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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Ironman Training: Week 18


My left knee has been acting up a bit while biking (but feels fine when running), so I took some extra rest days this week. It doesn't help that a new videogame (Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm) came out too. Still a good week of training, though.

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3/11: I skipped the morning swim and went right after work instead. It's nice not being constrained to 1 hour of work like I am in the morning: I swam 3800m total (400m warm-up, then 17x200m sets @4:30), and felt great the whole time. I was even complimented by two old Asian women who said I should be in the olympics. That put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

3/12: Terrible weather, so I took a rest day.

3/13: 2800m in the morning (400m warm-up, 2000m long in 39:45, then 4x100m cooldown). In the afternoon I did a rare swim-to-bike brick: 2400m swim (400m warm-up, then 20x100m sets), then I rushed home and jumped on the bike for 10 miles. My legs felt super fresh and I had no problem with the brick, but the wind was terrible and my left knee was acting up by the end of it.

3/14: 6.22 mile run to break in my new shoes. It started out as a tempo run (where each mile is faster than the previous one), but after the first three I felt like I was getting a blister so I slowed down. I felt fantastic though.

3/15: Rest day. I had already swam the most ever in a week (9000m) so I didn't want to overdo it.

3/16: I was originally planning on spending an hour or so on the bike, but we got delayed at the Shamrock race expo and by the time we got home I wasn't motivated anymore. Another rest day.

3/17: Shamrock half marathon. Rocked it despite bad weather: 1:56:38, only 20 seconds away from a new PR. I'll write up a real race report tomorrow.


Weekly Totals:

Swim: 9000 meters (3 hours 45 minutes)
Bike: 10.04 miles (35 minutes)
Run: 19.33 miles (2 hours 54 minutes)
Strength: 0 minutes
Total: 7 hours 14 minutes

I enjoyed doing a swim-to-bike brick, and now that daylight savings time has hit I'll be able to do it more. Ideally I would do that once a week (Wednesdays?) with bike-to-run bricks on Thursdays and Saturdays.

My training isn't at the volume that I want it to be at (10+ hours per week) but I keep having these minor nagging issues. But I'd rather play it safe and heal up fully than push it and injure myself. 7 weeks to go until the Monticelloman Olympic Triathlon. 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Ironman Training: Week 17


Finally a consistent training week without any major hiccups. I didn't do a long ride this weekend because I'm due for a light week in that department, but other than that it was a normal week.


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3/04: 2400m swimming in the morning (400m warm-up, then 10x200m sets). Since my long bike ride was the day before I didn't do anything in the afternoon.

3/05: 10.51 mile bike ride, followed by three 1-mile intervals: 7:29, 8:10, and 8:46. The last one was on-pace for 8:15 until the last quarter-mile when my right IT band felt a little tight, so I slowed down for the last stretch. I really like doing this kind of brick, where I do 1-mile intervals off the bike. Compared to the easy jogging I normally do this fast pace feels like I'm flying.

3/06: This was my 27th birthday, and I was feeling great so I did my first two-a-day swim workout. Before work I swam 2900m (400m warm-up, then 2500m long).  The long swim was done in 48:38, which is a 1:56/100m pace. I'm VERY pleased with that, as it's the fastest pace I've ever had on a long swim.

In the afternoon I went back to the pool, and was happy to find it not too crowded. I swam 2400m (400m warm-up, then 20x100m sets). The fastest set was the first one in 1:26, which is a new record for me. After that my arms were pretty gassed so I swam at an easy pace, but still most of my times were around 1:45.

3/07: Another bike-to-run brick: 6.74 miles biking followed by 4 miles running. The biking was bad: the wind was strong, and I felt some discomfort in my left knee, so I only did two loops instead of three. The run was great, but I was wearing new shoes and could feel a blister forming on my arch of my foot so I stopped at 4.

3/08: Skipped my swim and took a rest day, since I had already swam more this week than ever before.

3/09: 9.05 mile long run. This was my first long run since the Charleston half marathon in January, and I felt pretty good. The weather was fantastic, and I ran the last 3 miles at a fast pace (8:07 for mile 9).

3/10: Spent an easy 20 miles spinning on the bike. It finally feels like spring, and I can't wait to spend more time on the bike in the next few months. My left knee felt okay until the last lap.


Weekly Totals:

Swim: 7700 meters (3 hours 13 minutes)
Bike: 37.27 miles (2 hours 17 minutes)
Run: 16.05 miles (2 hour 40 minutes)
Strength: 0 minutes
Total: 8 hours 10 minutes

Next weekend is the Shamrock Half Marathon, which I'm just planning on training through (I have a 56 mile bike planned the day before). 

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Ironman Training: Week 16


Yet another week where things don't go perfectly. There was terrible rain on Monday and Tuesday, so I did some weight-lifting Monday night. Then I was sick on Friday and Saturday, though I finally managed to get my long bike ride in on Sunday. I didn't do much swimming or running, but this was the second-most biking I have done in a week (I biked 92.5 miles in mid Oct).


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2/25: Weight-lifting (Incline Press: 3x12x95, and then a set of 6 pull-ups). I was going to do squats and/or deadlifts too, but my lower back was a bit tired so I skipped them.

2/26: Rest day

2/27: 2700m swimming in the morning (400m warm-up, then 2300m long swim in 47:45). 20 miles of biking in the afternoon with lots of wind.

2/28: 10.57 mile bike, following by a 3.11 mile run. Ankles were pretty sore on the run, and afterwards I was EXHAUSTED. This workout pushed me over the edge from "almost sick" to "definitely sick".

3/01: Rest day, sick.

3/02: Rest day, sick.

3/03: 49.43 mile bike ride. My phone's GPS kept messing up during this ride so I had to estimate how much 50 miles was, and sadly I fell a bit short, but that's close enough for me. Tons of wind (again), but it was a good ride overall. When I hopped off the bike my quads were cramping, so I did some stretching before following it up with a 3.11 mile run. The run was awful: I felt okay for the first mile, but after that my ankles were way too sore. I actually hopped off the road and ran on the grass for most of it. I need to work on stretching my ankles out at the end of my bike rides so they're loose enough to run on, or stretch a bit during transition.


Weekly Totals:

Swim: 2700 meters (1 hour 7 minutes)
Bike: 80.38 miles (4 hours 55 minutes)
Run: 6.22 miles (1 hour 2 minutes)
Strength: 30 minutes
Total: 7 hours 34 minutes

Friday, March 1, 2013

February Training Review

February was a short month, but packed with training. Here's how my workout spreadsheet looks at the end of it (with daily/weekly bodyweight measurements on the right side). Click the pictures to enlarge them.




Some of the highlights:

SWIMMING


  • 23,500 meters total (14.6 miles)
  • 9 hours, 15 minutes over 9 workouts
  • 5,358 calories burned
  • Second-highest month of swimming volume (July 2012 was 15.8 miles)

BIKING


  • 257 miles total
  • 15 hours, 30 minutes over 13 workouts
  • 11,631 calories burned
  • Highest month of cycling volume (previous most was 217 miles in July 2012)

RUNNING



  • 38.5 miles total
  • 6 hours, 14 minutes over 10 workouts
  • 5,488 calories burned
  • Second-lowest month of running volume (August 2012 was only 33.7 miles)

TOTALS


Purple = swimming, Green = biking, Red = running

  • 5 weight-lifting workouts (3 hours, 30 minutes)
  • 34 hours, 29 minutes over 37 workouts 
  • 22,477 calories burned (not including weight-lifting)
  • Second-highest month of total volume (July 2012 was 35 hours, 47 minutes total)
  • Workouts on 25 of 28 days (3 full rest days)
  • 12 days with multiple workouts
  • 7 bike-to-run brick workouts
  • Weight change from 192.7 lbs to 193.6 (+0.9 lbs)

Noteworthy accomplishments:
  • Swam 3800 meters continuous (the Ironman distance)
  • Incorporated bike-to-run workouts back into my schedule

My goals for march are mostly cycling-related. I want to bike at least 400 miles total, which is doable since my current schedule has 457 miles planned. I want to bike a metric century (100 kilometers, or 62 miles) in one of my long rides; based on my schedule my long rides will be 50, 20, 56, 62, and 70 this month. I also want to incorporate more tempo rides and intervals into my bike workouts. 

Aside from that I hope to keep my ankles healthy while running, and to begin two-a-day swim workouts on Mondays and Wednesdays. I've made huge improvements in swimming over the last 4 months, but sometimes it's difficult to wake up at 4:00am and I miss a workout. Hitting up the gym to swim after work twice a week should help keep my volume up. I want to pop out of the water with plenty of energy in the Monticelloman Olympic Triathlon in 9 weeks!