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. 

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). 

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

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!

Ironman Training: Week 15

Another week where things didn't go quite as planned, but hey, that's how it goes sometimes.

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2/18: 2400m swimming in the morning: 400m warm-up, then 20x100m sets, with every 4th one a sprint (1:35, 1:31, 1:30, 1:32, 1:29, 1:32). In the afternoon an easy 10 mile recovery bike ride to get some blood into my legs.

2/19: Bike/run brick: 10 miles on the bike followed by 3 miles running. Legs very fresh.

2/20: 2700m swimming in the morning: 400m warm-up, then 2000m long (in 39:30), followed by a 3x100m cool-down. Weight-lifting in the afternoon (Squat: 3x5x140, Bench: 3x12x125, Pull-ups: 5 sets, 40 total).

2/21: Another bike/run brick: 10 miles on the bike (including 4x1:00 sprinting intervals mixed in) followed by a 5K run. My heart rate settled in nicely on the run, and then I picked-up the pace for the last few minutes.

2/22: 2400m in the pool in the morning: 400m warm-up, 10x200m sets (most of them between 3:40-3:50), and one 100m cool-down. Pushed the pace on the 200m sets to a fast, but not too difficult, speed.

2/23: Today was my second attempt at my 50 mile long bike ride (after getting rained on last weekend), and once again I went out to Yorktown in the pouring rain. As soon as I arrived I realized that I had left my tire patching kit at home. I haven't gotten a flat tire since buying my tri bike in September though, so the odds of it happening today were pretty low, right? /foreshadowing

I was having a fantastic ride. The rain stopped after the first 30 minutes, my legs felt good, and I was pacing myself perfectly. I did 30 miles before stopping to refill my bottle with gatorade, and still felt fresh when I started my 4th loop. So guess what happened near the end of this loop, at mile 37? Yep, a flat in my rear tire. 37 miles biking, one again short of my 50 mile goal. I walked my bike the 2 miles back to my car (no easy task in bike cleats), changed into my running gear and salvaged the workout with a 4 mile run. I don't know if it's because I've been doing a lot of bricks lately, or because I had a 30 minute cool-down while I walked my bike back to my car, but I had no trouble with this run and my legs felt fantastic. I'll be doing bricks with all of my long rides from now on.

2/24: Bre was running in the Colonial Half Marathon today, so after watching her start the race I went over to Colonial Williamsburg to get my own run in. I ran 5 miles before stopping to get some sandwiches at cheese shoppe, but I ended up running an additional 15 minutes with Bre at the end of the race, so I tacked it on to my first runkeeper to make it an even 10K run for the day. The race was a tough hilly course, and despite that Bre rocked it with a 2:46 time! That's 2 minutes shy of her PR, but that's to be expected on such a hilly course. Great job sweetie!

She did not look this happy at the end.

Weekly Totals:

Swim: 7600 meters (3 hours 10 minutes)

Bike: 68.27 miles (4 hours 10 minutes)

Run: 16.44 miles (2 hours 44 minutes)

Strength: 45 minutes

Total: 10 hours 50 minutes

It wasn't as big of a week as I had hoped thanks to the flat tire, but 10 hours 50 minutes is still the most volume of training I've had since November, and the second largest week ever. I've been icing my feet/ankles lately, and they're finally healed enough for me to get some decent running in, and next week I have a 10 mile long run scheduled to make sure my body is ready for the Shamrock Half Marathon in three weeks.

Yes that's a cooking pot. Don't tell my wife. 

I also signed up for another race: the Jamestown Olympic triathlon, on June 8. This race is two weeks before the Rev3 Half Ironman triathlon, so it should be a good final stepping stone before that. 

Triathletes vs Runners

One of my favorite blogs (http://iwannagetphysical.blogspot.com/) posted the above infographic the other day, and I found it really interesting. Specifically the time comparison between stand-alone marathons and Ironman marathons. Boston Marathoners only run their marathon 24 minutes faster than Kona triathletes? Wow.

There are a few takeaways from this information. First, that cross-training is valuable. Sure the best way to improve your running is to go out there and run, but there are other things you can do to supplement that.

Second, that triathletes are better athletes than runners. The best triathletes in the world run their marathon at a pace 55 seconds slower than the best runners in the world, and that's after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112. And that's before considering the conditions: Kona is hot, humid, and windy. The Boston marathon is in April, and is a downhill race: it's a point-to-point run, starting at a 490 feet above sea level and ending at 10 feet. (Disclaimer: yes I know there's a medium-sized hill around mile 20, but still.) Given all of these conditions, Boston runners should be at least an HOUR faster.

Regardless, both are pretty awesome accomplishments. The average marathon time for all Ironman triathlons is 4:55. Anything under 5 hours and I'll be happy in November!

Ironman Training: Week 14

I had a recovery week scheduled for next week, but due to some terrible weather on Saturday I decided to take it this week instead. Still a good week of workouts though.

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2/11: Slept-in and missed my morning swim (I've been doing that a lot lately on Mondays). Weight lifting in the afternoon (Squat: 3x5x135, Incline Press: 3x12x90, Pull-ups: 7 sets, 59 total). I was planning on biking a bit to warm-up before the weights, but the weather was pretty crappy outside.

2/12: 10 mile bike ride with 5x1:00 intervals mixed-in, followed by 3 miles of tempo running.

2/13: My big Ironman distance swim: 400m warm-up, followed by 3800m long (in 1:21:00). Skipped the weights in the afternoon.

2/14: Easy 10 miles on the bike, followed by an easy 3 mile run. It feels good to do more bricks again.

2/15: 2400m swim in the morning: 400m warm-up, then 10x200m sets. The last two sets I did reasonably fast, in 3:33 and 3:39.

2/16: They were calling for freezing rain and snow all day, but when I woke up the radar looked favorable so I headed out to Yorktown to spend 50 miles on the bike. I ate a cliff bar after the first 10 miles, and then the rain started coming down. Miles 10-30 soaked me through all four of my layers, and I stopped to eat another cliff bar and to refill my water. My legs felt great but the temperature was dropping, and a few miles into my next loop I started shivering. I cut this loop short and finished at 34.46 miles. I was planning on doing a short brick afterwards, but I was too cold to do anything but go home and soak in a hot bath.

2/17: Rest day.

Weekly Totals:

Swim: 6600 meters (3 hours 18 minutes)

Bike: 55.13 miles (3 hours 22 minutes)

Run: 6.23 miles (1 hour 2 minutes)

Strength: 45 minutes

Total: 8 hours 27 minutes

Taking the rest week early worked out because aside from cutting my long bike short, I also missed several other workouts: swim and bike workouts on Monday, weights on Wednesday, and a run on Saturday. It was still a solid week in terms of workload though.

The next week is especially tough: I'm planning for at least 12 hours of workload (3 swims, 4 bike rides, 4 runs, one weight-lifting session), which would be the most I've ever done. Here's hoping the weather cooperates!