You cover a lot of ground in 90 minutes

Today's training was 90 minutes EASY on the bike. I had a hair appointment downtown and I had to register my younger son for lacrosse so I rode my bike. I got slightly lost twice but got it all done. You can cover a lot of the city in 90 minutes. With a strong east wind I was 55 minutes finding the drop off and 35 minutes coming home.

Today's route...


And... it's amazing what difference a week or two makes. Tonight's swim was simply 12 x 100 M at 2:45. I really enjoyed it. My heart never got over 150 beats/min which is exactly what Coach Paul predicted -- namely that we don't need to worry about heart rate as it will simply come down.

It is.

Training plan for March 29 to April 11

Yesterday at work and throughout the day I felt very good. No real soreness to speak of. I did have an ice-cold-leg-soak immediately after the 2 1/2 hour Sunday run and perhaps it helped.

Then I headed out for yesterday's 30 minute run at 4:30/km. I thought it was going to be no problem. About ten minutes in... PROBLEM. Tired legs. Stopped more than I should have. I found myself stopping to check for cars at every intersection just to get a 15 second break in. I muddled through though.

On today's run, though, full recovery. I really enjoyed today's run. Raj and I ran 10 km at 5:40/km. It sort of amazes me that this has become me easy run pace. Not long ago I would have been working to maintain this pace.

Here is what I am in for over the next two weeks.

Talking with Bruce today, the plan is to do a lot of volume in April and then in May a lot of hard, fast runs and get the volume in on the bike.

Two week training plan

Mon, March 29
Afternoon 30 minutes at 4:30/km.

Tue, March 30
Afternoon 60 minutes at 5:45/km.

Wed, March 31
Afternoon 90 minute bike EASY. Evening 45 minute swim.

Thu, April 1
Afternoon run [3 x 10 minutes at 4:30/km – in between each repeat I can take up to 10 minute break with the first 3 minutes walking and then running at 5:45/km]. Afternoon 60 minute swim with Coach Paul.

Fri, April 2
Morning 60 minute strength training. Afternoon 60 minute bike EASY.

Sat, April 3
DAY OF REST

Sun, April 4
Morning run 3 hours easy.

Mon, April 5
Morning 45 minute bike EASY. Afternoon 60 minute strength training. Evening 45 minute swim.

Tue, April 6
Afternoon run 90 minutes at 5:30/km.

Wed, April 7
Afternoon bike 45 minutes EASY. Evening swim 45 minutes.

Thu, April 8
Afternoon bike [3 or 4 x 10 minutes at 160 + beats/minute with a 5 to 10 minute break in between]. Afternoon 60 minute swim with Coach Paul.

Fri, April 9
Morning 90 minute run at 5:30/km. Afternoon 45 minute swim. Afternoon 60 minute strength training.

Sat, April 10
DAY OF REST

Sun, April 11
Morning run 2 hours at 5:15/km

You know... when I look at this I have trouble believing this is me.

Makeup interval and longest run in years...

Friday’s Interval Run

I ran Friday. This was the Wednesday interval run moved to Friday. And, I shortened it slightly to fit it in. Instead of doing 4 x 3 minutes + 2 minutes I only did 3 fast repeats, three times. So, for a total of 27 minutes, I ran hard. I ran the first hard repeat at about 4:20 and felt that this was too slow. I tried to run all of the rest at 4:00/km. The second half was into a BIG headwind so although fatigue played some role, I think that the wind played some as well. In both cases I was working pretty hard.

Fast Interval / Pace / Avg Heart / Max Heart
1 4:08 / 152 / 162
2 3:59 / 156 / 168
3 4:01 / 161 / 169
(5 min walk as set break)
4 4:01 / 154 / 167
5 4:04 / 160 / 170
6 4:09 / 159 / 169
(5 min walk as set break – had a gel)
7 4:07 / 158 / 168
8 4:08 / 156 / 170
9 4:05 / 157 / 170

I felt good about this run. I felt I pushed hard – probably could have gone slightly harder but not much.

Sunday’s Long Run

2 hours and 30 minutes easy. We did this in two laps. The first lap too 1:03 (we stopped to refill water bottles). The second lap we added some distance up Spadina from the Circle Drive Bridge.

I forgot to stop my watch as I drove home at 50 km/hr so the data is a little wonky. Pretty consistently, though, we ran just below 6:00/km and the run was 2:25 in total.

With the last couple of km to go I sped up to race pace briefly and, good news, it didn’t seem to increase my discomfort anything at all. I had enough pop left that I ran up the stairs at the Idylwyld Bridge and sprinted across the bridge to finish off the run.

Ralph asked me how confident I was about running 3:30 in May. I feel VERY confident. I feel strong and capable. And, it’s still 9 weeks away. I am not sure how I will about the course, though. The start is at the Hank Ruys Soccer Centre. This means that there will be a GROSS hill heading back to the finish line. In a city of almost no hills it looks like the organizers are going to run us up the only long slow hill around. That will hurt.

I am going to start using my bike for basic transportation in order to start getting some time in the saddle.

It's really smart to have a coach (and a tie-dye update)

Tie-dye update
OK… I intended my tie-dying efforts to be for race-day shirts. I can’t wait, though. I’m just so darned happy to have ridiculous shirts and thrilled they worked out that I am putting them into rotation.

On Monday I wore Purple Rain for strength training. The majority of votes prefer Purple Rain – on Saskatoon Triathlon Club, C95, and Runner’s World – but after some internal debate I defiantly prefer Iron Spiral. I set out to make a traditional tie-dye spiral and I succeeded. Purple Rain was an afterthought and, thus, my heart is with Iron Spiral. This looks like good advice, too (from Bruce Gordon): “Wear the Iron Spiral. Remember you will have an Ironman finishing photo and it will hide your bleeding nipples, vomit, spit, gatoraid stains, grass stains, lipstick and tears.” Purple Rain in action at the gym...

(Heather points out that my short clash. Oops. The exercise is roll out the barbell and then roll back.)

Swimming update
My last entry was regarding the challenge of swimming. I wasn’t feeling very good about things. Today, though I feel awesome about swimming. This is the value of a coach.

I swam for an hour with Coach Paul today. Here was the workout:

Warm up
100 m free
12 x 25 – Catch-up, pull, and swim
Main
6 x 50
3 x 100
2 x 150
1 x 300
Cool down
4 x 25 full out

I can swim. I can swim without break for an extended period. And, I can relax in the water and bring my heart rate under control if I start to feel uneasy despite it running c. 160 beats/minute.
I finished the day feeling good, confident, and looking forward to getting back into the pool. Matter of fact, I was confident that I could have simply swam 1500 m. That's good. Thanks Paul. This is the point of having a coach. Well, one of the points.

I hope to swim a 36 minute 1500 meter swim this summer. Secretly, I dream of 33 minutes.
As a side note, my 10-year-old son is starting with the Lasers Swim Club so Paul will be his coach too. He has a much better chance of making the Olympics than me. I am pretty sure I am past my prime.

In other notes, the turn to cold demoralized me. I did not run yesterday. I was supposed to run a hard interval. I will put it in tomorrow instead so it will be a long day… hard interval, swim, and bike. But, I have Saturday off and that will motivate me to get through the day.

Swimming needs a lot of work

Monday started the week strong. Strength training for an hour, good. A short run for some pace training, good. And, swimming in the evening, not good.

I was swimming 100 meter repeats. The last 25 meters are way harder than they ought to be. I have pretty good cardio fitness and there is no way that my heart rate should be 160 beats/minute. I starting doing diagnostics.

First I swam 100 meters as easy as I could, bilateral breathing (breathing to both sides every third stroke). After 100 meters my heart rate was 160 beats/min. Ugh.

Next I swam 100 meters easy with a pull buoy, bilateral breathing. After 100 meters my heart rate was 120 beats.min. OK. Obviously the driving heart rate is related to my kicking. This is no surprise but I’m not that inefficient. I am not kicking that hard.

Aha! What if kicking is raising my heart rate to the point that I need to forgo bilateral breathing and simply breath every second stroke, always to one side or the other.

So I swam 100 meters as easy as I could, breathing every second stroke to my left going one direction and every second stroke to my right going the other direction. After 100 meters my heart rate was only about 140 beats/minute. That’s good. But, I was much slower and that’s bad.

I am sure that I was slower because my stroke mechanic goes all to hell. When I breathe to my right I tend to badly over-roll. When I breathe to my left I tend to sink. Nice eh?

This then appears to be the challenge for me. Smooth out my stroke on both the left and right so that I can maintain a reasonable speed at a reasonable heart rate by breathing every second stroke over 1500 meters or 3800 meters. Every now and then execute one three stroke rep in order to sight ahead.

This week in review -- and motivation to lose weight

Today marks 10 weeks until the Saskatchewan Marathon.

Despite one horrific run this week, it was a good week. I got a lot of training in and sitting here on Sunday afternoon I feel healthy and strong – not beat up and decrepit.

Swimming this week – 150 minutes in three training sessions

Paul has had me swimming 24 x 50 m for the main workout. I have a new theory about my swimming. In the past my stroke was very inefficient. This made me slow but it also put less stress on my triceps and deltoids. I have gotten a lot of efficient and I can really feel myself surging through the water. I am wondering, though, if my muscles have fallen behind my ability. It feels like I need a little bit more time to adapt to the new power in my stroke. Perhaps this is why Paul has me doing 24 x 50?

Cycling this week – 130 minutes in two training sessions

I really enjoyed cycling this week. Got on my hybrid and went for two easy pace rides (4 hard 1 min repeats in one of them). I was supposed to ride on Thursday but my run on Wednesday was so horrible that Bruce had me take Thursday off. I felt so good today after my run that I thought it would be OK to put in an easy 70 minute ride as recovery. Seems to have worked I feel good.

Running the week – 325 minutes in four training sessions 52.59 km total distance

Back on Wednesday I was supposed to run 8 repeats of 4 min at 4:00/km. I did not even come close. I simply could not do that pace. Today, though, I had a great run. 20 km with 2 x 3 km at 4:55. Strong and healthy throughout. Running is interesting and humbling. Just when you really feel you are getting a handle on things you have a horrible run. And other times you head out expecting a miserable run and you have a great time.

TOTAL CALORIES BURNED: 6100 – You know, if I don’t lose a little weight I am going to SERIOUSLY need to look at my diet.

Ralph tells me that according to Runner World weight accounts for 2 seconds/pound/mile. In other words if you lose a pound of fat you will be two seconds faster over a mile. This does not seem like much. But... right now I am about 159 lbs. I could like to be 150 pounds. Over marathon distance (26.2 miles) this should improve my time by an amazing 7:51. Wow. This could well be the difference between me going to Boston and not going to Boston (I missed in Las Vegas by 5:34). Time to take this whole weight loss thing a little more seriously. I think I will open a beer and consider this while I watch the U of S Men's Basketball team play for the national championship.

Go Huskies!

My 2010 Racing Shirt - it's done! I might go into business

For the past couple of years I have had a seasonal Racing Shirt. I am not fast – I am a participant, not a competitor – but it makes me feel good to have a shirt that I set aside for race day.

For this year I set out to find something really off the wall. Really different. After some searching I was forced to conclude that runners are just a very conservative bunch. It’s really hard to find a wacky running shirt. And, what wacky ones you can find typically have a decal which would be horrible because it wouldn’t breathe at all. After a bunch of internet searching I learned that it is possible to tie-dye polyester. I ordered special dyes. I had Brainsport bring me in an all white Sugoi running shirt. And, last night I made my attempts. I did two shirts.

This is shirt #1 – It’s an Adidas running shirt with black sides. I wasn’t sure what would happen with the black part of the shirt. Because of the black sides I thought some sort of tie-dye stripe would be the way to go (as opposed to a swirly pattern).


This is shirt #2 – It’s a Sugoi all white running shirt. On this one I intended to try the traditional tie-dye spiral. Thanks to Ian from Brainsport for finding this one.


The internet has LOTS Of advice on tie-dying but I had to be a little creative with these shirts because polyester has to be simmered for one hour in a dye-bath (unlike a cotton t-shirt that can be dyed in minute by simply squirting the dye right on the dry shirt).

I tied the shirts in what I thought would be decent patterns and I started with purple – I did the top half of the Adidas in purple and one half of the Sugoi. You can see in this picture that I had to rig a method to keep one half of the Sugoi shirt out of the dye-bath. I suspended it from the pot handles.


The final results turned out to be WAY better than I hoped.

Shirt #1 – The Adidas. I call this one “Purple Rain.”


Shirt #2 – The Sugoi. I call this one “Iron Spiral.”


Which one do you like best? Hating both of them is a perfectly valid point of view.

Swimming and then a horrific running injury

OK. So the running injury wasn't that horrific. I'll get to it in a second.

Swimming

Today started with a 60 minute session with Swim Coach Paul.

100 m swim
300 m drills
4 repeats of 4 x 50 and 1 x 100 (total of 1200 m)
150 m drills

At the end of the 1200 m I swam my last 100 m section in 2:05 which is a fine time for me. But, it did drive my heart rate through the roof.

Psychologically, the same problems continue. I can swim along with a heart rate c. 150 beats/min but it feels really hard. Unlike running where 150 beats per minute is slow and sustainable.

Every time I work with Paul, though, I get better. I really feel like my swimming has improved immensely and that this summer I will not be embarrassed by my sluggishness. I don't expect that I will lead the pack but I am hoping that I will not bring up the back, either.

Running

After a brief break I went for a 60 minute run at 5:45/km. This is an easy pace. At times I find myself cruising along at 5:30 which appears to be a pace which requires very little focus on my part. To run at 4:55/km (my Boston qualifying pace) I have to keep focused. To run at 5:30 my mind can wander and my legs will pretty much cruise along in auto-pilot.

In any event I was really enjoying the run until "the incident." Approaching the curb and getting ready to cross the street I note a small (6 inches?) ice berm at the edge of the sidewalk. I attempt a gentle hurdle of the berm. It would have been no problem except that Hannah the Dog thought that we were turning down the sidewalk instead of crossing the street. She pulled to the right just enough that my toe caught the berm and down I went -- left palm, elbow, and hip.

I sat on the road and checked myself over. I noted my scraped hand and sore elbow. Nothing broken. Hannah seemed bemused by the whole affair and gave me a couple of licks for good measure. I got up and finished my run. A more thorough inspection was made once I got home.

First the hand. Nothing serious. A little scrape in the beefy part of the palm.


Then I got Arthur to take of pic of the jacket which, until this moment, I did not know was ripped. Grrr... it's my favourite jacket. Strangely, the rip is high up and not at the elbow which took the bulk of the force of the fall. You can see from the much that it was elbow-roll-onto-back.


Did make me wonder what things were going to look like underneath? The kids were impressed.

And a final shot after the wound was cleaned although it made almost no difference.


There is a pretty big chunk missing right at the bottom of this pic but overall it's a pretty minor scrape. Heather made me bandage it so that I didn't accidentally get blood on something that she cares about.

My training plan for March 15-29

My schedule for the next two weeks.

Work on ensuring that I am resting and eating well before that day’s training session. Try to be consistent.

Monday, March 15
Afternoon ride 60 easy

Tuesday, March 16
Afternoon swim 60 with coach
Afternoon run 60 at 5:45/km (with Raj)

Wednesday, March 17
Afternoon run 4 repeats of 4 min at 4:00/km + 4 min at 6:00/km – 5 min walk as a set break and then repeat (total 69 minutes plus warm up and cool down)
Evening swim 45 minutes

Thursday, March 18
Afternoon ride 90 minutes easy

Friday, March 19
Afternoon swim 45 minutes
Afternoon run 5 repeats of 1 min hard run + 4 min easy run – 10 min easy run as set break and then repeat (total 60 minutes plus warm up and cool down)

Saturday, March 20
Day of rest!

Sunday, March 21
Run easy for 20 km but include 2 repeats of 15 min at 4:55 (race pace)

Monday, March 22
Afternoon run 5 repeats of 1 min at 4:50/km + 1 min at 5:15/km (Total 10 minute plus warm up and cool down)
Afternoon strength training 60 minutes with Lindsay
Evening swim 45 minute

Tuesday, March 23
Afternoon run 60 to 70 minutes at 5:45 (with Raj)

Wednesday, March 24
Afternoon run 4 repeats of 3 minutes flat out + 2 min recovery then 5 minute walk as a set break then repeat then 5 minute walk as a set break then repeat a third time. This one will make me want to puke (Total 70 minutes plus warm up and cool down)
Evening swim 45 minutes

Thursday, March 25
Afternoon swim 60 minute with coach
Afternoon bike 90 minutes easy

Friday, March 26
Afternoon swim 45 minutes
Afternoon strength training 60 minutes with Lindsay
Afternoon run 60 easy

Saturday, March 27
Day of rest!

Sunday, March 28
Run 2 ½ hours easy

Monday, March 29
Run 30 min at 4:30/km

First run in shorts. Yay!

On Saturday I got up early and cycled at the Fieldhouse. This was not really part of the original plan but, having canceled my trip to Calgary, it seems like a good idea to get some cycling kilometers in.

Saturday afternoon I did an easy interval run. 4 x 3 min at heart rate 165-170 beats/minute. This was my first run of the season in shorts! Yay! Still got a little muddy.

The problem is not avoiding the puddles. No. The problem is having Hannah the Dog in front of me. It’s like following a semi on the highway on a rainy day. It’s not the rain that gets you, it’s the spray off the tires of the truck in front of you. Hannah runs through a puddle and tosses up water that gets all over my legs.

On this run I had trouble getting my heart rate high enough. It takes me two minutes to plateau my heart rate (I notice the same thing in swimming). Really only the last 60 seconds are done in the target heart rate zone.

Sunday I went for a long slow run with Graham and Glenn. We ran for 1:35:00 with a heart rate around the 145 beats/minutes range. Very sustainable. I was, however, left with a lot of pain in my left hip. As I type this I am waiting for Heather to supply drugs. Celebrex works wonders for me. I no longer take it daily but I do take is when the pain is causing some dysfunction – walking or sleeping.

Still not yearning for exercise, but I am still doing what is required so I guess that’s good.

This week's mileage:

Distance - 39.44 km
Time - 4 hr 11 min
Avg Heart Rate - 140 beats/min

Swimming, running, chaffed nipples, and tie-dyed shirts

Yesterday I met with my Swim coach Paul – a combination of trips and illness (mine and his) kept us from meeting for about a month. I feel really good about swimming. This is because I am such a horrible swimmer that I am seeing tremendous improvement and that makes it fun.

My biggest obstacle in swimming is the feeling that I am not getting enough oxygen. I only learned to swim a couple of years ago and in the winter months I do not swim as much as I should. Ironman 24 weeks away is keeping me motivated, though (3.8 km swim).

After about 100 meters I start to feel nervous. It’s not panic. But, it’s the sense that I need air that causes me start to over-roll and generally lose form. It is a false perception since I am swimming with my heart rate at about 145 beats/minute which is VERY easily sustainable when running or cycling (my anaerobic threshold is 142 beats/minute). The good news is that Paul has got me to where I feel a good sense of what it feels like when I am doing it right. This means that I think I am getting better and better at self correcting.


Today’s workout was:

50 m warm up.
50 m kick drill.
50 m swim.
50 m pull bouy.
24 x 50 m swim at 1:15 per (this results in a 10-ish second rest between 50s).
50 m pull bouy.

This was not quite in line with what Paul assigned but it was pretty close.

After a nap I went for a run.

Having screwed up the 3 x 10 @ 160 beats/minute I re-did the run. I am thinking that Bruce wants to check for heart rate creep at in order to see where I am at?

Good run.

Most important. I am continuing to push myself out the door for my training sessions even though I am NOT wanting to go. This is a good sign. I remain committed to my goals.


Other things of note:

(1) I want my Nip Guards to show up. Ordered 100 pair. I am carrying an extra 8-ish pounds and this is causing just enough jiggling that I am chaffing. This will probably take care of itself once I am back to lightweight short sleeve shirts. On Jan 1 I started to eat better. I am 160.4 lbs this morning. On Jan 1 I was 164.o. Maybe I am not eating that much better.

(2) Brainsport sourced an all-white Sugoi running shirt for me. Dick Blick art supplies has mailed the polyester dye. I figure I am three to four weeks away from tie-dying a couple of shirts. I am thinking I will do one spiral and one vertical pleat.

I am not going to Calgary this weekend after all. Tomorrow I will do another interval run. Sunday I will do a longer, slower run with Graham and Glenn.

I am an idiot. I was very careful to run too slow.

Today's run was supposed to be three repeats of 10 min @ 160-165 beats/min + 5 min recovery run.

Well… I’m an idiot.

Felt really good about today’s run. I had a good nap beforehand. I was rested and strong and enjoyed the run.

I was very, very careful to keep my heart rate as close to possible to 155 beat/min during the three 10 minutes stretches. I got home and uploaded the results only to discover that I was supposed to be running 160 to 165 beats/min. Sheesh. I even checked before leaving to go to Raj’s house. ADD brain set in I guess and by the time I started running I was sure it was supposed to be 155 beats/min.

Looking at the lap times, though, I am pretty happy with my pace relative to my hear rate.

First 10 repeat – pace 5:08/km at 148 beats/min

Second 10 repeat – 5:25/km at 150 beats/min (this was up the University Bridge thus the slower pace)

Third 10 repeat – 5:16/km at 151 beats/min

I like the Tuesday run because it leads in to my day of rest. I do nothing now until tomorrow night at 9 pm when I swim.

This week's training plan (12 weeks to go)

This morning I met with Coach Bruce to get this week's workouts. Much thanks to Bruce, he moved my appointment ahead so that I could get my swim in before meeting Trainer Lindsay.

I did get my swim in. 3 repeat of 300 m swim + 300 m pull buoy. I have not swam or swummed 1800 m in some time. Felt good but I have a long way to go when it comes to swimming. I timed one 300 m swim at 6:24 which is an 11:00 500 m which is an 88:00 4 km swim. I will be happy to come out of the water in 90 minutes at Ironman. I dream of 80 minutes.

My training schedule is goofed up because I am going to Calgary for a Fencing tournament. I told Coach Bruce that I could find an hour on Sat and Sun but could not guarantee more than that as I am one of two cars transporting Sask fencers to Calgary.

Here is this week's training schedule:

Monday: Swim 45 minutes. Heavy weights 60 minutes.
Tuesday: Run 3 repeats of 10 min @ 160-165 beats/min + 5 min @ < 140 beats/min.
Wednesday: Swim 45 min.
Thursday: Run 4 repeats of 3 min @ 165-170 beat/min + 3 min @ < 140 beats/min. Then I take a 10 min set break and do the same again. With warm up and cool down the total should be about 60 minutes total.
Friday: Nil (I am driving to Calgary).
Saturday: Run 60 min @ 140 beats/min.
Sunday: Run 45 min @ 155 beats/min.

A weekend away but I still squeezed in my runs

Race season in Saskatchewan must be getting close. Despite conditions exactly like you see here...


...I saw two cyclists on Highway 11 about 40 km from the city. I salute you! I am way too wimpy to ride until April.

Summing up my weekend, is my email to Coach Bruce and Trainer Lindsay:

Let’s start with the good news shall we?

Despite driving to Regina and back and generally having a disrupted weekend, I did get two runs in. This is good news. I am committed and, as much as possible, adjusting my life around my training.

Saturday’s interval run was warm up – 1 km @ 4:30 – walk – 2 km @4:30 – walk – 1 km @ 4:30 – walk – easy run for 1 km. The Garmin data is limited to heart rate and laps because the run was indoor at the Regina Fieldhous (I took Arthur to fencing early so that I could get my run in, what commitment eh?). Generally a good run. I miscounted laps on the 2 km run (I was not running 4:00/km pace). Nonetheless, all intervals were very close to the 4:30 pace.

Now the bad news…

Sunday was a disaster. I went and parked by the Mendal Art Gallery thinking that Meewasin would be a good, clear, dry option. Wrong! My usual route would have been better. And, Meewasin was littered with people walking their dogs causing me lots of delays as Hannah requires a lot of attention when meeting other dogs. Secondly I really struggled with focus. I was defeated before I started – I was tired and didn’t want to do it. At the 43:00 minute mark I decided to give up all hope of maintaining a 4:55 pace and decided to simply run at the easier pace of 5:30 (or a little faster) and get the kilometers in. I got back to the truck at the 70 minute mark and decided that was enough.

I didn’t like it. I couldn’t stay focused. And, my left hip is killing me. It has been some time since I have hip pain like this. I will be going back on the anti-inflammatory drug ASAP. Having said all that, looking at the Garmin data, it’s not THAT bad. When I was running it was between 5:30 and 4:50.

Here are this week’s mileage numbers:

Distance: 27.39 km
Time: 03:16:26
Avg HR: 146 bpm

I did also get in 2 hours in the gym, and 2:15 in the pool. I did not bike.

I also learned that my new Adidas Adistar Ride shoes needed to be tightened. I wear my shoes ridiculously loose. It turns out, they can be too loose. A modest tightening seems to have fixed the slight discomfort that was being caused. Love the news shoes.

Tomorrow I am going to swim at lunchtime since I cannot go in the evening and then put in an hour of weights.

My first hard interval run was... Well, OK I guess

marathon, ironman, training, runningI could not stretch my streak. As of yesterday I had done every scheduled workout for a personal best 4 days. Today, sadly, a hour before my swim coaching session with Paul he called it off because he is ill. I, of course, had a nap instead of swimming. Broken streak.

I did do my first hard interval of this training session. It was... hard. But not as bad as I thought and my confidence is restored. I have not lost as much as I thought. Although this would have been a much easier run back in November I feel that mostly succeeded.

4 x 6:00 at 4:10/km.

1st 4:12 @ 164 beats/min
2nd 4:19 @ 164 beats/min
3rd 4:16 @ 154 beats/min - I think I had a long traffic stop accounting for lower heart rate.
4th 4:25 @ 159 beats/min

I upload all of the information from my Garmin to "Garmin Connect" so that Coach Bruce can see it. This means I am no longer able to round off... Lots of info and even cool pictures are available for his analysis.


Good news on the 2010 racing shirt search. After extensive internet research I have discovered that you can dye polyester. This means that you can tie-dye polyester. This means that my dream running shirt is within reach... I have ordered the appropriate dyes and am searching for the right white shirt. Sugoi has one I like. I am going go see if they have it at Brainsport. Even if they have the same style I can ensure that I like the fit and then get Brian to bring it in for me. I always try to give my business to local people that I like.

Final preparations for racing - shorts, shirts, and toes

I must be feeling good about getting back into formal training as I analyzed all my clothing to discover what was lacking. I concluded I needed one more pair of shorts that I liked and that I was not comfortable with my existing tri-shorts. No problem. Buy stuff on the internet!

I really like De Soto gear so I bought a pair of running shorts (bringing my total to three pair that I really like). I like my De Soto tri-shorts (I have 3 pair) but they are all the low-rise version and for certain applications, like riding at the Fieldhouse, I feel like my butt crack is sticking out. So I also bought a pair of traditional fit tri-shorts.

I bought new Adidas Adistars last week (the only runners I have ever had and I think these must be my 8th pair?). Today I tried on and treadmill tested several pair of shoes that are between the Adistar and Racing Flats. After some contemplation I have decided to pass on that option. I think my running career is nearing an end. I have always been happy and healthy in my current style of shoe. Now is not the time to change.

The only things I am now missing is my 2010 racing shirt. Last year I did all my races in my blue Lululemon shirt. I love that shirt. I reserved it for race days. For this year, I would like a new race day shirt and the search is on. What I would really like is a shirt like this one, except in an appropriate running fabric:

I can't be the only person who wants a tie-dyed running shirt can I? Runners are a conservative bunch, I guess, because it's hard to find an outrageous running shirt. Anyone got any ideas? I am looking in to a couple of places that will custom make something but most seem to rely on decals which would be too hot.

And, as a final preparation, I had a pedicure today. The old talons were feeling pretty beaten up. Getting them sanded and smoothing seemed like a good idea.

Before:



After:


Smooth like butter.

OK... time to go swimming. This will the first time in at least three months that I have completed four consecutive days of planned training.

I surprised myself by enjoying today's run but then there was the BAD news

Good news and bad news on the training front today.

Good news: I didn't find today's run difficult. And, I actually enjoyed it. This is really good news because I was dreading it. I was worried that my fitness had taken a bad backwards slide. But, things look better than I expected. I only ran 45 minutes (instead of scheduled 60) but a 5:30/km pace was no problem at all and my average heart rate was 148 beats per minute. So, it looks like I haven't lost as much as I thought.

Bad news: After attending the Public Schools Indoor Relays where both of my boys were running, we drove through Wendy's and I discovered this bad boy... a problem because bacon and blue cheese are two things like I like. Some would say that I obsess about them actually.


Oh oh...

Week one training plan

Started the day really sore from yesterday's easy run. That's not good. I will blame this on two weeks of sedentary behavior.

Met with Karen (physio) who feels that my hips are as good as they have been. I concur -- relatively pain free and with as much mobility as I have come to hope for. I will continue to see Karen every couple of weeks. Maybe more often closer to races.

Then I met with Bruce for this week's training plan. He works around my schedule as much as possible.

March 1-7

Monday: 60 minute strength-weight workout, 45 minute swim.
Tuesday: 60 minute run at 5:30/km.
Wednesday: 45 minute swim.
Thursday: Interval run (4 x 6 minute repeats at 4:10/km with a 5 minute recovery in between), 60 minute swim.
Friday: 45 minute swim, 60 minute core-weight workout.
Saturday: 120 minute easy bike stopping three times to run 1 - 2 - 1 km at 4:30/km.
Sunday: 90 minute run at 4:55/km

There are some tough runs this week. The 4 x 6 minute at 4:10 will be awful as will 90 minutes at 4:55 (my Boston Marathon qualifying race pace).

Hannah the Dog remains happy and committed.

EDIT: I did both my workouts today. Good news on the swimming front, I swam 500 M in 11 minutes. Last year at Moe's Triathlon my 500 M time was 14 minutes. 11 is a personal best. I am starting to dream of a 1:30:00 swim at Ironman Canada.