Training is goooooood.....

I am truly enjoying training! I don't know what the difference is. Maybe it's a few weeks of killing myself in the basement or it's a different type of training than I did last year, but whatever it is, I'm liking it better. Last year was a lot of the same types of training, every time. It was either hours upon hours of riding back and forth on riverside drive, or running the same flat loop at carrier park, but my god did it get dull and boring. There was never anything new to see, nothing new to accomplish, just grinding out mile after mile. This time I've been using new venues, no real specific plan other than to run/ride for a while. I'm doing hills, mountains, roaring downhills, windy roads, trails, etc. It's just been so much more fun. Where last years training felt like a job, this year it's been pleasure. So that being said, yesterday I went for my hour bike ride. I was sort of trying to get out of it, but of course the wife says, "oh you can go for it now, dinner will take a bit longer than that." Dammit, gotta go. So I did. I rode from my house, out weston rd to mills gap and just rode that for a while. It's slightly rolling, mostly flat. But wow has my fitness improved. I don't know why. But for a while there I was cruising along at 22 mph with my heart rate only around 130 or less. Amazing! Even the climbs I was moving around 18 mph and my HR only climbed slightly. It was such a great ride. My runs have been similar. I've been moving at a pretty good clip, feeling a bit wiped, buy my HR is still staying on average in the 150's. It's climbing by the end, but I've been able to move pretty fast at a fairly low rate. I'm loving training this go round! Can't wait to keep it up!

Finished week 19...

Just finished up week 19, which for me, was my first week of training for Augusta. So far so good. I'm following a similar plan as for last years Ironman, but I'm pushing mysself a bit harder this time. I really want to improve in speed, and running easy, 12 minute miles, is not going to help me. It'll get me to the finish line, but that's not my goal anymore. I need to get faster. So far so good though. Since my last post I've had several runs and swims and I think only one bike ride. The runs have gone well, my HR is down a little, despite feeling that it's really high. But on flat ground, my easy pace is lower than 10 min miles, so that's a great start for being so early. I can only assume, hope, that that will improve especially when I get into speed training and track/hill workouts. This morning was muggy as hell and I ran around my neighborhood, which is a very tough combination. But the run went pretty well. I tried to keep a constant pace the whole time without ever killing myself. I maintained about an 11 min mile, while trying to focus on recovery. I'm feeling pretty sore this morning, but my lower back is not hurting. I noticed it starting to hurt just a bit last night after my run and figured I'd know if something were wrong this morning. The next couple weeks of training are going to be fairly boring I'm afraid. It's the same workouts for the first 4 weeks just getting you into the swing of things. So it'll be pretty easy going. I'm actually looking forward to the more grueling training later on.

Day...whatever...of training...

Yea so I'm not doing the countdown thing again. Just going to try and post day to day as my training progresses. I just did my long, "easy", run yesterday. It was anything but. It wasn't as long as I planned, 47 minutes compared to 60, and it was anything but easy. I planned a 5.5 mile route, knowing that the hills in my neighborhood would slow me down. The problem was that it wasn't so much the hills that slowed me as they were more like mountains. Dear god, I've never ran such long and steep hills before. It was downright brutal. Lesson learned. No more running around my neighborhood for my long "easy" run anymore. I'll be going to fletcher park for that from now on. However, despite that, the run actually went really well. I don't know what my pace was, probably around 11 min miles, which considering the terrain, not too bad. I felt really good throughout and my legs only feel slightly tired today. So, all in all, good start to the training season. It's so much nicer than insanity. Less insane too. Needed to add for my own good. Supposed to be an RPE 2-3 run. Felt like a 7-9 with bits of 10 and 5 thrown in there depending where I was on the hill. Future reference, do not do this run again for an easy run.

Training has begun for the Augusta 70.3

So over the past weekend I realized how much I absolutely hated doing the Insanity workouts. Not because they were too much of a challenge, but simply because it was not fun. My scheduled had become, get home from work, say hi to the family. Rush down to the dungeon(basement), put on the video, proceed to kill myself for 40 minutes, look out the windows at what was almost always a beautiful day, then trudge back upstairs, sit for 20 minutes so I could stop sweating, shower, start sweating again, crash on the couch. This past weekend during our trip to Hilton Head I had a revelation while running with my dad while he biked and our two dogs. I missed the outdoors. It was a beautiful morning, beautiful weather, beautiful scenery and I had my dog at my side enjoying the fresh air together. I realized how much I missed triathlon training. It even hit me that it didn't even feel like training. It was just a nice time enjoying the outdoors. So it hit me. Why am I doing training that I hate, when I could be doing training that I love? So, I informally jumped into my half IM training this week. I'm using a program from the same person who wrote the program I used for the full ironman. It's by Scott Herrick and found on Beginnertriathlete.com. It changes up every week so the training never gets stale. Gives a lot of different swimming routines so that remains different every time as well. Given my experience and knowledge I'll probably modify some sessions here and there, but I liked it last time and was a good guide. So far this week I got in a 6 mile run on monday which took about 57 minutes. Now I gotta say, as much as I hated Insanity, I've definitely seen a difference. The last time I did that very same route was 5 weeks ago. I haven't done any running since and it took me 58 minutes and change, but I felt miserable. I had to walk a few times and I struggled mightily to make it back. This past time I cut over a minute off the time, and felt far far better. It was cooler though, so who knows. Either way though, I think Insanity did teach me to fight through a lot of pain and misery. I didn't do anything on tuesday. Oh well. Yesterday I got back in the pool after a long lay off, and it pretty much showed. My speed is still pretty constant, but my endurance doesn't seem like it used to. I did 1500 yards in 27 minutes. The main set, including warm ups(i tend to swim these at normal pace) was 1250 and I did that in 22 minutes. So I"m pretty happy with that speed. My focus this season is going to be on the bike and run. I'm very deficient in those, especially the run. If I can even get up to a relatively average run I'll be competing for the podium at every race. My bike has been pretty solid this year, it's been the run that's cost me. In each race this year I've lost places going into the run. My second race I went from second to third, and my last race I went from second to fourth. I need to at least hold position. My sprint tri 5 k time is around 8:25 min/mile. I'd like to get that under 8 by the end of the season. Overall goals for the season: Sprint tri 5 k: sub 24 minutes oly run: sub 1 hour Augusta Half IM: overall: sub 6 hours Bike: < 3 hours Run: < 2:15 If I can accomplish those two, I can come in under 6 hours. My swim will likely be in the 35 min range, or less(I hear there's a current). My plan is to push myself harder in training this year than I did last year. I'm going to incorporate track training and hill workouts. For my running training, I typically have 3 runs a week. I plan to do at least one hill/track workout, one tempo run, and one slow easy run. I'm so excited to getting back to tri training!

Clemson Triathlon Race Report

So yeah, I haven't done much posting this year. I haven't had much to post about. Training related anyway. With the new baby training has been an afterthought. I've taken up Insanity since it takes a lot less time and it's enabled me to get training in, even if it isn't triathlon specific. However, it's been interesting after seeing my results from this weekends race. This season I've done virtually zero triathlon training. It has consisted of a handful of bikes, runs, and swims and two races so far. However I've done 3 weeks of Insanity so far. When comparing last years Clemson performance to this years, I'm amazed that I was only 30 seconds slower this year than last when I had been training for 5 months at this point. There's definitely something to be said for Insanity. It is definitely training me to perform at an anaerobic level and tolerate higher levels of pain associated with it. My only disappointment was that I crossed the finish line and actually felt as if I had a lot more to give. My swim was good. Better than I had hoped. I came out 2nd in my category, and i was somewhere in the 14+ minute range. The weirdest thing was my bike. I actually finished higher overall in my bike than I did in my swim. That has never happened before. I have been making an effort to give a lot more on the bike that I have in the past and it's showing. My bike times have been considerably faster this year than in past seasons and my runs haven't suffered like I thought they would. The run is tough no matter what, so I might as well go as hard as I can on the bike and just hope for the best on the run. I knew I'd have a pretty good bike at the charleston sprint since it's dead flat and you can really pound away, but I knew Clemson would be a new challenge since it's hilly. But I knocked this one out too as I forced myself to pound the pedals up the hills and rest on the downhills. That strategy worked out very well and it's one I'm going to try to employ next time at the Biltmore Lake race. That'll be a different story I believe because the hills are longer, steeper, and more challenging than I faced in Clemson. The run went pretty well too. It's a tough run because you start with a 1 mile steady downhill. It's a nice way to ease into the run, but it makes for a very tough final two miles. After it flattens for a football field distance you have a short, but brutally steep climb. You go a bit farther on flat ground until the turn around at which point you have to go back down the steep hill, not as bad as climbing, but not exactly a rest either. I did however feel pretty good at the bottom, and increased my pace somewhat. I felt really good coming up the final mile long hill, and just wish I had pushed a bit tougher in that last mile. Either way, I was very happy with the race, especially considering my lack of specific training.