Structured Swim Routine

Now that I've been swimming for a month I decided to start a swim routine structured around building endurance. It involves a warm-up, and then doing sets of 100m, then sets of 50m, then sets of 25m, with specific amounts of rest in between. Yesterday was the first day (2000m total):

Warm-up: 4x25, 2x50, 2x75, 2x50, 2x25 (8 breaths in between each set)

Main workout:

• 4x100 (16 breaths rest)
• 12x50 (12 breaths rest)
• 20x25 (8 breaths rest)

It was definitely challenging, which is what I needed. By the end my arms were like jelly, and my form wasn't perfect, but that's alright for now. The program is designed for 3xa week, upping the number of 100m sets each week, and adding a long swim at the beginning as well. So the next two weeks will look like this:

Week 2: 

• Warm-up
• 200m long swim
• 5x100
• 12x50
• 20x25

Week 3:

• Warm-up
• 300m long swim
• 6x100
• 12x50
• 20x25

Etc. It's an 8-week plan, which should get me up to 800m long distance in time for my sprint triathlon on September 9. 

Biking wasn't on the training schedule for yesterday, but after swimming I had too much pent-up energy so I hopped on and did a quick 7.08 miles. I was planning on it being slow and easy, but another biker passed me and I pushed myself to keep up with him. Got a PR for mile 6 (3:10), and my average speed was close to a PR, despite hitting a red light twice. 

Tuesday Lunch:

-Leftover chicken

-Leftover burger

-2 glasses of milk

Tuesday Dinner:

-2 glasses of chocolate milk

-1 glass of gatorade

-Beef & broccoli stir fry

-1 protein shake with creatine

-2 glasses of milk

Sprinting

Lifted weights at lunch yesterday:

Bench Press: 3x12x145
Dumbbell Curls: 3x12x20
Pull-ups: 4 sets, 34 total

Hopped on the bike to try and beat the rain, and got 10.19 miles in the saddle. I had to stop about 5 times because of red lights and traffic, but despite this I was only 0.06 mph off my PR. In order to get back up to speed quickly after one red light I sprinted (standing up on the bike while pedaling), and got up to 28.9mph on flat ground. It helps that the tornado sirens were going off to warn golfers to leave the golf course, which gave me a greater sense of urgency.

I bought a bunch of new goodies yesterday: a heart rate monitor, some bike water bottles/holders, new toe socks, and a second cycling jersey. I'm excited to start using the heart rate monitor to train in specific zones.

Monday Lunch:
-Bowl of frosted mini wheats
-PB&J sandwich
-2 protein shakes (one with creatine)

Monday Dinner:
-2 glasses of chocolate milk
-2 glasses of milk
-3 beef tacos with cheese
-Cinnamon roll cake

This heat is bullshit.

Went to Yorktown to bike on Saturday, and the wife came along and brought the dogs. Can you tell they're excited?

Biked 20.52 miles in the heat, and felt FANTASTIC afterwards. If not for the wife/dogs I probably could have done another loop, though it's probably best to avoid pushing myself too hard. The only blemish on the ride was a squirrel that ran in front of me during one of my hill descents and ruined my momentum, but it wasn't a big deal. I stopped around the 13 mile mark for a 30 second breather and to snap a photo of one of the signs along the battlefield trail:

Got home, relaxed for a few hours and then went to the pool and swam 2000m. Crowded as hell, and the water was warm, but a good workout nonetheless. It may be my imagination but I think I can feel my pool endurance increasing.

Saturday Breakfast:

-3 slices of French toast

-4 cups of coffee

-2 cups of milk

Saturday Lunch:

-3 carnitas tacos from Chipotle

-3 glasses of mountain dew

Saturday Dinner:

-Turkey burger

-Peanut butter sandwich

-1 bottle of beer

-1 protein shake with creatine

Sunday we got a late start on our run, but I still managed to squeak out a 10K. Ankles were very sore during the first few miles, but I settled into a nice groove and felt pretty good by the end. The problem is that I started "bartering" with myself around mile 3: "Okay, you're not going to be able to do a half-marathon in this heat, so just do a 10K", so even though I could have done more I was mentally done. Having said that, it's probably for the best since the heat was so terrible. I ran the second half shirtless, and it felt much better than having a drenched shirt on. I may have to start doing that more often. 

Sunday Lunch:

-Gatorade

-Bacon/Egg/Cheese sandwich

-3 cups of coffee

-2 glasses of milk

-1 glass of mountain dew

Sunday Dinner:

-Linguine carbonara

-2 glasses of milk

-Huge cinnamon role cake

Hmmmm

Swam 2000m yesterday (50m splits of freestyle with some rest in between), and then biked 10.36 miles. The swim was good, aside from stupid kids: 4 of them jumped into my lane and swam 2-abreast, and since I didn't see them I hit my hand on one of their heads. Left middle finger is sprained, not terribly but definitely in some pain. On the bike I got passed by a few other cyclists, one who stared at me as he passed me (probably because I'm not wearing expensive cycling shoes), and one friendly guy who made a joke about the first guy making us look bad. My dinner wasn't very good, mostly because I was so goddamn thirsty after the workout:

Thursday Lunch:
-2.5 peanut butter sandwiches
-2 glasses of milk
-4 oz cheddar cheese

Thursday Dinner:
-3 glasses of gatorade
-2 glasses of chocolate milk
-1 protein shake with creatine
-6 oz cheddar cheese
-Quinoa and blackbean infused chips

Lifted weights at lunch on Friday:

Overhead Press: 3x12x75
Incline Press: 3x12x115
T-Bar Rows: 3x12x150

Glad I switched to higher reps, it's making it easier on my wrist. I was plateauing on my 3x5 routine, so switching to higher reps for a few months might be a good change.

Friday Lunch:
-2 protein shakes (one with creatine)
-Leftover bacon cheddar mac & cheese

Friday Dinner:
-5 slices of pizza
-2 beers
-Some Twizzlers

Happy Holiday

Biked 15.61 miles after work with Uri on Tuesday during the hottest part of the day. The great thing about cycling is that you hardly feel the heat at all... until you stop. We did one full loop at the battlefield trail and stopped for water, and standing around for 30 seconds felt horrible. It was a good ride though... Uri was on a mountain bike so I went a bit slower at first, which is probably better for me because I usually want to go flying right out of the gate. Now that my distance is stretching out I really should take it easy for the first loop as a warm-up.

Tuesday Lunch:
-2.5 peanut butter sandwiches
-2 glasses of milk
-3 glasses of gatorade (one before riding, one during, one after)

Tuesday Dinner:
-1.5 kobe burgers with cheese
-4 beers (shock top, leinenkugel, midas touch)
-A few brownies
-Protein shake with creatine

I wanted to get up and run yesterday morning, but I had a headache that bothered me for most of the day so I skipped it. Did some bench press at 195 lbs, but my left wrist had a little bit of pain so I lowered the weight to 165. I'm wondering if cycling is putting too much stress on my wrists. One thing I noticed is that the battlefield trail feels fine when I'm on it, but when I transition to a normal road (which I have to do for 2 miles of the loop) I can really tell how much smoother a normal road is.

I did some pull-ups after the bench, but that was pretty much it. I didn't feel like doing much, and then felt lazy for it afterwards. I also think I'm going to switch from my 3x5 lifting routine to something with more reps, like 3x12.

Wednesday Lunch:
-Protein pancake with syrup
-2 fried eggs
-4 cups of coffee
-1 cup of milk

Wednesday Dinner:
-Grilled chicken skewers
-Bacon cheddar mac & cheese
-Brownies
-2 glasses of milk
-2 protein shakes (one with creatine)

I'm not looking forward to the weather over the next few days:

Also, I forgot to post my total distances for June:

• SWIM: 8.8 miles (14200m)
• BIKE: 112.8 miles
• RUN: 51.2 miles

MONDAY MONDAY MONDAY

I had too many chores to do yesterday, so my original plan of swimming and running got cut to just swimming. 50m freestyle sets, x40 with maybe 20-30 seconds of rest in between. I stopped timing myself and started focusing on only doing freestyle, even if it means resting between sets, and I think it's absolutely worth it. I really felt like I was making progress. Afterwards my arms were too sore to start the lawnmower. #FirstWorldFitnessProblems

Helped my wife remove a tree stump from the side of our house too, which took about 20 minutes and was exhausting. Here she is posing victoriously with her prize:

Doing a long bike ride this afternoon with a coworker since we got off work at noon, then beer/burgers afterwards. Monday's food:

Lunch:

-2 PB&J sandwiches

-2 glasses of milk

Dinner:

-Triple-layer grilled cheese sandwich

-2 protein shakes (one with creatine)

-3 glasses of green juice (post swim)

Weekend!

Lifts from Friday:

Press: 3x5x125

Incline: 3x5x160

Rows: 3x12x145

Started the press off at 135, and got all 5 reps, but pulled something in my neck/shoulder so I lowered the weight a bit. It hurt for the rest of the day but is fine now. 

Friday lunch:

-Leftover chicken fried rice

-Two protein shakes, one with creatine

-Can of mountain dew

-4 pieces of bread

Friday dinner:

-6 large slices of pizza

-4 glasses of beer

-Sweet frogs frozen yogurt

Woke up early Saturday and went for my long bike ride at the battlefield trail, but it was a pretty poor ride for a lot of reasons. First of all, the gears were still grinding despite my tweaks. Apparently they don't grind when I spin them in the garage, but do when there's weight on the bike. Secondly, there were lots of limbs/twigs on the path because of a storm we had Friday night, so it was like biking in an obstacle course. And third: there are two big hills to bike down on that path, and at the bottom of each of them was a fallen tree blocking the path. So both times I had to stop, walk my bike around it, and then start again, killing my momentum. I'm shocked I still managed an average speed close to 15 mph. I ended up with ~13 miles because I didn't want to do the whole loop a second time. 

Went swimming after that, and had a lot of exhaustion in my arms/shoulders from the workout the day before. I did 50m freestyle drills with 30 seconds rest in between, and by the end of it my arms were extremely sore. Watching some of the other swimmers, I could tell that my form needs a lot of work. 

Saturday breakfast:

-6 pieces of buttered toast

-2 pieces of peanut butter toast

-2 glasses of milk

-1 glass of gatorade

Saturday lunch: 

-Firehouse beef brisket sub

-Lots of soda

Saturday dinner:

-Eggplant curry

-Brown rice

-Protein shake with creatine

It was still storming Sunday morning so I didn't go running. Spent most of the day doing chores and being lazy, until I went biking after dinner. I tinkered with the front derailleur some more and it looks like I've solved the problem, as the ride was very smooth. And I'm very pleased with my average speed (16.78), though it helps that the loop around my neighborhood is relatively flat. Biking is such a wonderful alternative to running when the temperature is in the 90s. 

Sunday breakfast:

-2 cups of coffee

-4 pieces of french toast

-2 glasses of milk

Sunday lunch:

-5 scrambled eggs

-1 glass of green juice

Sunday dinner:

-24 boneless wings (BWW) with celery and ranch dressing

-2 glasses of milk

-4 glasses of green juice (after biking)

-Protein shake with creatine (after biking)

Since Independence Day is this week I'm switching my routine up a bit: skipping my Monday lifts and going for a swim/run instead. I'll figure out the rest of the week as I go.