It isn't a good idea to train without knowing why, right? Well, I've settled (loosely) on a race schedule for 2010. My plan is to structure my training so that I have my first peak for the Mountain Championships in July. I'll relax a week after that, and then re-establish my base and peak again for the US Championships in September. It is a little bit of a longer season than I've done in the past, but so far I'm feeling really motivated, and my fitness is coming around earlier than it did last year.
I just finished up my first week of the 2nd block of base training (base 2 in Joe Friel's training bible). This week was scheduled to be 8,000 yards of swimming, 6 hours of biking and 2 hours of running. I hit all of the bike workouts, and all of the run workouts. I didn't manage to get one of the swims in this week though, leaving my volume a little short there. I also had 2 strength training sessions. On the bike there were 2 days of tempo work. Running had 1 day. Swimming had a little bit higher intensity with 7x200 yard repeats at race pace one day, and another day of lots of pulling, both of which left me pretty shelled afterwards. All of the run sessions felt good, especially my long run this weekend. I think the half marathon training has set me up really well with both good endurance and more speed than I've had in the past. Even today's 2 mile run after the 2 hour ride in the pain cave felt pretty good.
Next week is 15 hours of total training. Bike volume goes up to a little over 7 hours, running is around 3 hours or 21-22 miles depending on the terrain, and swimming is around 9000 yards. 3 strength sessions are also scheduled. It will be a challenge to make it all happen, as my schedule with work will be a bit tougher due to some quarterly meetings that will make their way into the evenings and earlier into the mornings. After missing my swim last week, I need to nail everything this week.
That is all for now - Jaime and I are about to make some shepherd's pie for dinner, since today's weather calls for some warm comfort food.
Train hard, train safe
Nick
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Life gets crazy sometimes
So, after more than a month, I'm back to getting a post on here. It has been a little bit of a tumultuous time lately. We did go down to Sedona to race, so there will be a follow up race report on that this weekend hopefully.
So, why no post in the past few weeks? Well, we had the race all weekend, and the training volume is certainly kicking up. In addition, we had quite a scare with Jaime last week.
1 week ago this past Saturday, Jaime actually had a small stroke. She tore an artery going into her head while she was swimming and as the artery reacted to it, it sent a small clot up to her head. Luckily it was a small stroke, and there is no permanent damage. So, we didn't actually find this out until Monday when we went to the ER after she talked to some doctors she works with. Jaime was in the hospital all week last week, and got out on Friday. She is doing well. I'd say she's a little bit pissed at the whole situation; and who can blame her? She'll be on blood thinners for awhile until the artery heals. Hopefully it will heal on its own in a few months. Until then, she has to keep her activity to a minimum to let the artery heal. Unfortunately that means her first Xterra season is on hold most likely until next year. Really, that a pretty unimportant consequence in the great scheme of things. I'm really just glad that she is alive and well considering the possibilities of it all.
I'll get an update out on a race schedule, where training is at and where it is going, and hopefully there will be some pictures of actual outdoor training in the beautiful Colorado outdoors (I can't do too many more trainer workouts). I wanted to get a quick post out to apologize for my negligence about keeping this thing updated. I hope anyone reading this is doing well.
Live More (Xterra Motto)
NICK
So, why no post in the past few weeks? Well, we had the race all weekend, and the training volume is certainly kicking up. In addition, we had quite a scare with Jaime last week.
1 week ago this past Saturday, Jaime actually had a small stroke. She tore an artery going into her head while she was swimming and as the artery reacted to it, it sent a small clot up to her head. Luckily it was a small stroke, and there is no permanent damage. So, we didn't actually find this out until Monday when we went to the ER after she talked to some doctors she works with. Jaime was in the hospital all week last week, and got out on Friday. She is doing well. I'd say she's a little bit pissed at the whole situation; and who can blame her? She'll be on blood thinners for awhile until the artery heals. Hopefully it will heal on its own in a few months. Until then, she has to keep her activity to a minimum to let the artery heal. Unfortunately that means her first Xterra season is on hold most likely until next year. Really, that a pretty unimportant consequence in the great scheme of things. I'm really just glad that she is alive and well considering the possibilities of it all.
I'll get an update out on a race schedule, where training is at and where it is going, and hopefully there will be some pictures of actual outdoor training in the beautiful Colorado outdoors (I can't do too many more trainer workouts). I wanted to get a quick post out to apologize for my negligence about keeping this thing updated. I hope anyone reading this is doing well.
Live More (Xterra Motto)
NICK
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Moonlight hikes are amazing
Last night Jaime and I experienced a very cool and new way to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Colorado. We went to our friends house in Boulder for some dinner and a moonlight hike. In case you didn't know, Friday night was supposed to be brightest full moon of the whole year. We went for a nice short hike Saturday night into some open space at the foot of the flatirons in Boulder. The moon was brilliant and looked so cool coming through the trees. It was really cool to see the city lights stretched out below, with the flatirons behind us. We came back to an excellent dinner of dungeness crab, asparagus, Waldorf salad and chardonnay. All in all a great night! Enjoy the pics!
We had planned to go skiing today, but decided there were too many other things to be done for the clinic. Not to mention that we didn't make it home until midnight last night, so a little extra sleep was in order. I did lay out Jaime's and my training plans for the year. The first Xterra right now is looking like Xterra 4 Corners the first weekend in June. I'd like to do on earlier, such as the West Cup in Vegas, so we'll have to see if it can be done.
Next weekend is the Sedona half. I'm feeling good about it, as I've put in the training, now it is just time to suffer for 95 minutes and make my body do what it should do. I'll have a race report shortly after that.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
2 weeks and counting
It is 2 weeks from today that a bunch of us will be gathered in Sedona, AZ for the 1/2 marathon. I'm really looking forward to a fun road trip, hanging out with friends, checking out a new part of the country, and hopefully throwing (trowing if you are from St. Bonaventure) down a new PR in the half. The road trip part of the whole weekend is a part that a lot of people probably hate, but I never cease to be amazed when I travel out here at the expanse of emptiness that you can find. We'll be going through one of those parts in western New Mexico/north eastern AZ.
The weather here was just starting to be warm enough to have all of the snow melted, and now it is looking like the possibility of some snow next week. We were so close to having the mountain bike trails clear. We would still have to ride early while they are frozen, so that we don't tear them up, but having some clear trails to ride would have been nice. Oh well, more time in the pain cave I guess. The weather is good for some hearty winter soups though, which is just what Jaime and I made this week. Actually she made it while I did the riding in the spare room. What a great wife huh? Here is the recipe if anyone wants to try it. It is easy and tasty. I would suggest adding more stock than it calls for though. This will make about 9 bowls of soup as it is listed, but obviously more if you add more stock. http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2010/01/lentil_soup_with_spicy_italian_sausage
This week's training went pretty well and looked like this:
2 swims so far, plus one more tomorrow - all 2,000 yards.
#1 had 6x200 at race pace intervals w/:30 recoveries as the main set
#2 had 400,300,200,3x100, all pull at endurance pace as main set.
#3 (tomorrow) has 5x100 sprint w/1:00 recovery, 400 easy, 6x50 sprint w/:30 recovery
4 bike sessions on the trainer.
#1 45 mins with 2x6:00 threshold intervals
#2 1:15 at endurance pace (thank god for criminal minds marathons on TV)
#3 60 mins with 6x:30 VO2 intervals with cadence over 110, rest at endurance pace
#4 60 mins at endurance pace
4 runs
#1 easy 2 miles
#2 easy 2 miles
#3 10 miles with 5x1 mile at 5K pace / 1/2 mile recovery jog
#4 11 miles at endurance pace.
2 strength training sessions.
#1 heavy weights (this is relative, as the weights I'm moving these days are certainly not heavy) 5 sets of 5 reps, full body.
#2 (tomorrow after swim) 300 workout. Check it out at http://www.menshealth.com/men/fitness/workout-plans/muscle-building/article/5e1790ecab7e1110vgnvcm20000012281eac I totally have to reduce the weight in the bench press and have to substitute for the floor sweepers and kettle ball stuff because we don't have the equipment/room at the gym for it. If you want to get completely worked over in a lifting session, try this one out. It doesn't sound all that hard until you do it, and start trying to bring your total time to complete the workout down each time. I promise, when you are done, your whole body will be shaking but you will feel awesome.
If you haven't fallen asleep reading by now, you are at least well on your way to becoming a "mentally strong" endurance athlete. Seriously, though, thanks for reading.
Happy training,
Nick
The weather here was just starting to be warm enough to have all of the snow melted, and now it is looking like the possibility of some snow next week. We were so close to having the mountain bike trails clear. We would still have to ride early while they are frozen, so that we don't tear them up, but having some clear trails to ride would have been nice. Oh well, more time in the pain cave I guess. The weather is good for some hearty winter soups though, which is just what Jaime and I made this week. Actually she made it while I did the riding in the spare room. What a great wife huh? Here is the recipe if anyone wants to try it. It is easy and tasty. I would suggest adding more stock than it calls for though. This will make about 9 bowls of soup as it is listed, but obviously more if you add more stock. http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2010/01/lentil_soup_with_spicy_italian_sausage
This week's training went pretty well and looked like this:
2 swims so far, plus one more tomorrow - all 2,000 yards.
#1 had 6x200 at race pace intervals w/:30 recoveries as the main set
#2 had 400,300,200,3x100, all pull at endurance pace as main set.
#3 (tomorrow) has 5x100 sprint w/1:00 recovery, 400 easy, 6x50 sprint w/:30 recovery
4 bike sessions on the trainer.
#1 45 mins with 2x6:00 threshold intervals
#2 1:15 at endurance pace (thank god for criminal minds marathons on TV)
#3 60 mins with 6x:30 VO2 intervals with cadence over 110, rest at endurance pace
#4 60 mins at endurance pace
4 runs
#1 easy 2 miles
#2 easy 2 miles
#3 10 miles with 5x1 mile at 5K pace / 1/2 mile recovery jog
#4 11 miles at endurance pace.
2 strength training sessions.
#1 heavy weights (this is relative, as the weights I'm moving these days are certainly not heavy) 5 sets of 5 reps, full body.
#2 (tomorrow after swim) 300 workout. Check it out at http://www.menshealth.com/men/fitness/workout-plans/muscle-building/article/5e1790ecab7e1110vgnvcm20000012281eac I totally have to reduce the weight in the bench press and have to substitute for the floor sweepers and kettle ball stuff because we don't have the equipment/room at the gym for it. If you want to get completely worked over in a lifting session, try this one out. It doesn't sound all that hard until you do it, and start trying to bring your total time to complete the workout down each time. I promise, when you are done, your whole body will be shaking but you will feel awesome.
If you haven't fallen asleep reading by now, you are at least well on your way to becoming a "mentally strong" endurance athlete. Seriously, though, thanks for reading.
Happy training,
Nick
Friday, January 15, 2010
New computer & tips for beginners
Sorry, it has been awhile. I was fully intending to update the blog shortly after my last post, but last week our computer completely died. So, we had to go through the whole hard drive recovery with geek squad and set up the new computer. It is nice to be on a laptop now though. Our old computer was legitimately a POS. It was about 5 years old and had maybe 50MB of space left on it. I guess it was time.
So in my last post I said that I would put out some tips for beginners, or for people who are jumping up to a longer distance in triathlon. Either way, I'm pumped up for you and wish you the best of luck. So, without further adieu, here are some of my tips and lessons learned.
1. Get your bike fitted by a pro. You should probably be spending around 50% of your training time on your bike (depends on the distance...more on that later also). A professional bike fit goes something like this; either through video imaging and analysis of your pedal stroke or by taking manual measurements of the majority of your body and watching you ride your bike on a trainer, the fitter will adjust your pedal placement on your cleat, your seat height & fore/aft adjustment, your handlebars and possibly stem and headset. This is a back and forth process and may require different parts being swapped our. It could easily take 1-2 hours. This will go a long way toward preventing injury.
2. If you are new to the sport or have not trained consistently for awhile, do NOT increase your volume by more than 10% per week. Volume is best measured in time for the bike and run and by yards/meters for the swim. The reason that time is used instead of distance is that depending on the profile of where you bike/run and how it may change from day to day or week to week, your mileage could conceivably be very different even if you trained the same amount of time.
3. Get the Triathletes training bible by Joe Friel. This is somewhat involved reading as you do get into physiology a bit, but it helps you understand the theory behind periodized training. Then, if you don't want to design your own training plan, you can pick up a book of plans already designed. You will have the background to know what the books are saying when they say "bike 1.5 hours with 3x10 mins in zone 4 with 5 min recoveries".
4. If you get new shoes, ease into them. Don't just change shoes and go out and put in 20 or 30 miles in your new shoes. Shoes are slightly different from pair to pair, so it is best to easy your way into new shoes over a few weeks. I believe part of the reason I had an IT band injury last year may have been that I got new shoes right in my high volume weeks of the base period and started track work at the same time.
5. Get a watch with a heart rate monitor. Heart rate isn't the best measurement to train by, but it certainly beats nothing at all. Ideally you would train with power on the bike through a power meter (around $900), a garmin on the run (real time pace - anywhere from $150-$500), and pace in the swim.
6. Practice transitions. This is free time saved. It doesn't take hard workouts that make you want to puke. It takes perhaps looking a little foolish as you run out of your shower in your wetsuit and out into the yard to practice T1, but trust me, it is worth it. On a similar note, figure out if you can go sock less or not. Personally I go sock less on the bike and the run and I haven't had any problems. It helps to use tri-slide inside your shoes very liberally. On that note....
7. Use tri slide from your elbows down to your wrists, on your shoulders and neck, and from just below your knee down to your ankles, and even on your feet. This really helps the wetsuit go on and come off much easier and prevent chafing during the swim.
8. Practice open water swimming in your wetsuit before the race. Even if you are an experienced triathlete it always helps to get open water swims in throughout the season. Practice sighting on a tree in the distance and swimming in a straight line. If you have friends as crazy as you, get them in the water with you and swim in a pack to get the feeling of being kicked, elbowed, splashed, pulled, etc because that is how the swim will be until around the first buoy.
9. Make sure you can change a flat quickly. Burden yourself with a few extra ounces by carrying more than one tube and more than one CO2. You never think that a brand new tube will have a small leak, but it can happen. In fact, I would suggest that you keep a race flat kit separate from your everyday kit that goes in your saddle bag. If you keep a tube folded up it weakens it. Not to mention when it is in your saddle bag it is constantly rubbing against your tire irons, CO2's, emergency $20, multitool and chainbreaker, powerlink, cell phone, and whatever else may be in there (this was 2 tips in one, since you now know what you should have in your saddle bag at a minimum).
10. Have fun and don't forget to enjoy the view from wherever you are training. The great part about triathlon is that most of your training will take place outside. Soak it all in and you'll almost forget you are "training".
I hope you find this post useful. If you have any questions at all, just reply to the post and I'll try to address them in future posts. I'm by no means an expert, but I've got a couple of fairly successful seasons under my belt, so I may be able to shed some light on things for you.
Take care and train hard,
Nick
So in my last post I said that I would put out some tips for beginners, or for people who are jumping up to a longer distance in triathlon. Either way, I'm pumped up for you and wish you the best of luck. So, without further adieu, here are some of my tips and lessons learned.
1. Get your bike fitted by a pro. You should probably be spending around 50% of your training time on your bike (depends on the distance...more on that later also). A professional bike fit goes something like this; either through video imaging and analysis of your pedal stroke or by taking manual measurements of the majority of your body and watching you ride your bike on a trainer, the fitter will adjust your pedal placement on your cleat, your seat height & fore/aft adjustment, your handlebars and possibly stem and headset. This is a back and forth process and may require different parts being swapped our. It could easily take 1-2 hours. This will go a long way toward preventing injury.
2. If you are new to the sport or have not trained consistently for awhile, do NOT increase your volume by more than 10% per week. Volume is best measured in time for the bike and run and by yards/meters for the swim. The reason that time is used instead of distance is that depending on the profile of where you bike/run and how it may change from day to day or week to week, your mileage could conceivably be very different even if you trained the same amount of time.
3. Get the Triathletes training bible by Joe Friel. This is somewhat involved reading as you do get into physiology a bit, but it helps you understand the theory behind periodized training. Then, if you don't want to design your own training plan, you can pick up a book of plans already designed. You will have the background to know what the books are saying when they say "bike 1.5 hours with 3x10 mins in zone 4 with 5 min recoveries".
4. If you get new shoes, ease into them. Don't just change shoes and go out and put in 20 or 30 miles in your new shoes. Shoes are slightly different from pair to pair, so it is best to easy your way into new shoes over a few weeks. I believe part of the reason I had an IT band injury last year may have been that I got new shoes right in my high volume weeks of the base period and started track work at the same time.
5. Get a watch with a heart rate monitor. Heart rate isn't the best measurement to train by, but it certainly beats nothing at all. Ideally you would train with power on the bike through a power meter (around $900), a garmin on the run (real time pace - anywhere from $150-$500), and pace in the swim.
6. Practice transitions. This is free time saved. It doesn't take hard workouts that make you want to puke. It takes perhaps looking a little foolish as you run out of your shower in your wetsuit and out into the yard to practice T1, but trust me, it is worth it. On a similar note, figure out if you can go sock less or not. Personally I go sock less on the bike and the run and I haven't had any problems. It helps to use tri-slide inside your shoes very liberally. On that note....
7. Use tri slide from your elbows down to your wrists, on your shoulders and neck, and from just below your knee down to your ankles, and even on your feet. This really helps the wetsuit go on and come off much easier and prevent chafing during the swim.
8. Practice open water swimming in your wetsuit before the race. Even if you are an experienced triathlete it always helps to get open water swims in throughout the season. Practice sighting on a tree in the distance and swimming in a straight line. If you have friends as crazy as you, get them in the water with you and swim in a pack to get the feeling of being kicked, elbowed, splashed, pulled, etc because that is how the swim will be until around the first buoy.
9. Make sure you can change a flat quickly. Burden yourself with a few extra ounces by carrying more than one tube and more than one CO2. You never think that a brand new tube will have a small leak, but it can happen. In fact, I would suggest that you keep a race flat kit separate from your everyday kit that goes in your saddle bag. If you keep a tube folded up it weakens it. Not to mention when it is in your saddle bag it is constantly rubbing against your tire irons, CO2's, emergency $20, multitool and chainbreaker, powerlink, cell phone, and whatever else may be in there (this was 2 tips in one, since you now know what you should have in your saddle bag at a minimum).
10. Have fun and don't forget to enjoy the view from wherever you are training. The great part about triathlon is that most of your training will take place outside. Soak it all in and you'll almost forget you are "training".
I hope you find this post useful. If you have any questions at all, just reply to the post and I'll try to address them in future posts. I'm by no means an expert, but I've got a couple of fairly successful seasons under my belt, so I may be able to shed some light on things for you.
Take care and train hard,
Nick
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Back in Denver
Welcome back from the holidays! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus, or whatever you may be celebrating at this time of the year. It is always good to get away from the daily grind and visit with friends and family. If you're like me, there will never be enough time to catch up with everyone, and this year was no different. So, if I didn't get to see you over the holidays, my apologies. Here's a quick re-cap of the travels.
Jaime and I traveled back to PA on Tuesday the 22nd and got back to Denver Sunday the 27th. It seemed like a pretty fast trip, except for the travel days, which were long and tiring. We celebrated with some friends on Wednesday night, then Jaime's family on Christmas Eve, my family on Christmas and Jaime's family again on the day after Christmas. My dad made some excellent lasagna on Wednesday for everyone and our traditional Strata on Christmas day. Jaime and I cooked for the day after Christmas. She made her famous meatballs and we both put together 3 pizzas. I think just about everyone went back for some seconds, so I guess the food was OK!
The Christmas week capped off a month of lots of parties, and eating and drinking, which is never good for body composition. All told, from the end of training in October to now, I've put on about 3 lbs. I'm hoping at least 1 pound is new muscle since I have been back in the gym. Still, it's time to shed those 3 back off (the fat ones anyways). Every pound of fat lost can shave up to 3 seconds per mile off of your running times (I'm sure at a certain point there is diminishing returns, but the lesson remains)! So, 3 pounds is potentially 54 seconds in a 10K if my math is correct. That is about the same amount of time that I missed getting top 5 in my age group at nationals last year. No problem finding the motivation to drop those lbs! I'm sure that running while I was home definitely helped keep some weight off - probably almost 1 pound. I'll be honest though, the running wasn't too much fun. It was about 25 degrees for a 9 miler on Wednesday, then it rained for my short 2 mile run on Christmas, and the run on the day after Christmas (8 miles with 4x1 mile repeats at 5K pace with 1/2 mile recoveries) was in a 35 degree rain. The important thing is that I got the runs in. No swimming, no biking and no lifting, and I actually kinda enjoyed it! I'm hoping my body spent the week with the extra calories and reduced volume by recovering.
This week Jaime and I are both back at it. It is time to get a little more consistent, as this is the beginning of the "prep" phase. More on that in the next post, along with some tips, lessons learned, and things of that nature for those of you who are doing your first triathlons this year, or stepping up to a longer distance. Thanks for reading!
NS
Jaime and I traveled back to PA on Tuesday the 22nd and got back to Denver Sunday the 27th. It seemed like a pretty fast trip, except for the travel days, which were long and tiring. We celebrated with some friends on Wednesday night, then Jaime's family on Christmas Eve, my family on Christmas and Jaime's family again on the day after Christmas. My dad made some excellent lasagna on Wednesday for everyone and our traditional Strata on Christmas day. Jaime and I cooked for the day after Christmas. She made her famous meatballs and we both put together 3 pizzas. I think just about everyone went back for some seconds, so I guess the food was OK!
The Christmas week capped off a month of lots of parties, and eating and drinking, which is never good for body composition. All told, from the end of training in October to now, I've put on about 3 lbs. I'm hoping at least 1 pound is new muscle since I have been back in the gym. Still, it's time to shed those 3 back off (the fat ones anyways). Every pound of fat lost can shave up to 3 seconds per mile off of your running times (I'm sure at a certain point there is diminishing returns, but the lesson remains)! So, 3 pounds is potentially 54 seconds in a 10K if my math is correct. That is about the same amount of time that I missed getting top 5 in my age group at nationals last year. No problem finding the motivation to drop those lbs! I'm sure that running while I was home definitely helped keep some weight off - probably almost 1 pound. I'll be honest though, the running wasn't too much fun. It was about 25 degrees for a 9 miler on Wednesday, then it rained for my short 2 mile run on Christmas, and the run on the day after Christmas (8 miles with 4x1 mile repeats at 5K pace with 1/2 mile recoveries) was in a 35 degree rain. The important thing is that I got the runs in. No swimming, no biking and no lifting, and I actually kinda enjoyed it! I'm hoping my body spent the week with the extra calories and reduced volume by recovering.
This week Jaime and I are both back at it. It is time to get a little more consistent, as this is the beginning of the "prep" phase. More on that in the next post, along with some tips, lessons learned, and things of that nature for those of you who are doing your first triathlons this year, or stepping up to a longer distance. Thanks for reading!
NS
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Christmas in full swing
I've have to admit, I love this time of year. I'm one of those people who doesn't really get sick of the Christmas carols, the holiday cheer, etc even if it does start a little too soon. Jaime and I finished up our Christmas shopping this week and sent everything home to my Dad's house. We've been baking up a storm here - 4 different kinds of cookies, and the tree is up and the house is decorated. I wish we would have been able to make it up to the mountains to ski, but it hasn't worked out for us yet with everything else that is going on. It is hard to believe that Christmas is only less than two weeks away. We can't wait to get home and see everyone.
With all of that, training has taken a bit of a back seat the past two weeks. I've managed to get all of the runs in, as that is the priority now. Usually 2 bikes and 2 swims/week with the 4 runs thrown in. If the details bore you, feel free to stop reading now.
This week was a recovery week on my training plan for the half marathon. So, it consisted of 3 5 mile runs at long run pace (zone 2). Pretty easy week, which was good because it was between 0 and 15 degrees here for the better part of the week.
On the bike I managed a 1 hour zone 2 ride, and today was a 60 min ride with 2x10 mins at lactate threshold/5 min recovery, and then 3x:30 spin ups to 110 rpm. Ideally I'd like to have 3 - 1 hour rides per week, with one ride being a threshold workout, 1 ride of tabata intervals, and one ride with overgear work alternating with high cadence work. To end all three rides I like to put drills in as well.
This week's swim was a 2000 with 12x100 on fastest avg pace which I managed to hold 1:29's. Luckily I haven't lost too much speed since the year ended despite usually skipping one of the 3 scheduled swims/week. The other workout was mixed distance at easy pace and ended with some sprints - 2000 total again. 2000 is about as long as I can take right now without getting burned out.
It's getting close to that time of year where Jaime and I will have to start planning out our year in a little bit of detail. I enjoy it because that means the start of the official training season isn't far away.
With all of that, training has taken a bit of a back seat the past two weeks. I've managed to get all of the runs in, as that is the priority now. Usually 2 bikes and 2 swims/week with the 4 runs thrown in. If the details bore you, feel free to stop reading now.
This week was a recovery week on my training plan for the half marathon. So, it consisted of 3 5 mile runs at long run pace (zone 2). Pretty easy week, which was good because it was between 0 and 15 degrees here for the better part of the week.
On the bike I managed a 1 hour zone 2 ride, and today was a 60 min ride with 2x10 mins at lactate threshold/5 min recovery, and then 3x:30 spin ups to 110 rpm. Ideally I'd like to have 3 - 1 hour rides per week, with one ride being a threshold workout, 1 ride of tabata intervals, and one ride with overgear work alternating with high cadence work. To end all three rides I like to put drills in as well.
This week's swim was a 2000 with 12x100 on fastest avg pace which I managed to hold 1:29's. Luckily I haven't lost too much speed since the year ended despite usually skipping one of the 3 scheduled swims/week. The other workout was mixed distance at easy pace and ended with some sprints - 2000 total again. 2000 is about as long as I can take right now without getting burned out.
It's getting close to that time of year where Jaime and I will have to start planning out our year in a little bit of detail. I enjoy it because that means the start of the official training season isn't far away.
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