business trips out of town, I generally don’t do the grand workout sessions I plan. Instead, I rationalize away the big efforts, and they turn into some 30 minute cruise that is barely worth the effort.

Not so this week. I’m out of town on business, and I am doing the big workouts I dream up (at least the one today!), and I feel great. I’m not out at dinner eating a big steak followed by a huge chocolate cake. I’m going to be getting to bed early and getting up early to hit the big workouts while I have chance away from little Paul who sometimes likes to wake-up early.

I guess that means I’ve found a new level of commitment. At least, this has become a much more consistent lifestyle for me…this getting up early for a big workout. And I like it.

By the way, I love running on a cold, dark morning with no wind and no snow. It’s kind of weird, but I feel like I’m the only person awake at that time of the day (and nobody is around to be seen!). Just me trotting through the darkness. I like it. It’s not as great as being out on a great sunny day, but I like the cold, dark morning with no wind……as long as I’m dressed right.

Back at running after 10 days...and good news for race scheduling

I just found out that the Pocatello sprint triathlon is moved to July 23 this year. That means I'll be in town and able to do it. That's awesome. I normally don't get to do it because of the USMCR annual training trip in August. I'm very happy that I'll get to do the home-town race. It's a backwards race....run, bike, then swim.

And I kind of recommitted myself mentally to the Xterra Utah race in September. I really want to do that, but it will be tough to stay in shape throughout all of August and September. I want to do it simply because I think it's a cool race.

I took ten days off of running to get my left calf muscle back to 100%. It seems if I run in the snow, I end up tip-toeing kind of through the snow, and it puts a lot of pressure on my calf muscles. And then it gets strained. There's no pop or noise of any kind. It just gets really weak and hurts when I push off.

So I ran five miles yesterday and five today. Before my run today, my legs were no-kidding SORE. It has to be from the run on Monday because nothing else fits into a category that would make my legs sore like that. I did the regular bike workout Monday morning. In fact, I didn't do anything Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I did the Spinnerval 28 video this morning, but soreness wouldn't have kicked in within only three hours.

Very strange that I got sore.

Video of running gait

Tuesday during a nasty storm at lunch I decided to go to the gym and video my running gait while on a treadmill. I've read about people doing this and learning alot, and I've always wanted to do it. When I video'd my swim, I learned alot. I've video'd my bike positions and learned alot. In the video of my running gait below, I'm NOT learning alot becuase I really don't remember what I should be looking at. Everything looks like it remains straight and symmetrical for the most part, other than an occassional swerve because of the strangeness being on a treadmill. 

Your comments are welcome because at this point I really don't know what to look for:

Consistent Running works!

After three consistent weeks of running every day at lunch, this past week as an easy week. Not "off" week, but easy. I ran three times, 10k each. My times were significantly faster for the first two. Today, I took Paul in the cruise for that same 10k. Instead of 50 minutes, we came in at 65 minutes, which was expected. I ran it really slow and easy, and Paul is up to 30 pounds now! The weather is still holding up.

Last week, I wanted to do the first of two local trail races in the local mountains. Didn't happen because I had to meet with a contractor doing some work on my house. It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL morning for it, too. I'm hoping to get to the next one on Oct 23.

The consistent running for three weeks straight at a moderate pace seemed to work! The first run I did on Wednesday of this week was a 49:30 over 10k with big hills, while the average during the three weeks prior was about 52:30 for the same effort level. Sure, it helps to have fresh legs, but it was nice to see that much of a difference....six percent? That will make it much easier to maintain the consistent running, and alot harder to blow off a run on any given day.

For anyone out there wondering if consistent running really makes the much of a difference, I have to say "YES!" at this point.

Next week I want to actually add the morning bike workouts in reality, not just on the schedule. I was going to add them two weeks ago. In fact, I got up one morning and actually sat on the bike (and not much more!). For whatever reasson, I just didn't get out of bed for the other days. I'm not worried about it, though, because I normally get burned out on the trainer by March, with another four weeks to go before I can get out on the roads.

The good and the bad

The good:

1. I got the V-Flow Max saddle. So far, I love it. It really is much more comfortable than the old stock saddle. It's even comfortable during 60-second one legged drills; with the old saddle I was screaming after only 10 seconds. I also got my hips a couple inches closer to the handlebars, and I feel much more powerful in this setup. All in all, a good thing.

2. This morning workout thing is going well, and I like it alot. I'm almost to the point where I actually want to be in bed by 9:30pm instead of telling myself that I need to be in bed by that time. I am getting up every morning, and it's great. 100% of my workout hours are invisible to my family at this point; 90 minutes in the morning and 60 minutes at lunch, completely invisible (ie no conflict between family and practice)!

3. Lifting weights in the morning on M,W,F after the bike. Once done with the bike workout, it's a short 5-minute jog to the gym for weights or swim. So far, I've managed to start the weight lifting in earnest. The first days I was very quite sore, but now that's gone and it's just a matter of consistency. It feels good to be lifting weights again. I swam four laps on one day last week; my form and feel are still there, with 35 second 50's with little effort. But I had no motivation to be in the pool. So I'm not sure what I'll do about the swimming; I can always do a longer bike workout those mornings, which is probably needed more than swimming right now anyway.

The bad:

1. Running consistency was good for a while but will now be non-existent. I missed Wed - Friday of last week, and now my heel feels much better after some sort of pain after the PFT on Oct 31. I figure I'll just stay off it a few more days and let it get to 100%. I forgot what a completely pain-free heel feels like, I guess.

2. Nearly 190 pounds, versus 175 during the summer. Not sure what's going on, other than I must be eating more than I think. I'm averagine 7 hours of workouts / week, and gaining 2-3 pounds per week.

Biking consistently, no running

A review of the week:

I biked each day of the week except Monday morning, when the alarm volume was down. I got in 45 minutes easy (Zone 2, Average Heart Rate 120), and it feels really good.

I didn't get in any runs because I was working through lunch. Lots going on as we do final preps for vaccination clinics for H1N1.

Saturday I spent the day on the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park trying to catch some of the big browns that are going up from the lake for spawning. I didn't even get a bite, but I spent the day in the park in October and on the water which was the primary mission. I did catch a nice nap on the riverbank, though! We started the morning at 1000 with 9 degreees (yes, only one digit!) but it didn't feel that cold. It warmed up a bit through the day, maybe to 20 degrees. I managed to stay warm all day with two sets of SmartWool socks and two SmartWool long-sleeve shirts. I LOVE SMART WOOL! I was as warm on a nice summer day while taking the nap.

This week I go up to 60 minutes on the bike, and I still want to get in the runs, but I think I'll back off a bit on the run mileage to 20 miles this week because I didn't get in any miles last week and the increase of bike volume.

After this week, I should have my body clock effectively changed to get up at 5 and to bed at 9:30. I'm certainly feeling more tired at night, and it's getting easier to get up at 5 as I find a nice routine to go through in half-sleep.

My weight is managing to stay down somehow, but I have to watch what I eat now, for sure. I'm flirting with 180, but I want to stay down around 176-178. And it's not even close to Thanksgiving and Christmas yet!

Big Day...S, B, and R in the heat then mowed!

Big day today. Finally got my butt out of bed this morning and swam 1x1000 with 500s at 8:16 and 8:24. Water is still hot. My pace is way off of what it was last year, when I was swimming 7:40s and sometimes 7:30s, which were at lunch when I swim better because I've had a chance to wake up but still significantly faster than where I'm at now.

Bike the Barton hill at lunch, but only twice because I had to be sure to be back at a meeting that the big boss was attending. First time up tied my PR at 8:05, second time up was a 8:26. Lots of wind on the way down, and I found (thankfully before the ride) that my front quick-release was loose..tightened that up of course.

The run scheduled for today was a big run. I wanted to do my 10k route in the heat without any energies (gels, endurolytes, etc). It went well, I finished in 54:05, two minutes off my time from Friday after a 40k bike. Guess my legs were tired. I also stopped by the track to do two pace laps, with the 400s coming in a 1:59 and 2:00 flat. Total of seven minutes to get off the route, do the laps, and get back onto the route at predetermined split locations (I love it when a plan comes together on split locations!). I finished strong, but overall time was a bit slower than expected.

Then I had to mow the yard. Thankfully, we've xeriscaped about half of it in the spring, so I'm down to 30 minutes of mowing and 10 minutes of sweeping up the clippings on the street. And we have a small hill that is a bear to get up and down...of course, tonight was the night I mowed up and down the hill instead of across.

I love days like this when I do all three events. The challenge is to do something tomorrow and not just blow it off cuz "I'm tired."

Got the Triathlon magazine from USAT yesterday. Interesting articles on "What to do when things go wrong during your workout." It didn't cover unplanned pool closings and such like I have problems with. Bottom line: always have a backup workout plan and then DO IT.

Lunch Run, easy bike cruise after work

Had a nice, hard run at lunch in warm and very humid conditions....the humidity is not common here. Anyway, 6 miles in 48:00.35, missing my goal time of 48 flat by .35 seconds. I'll rationalize that by saying I started my watch earlier than normal (at the door of work instead of the street, adding several seconds. It was a good run.

After work, I did a "cruise" on the bike out to Century High School and back. This wasn't a recovery ride, but simply a time to get some miles on the bike. I wanted to go easy because of the hard run at lunch and planned race-distance brick (40k bike, 10k run) tomorrow morning. It was fun to cruise. Finished in 41:38, with heavy winds (headwind out, tailwind back).

So tomorrow I'm doing a full race-distance brick. This will be only the second race-distance brick I've done this year, the first being the race in North Dakota in June. I need to be doing more of these, but I've run out of time. This weekend is the last weekend I have to do it. Next weekend is the Pocatello Tri, followed by a weekend fishing, followed by the Rush Tri, followed by the Portland Tri....then a few weeks (including Labor Day fishing) to the last tri of the year at Bear Lake. Time has caught up to me, and I'm not ready! I know I can finish, the problem is finishing in my goal times. I just don't have the endurance in my running legs that I want coming off the bike. And I've forgotten what it's like to do the entire 10k run after the bike. The whole "season" has gone by so quickly already. If I didn't love fishing in the backcountry so much, I could be a much better triathlete for sure!

Bike/Run brick yesterday, swim today...It's HOT

Getting hot out there! 93 degrees today and yesterday. I'm not used to the heat, either.

Yesterday (Wed) did a bike and run brick. 40k bike, and 5k run. Was going to be a 10k run, but the heat was getting to me and I didn't want to kill the rest of my workouts this week. The bike came in on 1:12, which is good for me, and there was no wind. Felt good, considering I hadn't biked in a week or so, and I ran a hard 6 miles the day prior.

Then ran 5k. Wanted to do 10k to see where I'm really at, but I found out before I got finished. I cut it short because of the heat, so I know I'm not acclimatized to heat yet. That will come. So I finished the 5k in 25 minutes. I could have held that pace, so I'll consider that I could have done a 50min 10k, with the hills and heat.

Swam a 2x750 today. Felt good, but I know I'm losing my swim endurance now that I'm not swimming 3 days/week. But I need to focus on the bike and run.

This posts has a few qualifiers in it, as in "but,...." So now I know I'm making some excuses, too. This year is a bit different than last year for sure, mostly because I have a young boy at home now who needs a father!

Long Weekend off, back at it....

Went to Yellowstone this past weekend for some hiking and fishing with family. Five mile hike in to the fishing, and then five miles back out. Good for two hours of cross-training each day, plus a whole day of fishing on the river. For some reason, my calves got really sore. I always sleep GREAT in the backcountry, and this night was certainly an awesome night of sleep.

Ran 6.1 miles in the heat today, with hills, in 49:31, beating my previous time under similar heat and rest conditions by 30 seconds. I thought I lost alot of fitness in June and the first two weeks of July, but that appears not to be the case. Woohhhooo! Tomorrow I find out if I lost any endurance on the bike.