Week in review

It s been a crazy week. A few quick runs and a swim, nothing too intense.

David out

Run: 3.1 miles

Nothing beats running for quick, concentrated workouts

Distance: 3.15
Time: 22:27
Avg Pace: 7:07

David out

Run: 3.1 miles

A quick run around the block in Turlock.

Distance: 3.11
Time: 21:07
Avg Pace: 6:48

David out

Run: 5 miles

My first real run in my new shoes. They're a little squeaky, but give me lots of good support.

Ran out and back to Gunn.

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 33:33
Avg Pace: 6:42

David out

Swim: Distance

Another oldie, but goodie
3x100 warmup
4x50 stroke
4x200
4x100
4x50 swim
cooldown

David out

Swim: Distance

Another day, another half Ironman distance (1.2 miles) in the pool. Today was interesting in that I was chasing after Federico the whole time. A good, solid workout.

David out

Brick: 16/3

Perhaps the first brick of the season?

It was getting late (and cold) so I decided do an out and back on Alpine, followed by a run through the eucalyptus grove in my fancy new shoes. Quads felt a little shaky afterward, but overall quite satisfying.

Bike:
16.54 miles
Time: 57:40
Avg Speed: 17.2 mph

Run: 3.13 miles
Time: 30:38
Avg Pace: 6:36

David out

Swim: Technique

Breathing drills today
4x100 warmup
2x700 Breathe every 2,2,3,4,5,6,7
Warmdown

David out

Swim: Distance

300 swim warmup
6x50 drill
4x200 descend
4x100 descend
4x 50 descend
Cooldown

David out

Ride: 40 miles

My favorite ride again now, that I was very happy to share with Alice, Mark, and Federico.

A lovely ride with amazing 70-80 degree weather. In November!

Distance: 40.2 miles
Avg Speed: 14.2 miles
Max Speed: 36.6 mph
Total Ascent: 5165 ft

David out

Run: Short

What do you do when you have 30 minutes and need some cardio? You got it- a short run out and back!
3 miles, 20 minutes, etc etc.
David out

Run: Short run

Out and back, not much time, 5K of distance

David out

Swim: Drill

400 Swim Warmup
4x100 Drill, IM order
9 x 50 Cruise+5 Every 3rd hard
6 x 50 Cruise + 10 Every 2nd hard
3 x 50 Cruise + 15 Every one hard
200 cooldown

David out

Swim : Distance

Bryan likes those 300 sets. So a 400 warmup, 3x100 drills, then 4x300 swim/drill

David out

Run: 3.1 miles

Distance: 3.12 miles
Total time: 20:36
Avg Pace: 6:36
A short, diagnostic run around campus. The result? Everything's fine. Toe feels perfect, knee felt a little stiff, but now feels fine. I tried out dynamics warmups today

http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html&OQ=_rQ3D3&OP=5ffe16c1Q2FvUHQ5CvLQ2B_@ZQ2BQ2BQ3Cxvxkk0vJJvkxv@mQ2BZQ3C@vmuP35PTP)Q2FQ27HvJJxmHUPZ5YQ7CQ3C5u

and I thought they worked pretty well.

Pushed decently hard, too, even if it was just 5K.

David out

Bike: 36 miles

Distance: 36.43 miles
Time: 2:27:52
Avg Speed: 14.8 mph
Total Ascent: 3697 ft
Calories: 2217

I love my bike. I love being on my bike. I love biking. Good friends and good rides- one of my absolute favorite activities.

Today was my first foray up King's Mountain. The climb was longer than OLH, but not quite as steep (How's that for a gradient ascent algorithm?) After that, there was a great dash along Skyline, with the mist pouring in from the coast and an interesting (but not too windy!) road to follow. After a short descent along 92, it's the familiar return along Canada.

Cycling is so much more visceral than, say, driving in a car. You have the wind in your face as the world flies by, and you're not encapsulated in an isolating bubble of metal and glass. Cycling also gives you a feeling of satisfaction- you earn every bit of speed that you attain. Be on your bike long enough, and you start becoming attached to it (and not just through your clipless pedals) Your bike becomes an extension of your own body; you know how it will react, when to push, and when to ease off.

I love my bike.

David out

Swim: Fun!

Fun Fridays include lots of drills, stroke assessment, and then relays. Oh, and pushups. Always plenty of pushups.

I need to work on body rotation and being really proactive about rotating from side to side on each stroke. A good drill that we did was head lead, as well as tapping practice where you touch your shoulder, head, and outstretched arm on each stroke.

David out

Run: 3 miles

A light, quick run to the Eucalyptus grove and back.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Time: 21:21
Avg Pace: 6:53


Toe basically felt fine until the last 400 or so. Even then, no pain, just some stiffness. Same with the knee. I think I'll start increasing mileage again soon.

David out

Swim: Distance

Thanks to Bryan, we had a medley of strokes today, totaling about 2000 m. Mostly 3x100s/6x50s/2x150s, etc.

David out

Swim

Had a lovely swim today. 200 m warmup, 1.2 mile set, 100 m cooldown. I did a 1900 in roughly 40-42 minutes, which is pretty good for me. Goggles fogged up halfway through, so I was in my own little world, listening to my breathing and watching my form. Very relaxing.

David out

Spin

It's wet outside. Not rainy, but the roads are still pretty slick.

I spent about an hour on the exercise bike- I mean, "spinning" Not too interesting, but at least I got some good intervals in. Plus I did some reading for Fourier Transforms (got some strange looks from nearby folks) and decided where I stood on all the propositions for Tuesday.

David out

Run

Distance: About 3 miles
Time: About 20 minutes

I was itching for some activity today, so I went on a short run and didn't let the rain discourage me. My toe felt much improved- I'm doing just fine.

On Thursday, I finally went to Vaden to get my toe checked out. Talk to the NP there, who turned out to be a runner as well! She took my info, and gave me some good tips. In the future, I'll pick up several pairs of shoes, buy some specialized inserts, and rotate them in and out. According to her, it works really well in preventing knee and foot problems.

XRays on Friday checked out fine. No stress fractures, nothing out of the ordinary. I'm going to slowly start running again, but no rush. Not anymore. At least, not for a while.

David out

Swim: Technical

We did some IM drills and a 3x300 as a main set. 50 is about as far as I can go with butterfly.

Total distance: about 1600

David out

Swim: Distance

A mixture of drills, kicking, and strokes plus lots of freestyle. About 1600 meters total

Run

Just did an out and back on Motivation Hill, circa 3 miles. Toe still feels a bit funny; will probably get it checked out at the med center when I get time.

David out

Run

Distance: 3.01 miles
Total Time: 21:24
Avg Pace: 7:07

Did an impromptu run today on soft ground. My left big toe is a little sore; not sure from what. Going to keep an eye on it.

David out

Bike: Long (41 miles)

Distance: 40.93 miles
Time: 2:48:58
Avg Speed: 14.5 mph
Max Speed: 37.8 mph
Total Ascent: 4382
Calories burned: 2589

Highway 9 climb:
1897 ft in 38 minutes. Not as steep as Old La Honda , but more prolonged. The actual elevation change is about equal. The climb today was 5.3 miles long, as opposed to the 3 miles of OLH. Seemed harder today!

Did one of my absolute favorite rides today- down south over Mt. Eden, then climb up highway 9 to skyline, then descend Page Mill. There are so many absolutely fantastic moments on this ride, I don't know where to begin. There's the little mountain roads on the way to Highway 9, where you're climbing up through shady, wooded areas and you can see trails going off to your left and right. There's the actual climb up highway 9, where if you pick the highest point around, then yes- you're going there. There's the fast portions of skyline where you hunker down against the wind rushing by and just fly down with the pavement whizzing by. And there's the view on Page Mill, with the foggy hills off to your right and the entire Bay Area in front of you. So good. So good. And through it all, the sound of your tires on the pavement, the security of your handlebars firmly in hand, the company of good friends, the dappled pattern of light and dark from the trees overhead, and the knowledge that you're there of your own accord and of your own power.

One of the best feelings in the world.

David out

P.S. I was discussing with Federico what would happen if you converted all your gravitational potential energy at the top of about 3000 meters to velocity. The answer? You'd be going about 300 miles per hour.

Swim: Fun Friday!

A bit fatigued from yesterday, but still going strong.

3x100 warmup
6x50 drill
10x100 intervals (I started at a 1:55 cruise (+5),but eventually settled into a 2:05. Room for improvement, right?)
8x50 drill (10 pushups in between each!)

Oh, I'm going to feel this tomorrow!

David out

Swim: Short workout

Had to squeeze in some time in Rec swim today.
3x100 swim
1x100 drill
1x100 stroke
2x500 swim
1x100 stroke

David out

Bike: Hills

A midday jaunt up Old La Honda today. I was breathing pretty hard, but managed to make it up in 24:14 (and all in second gear!

Distance: 21.88 miles
Time: 1:30:06
Avg Speed: 14.6
Max Speed: 37.6 mph
Total Ascent: 3624 ft


David out

Bike

Distance: 20.08
Time: 1:20:19
Avg Speed: 15.0 mph
Total Ascent: 1443 ft

A brisk morning bike ride up and back Alpine Road with Mark, Bryan, and Carlos.

It's really quite a beautiful sight in the morning. The sun is just rising over the pine trees and there isn't another soul in sight up along the more isolated stretches of Alpine (except for us bikers). My only complaint would be about the cold; it's 50 degrees to begin with and 20 mph windchill brings it down to toe numbing temperature. I'm nicely bundled up, but it's enough to make me start dreaming about hot waffles, sausages, and coffee.

A fair bit of climbing and descending today. I neglected to wipe off my rims after lubing my chain yesterday, and as a result my rear brake was singing when I tapped it on the curves in the downhill.

It's hard getting out of bed to head for a ride when it's still dark, but man oh man it's such a rush to get out there.

David out

Swim: Long distance

A very simple, zen like workout.

3x100 freestyle warmup
1x1900 freestyle
1x100 freestyle cooldown

I'm aiming for a half ironman this year. The 1.2 miles ar e roughly equivalent to 1900 m- hence the long distance. Swimming is so relaxing- it's very regular, rhythmic, and isolating. So much so that I can feel my stress flowing out when I'm in the pool.

Oh, I'll feel this tomorrow. Definitely some rest in order.

David out

Swim: Fun!

2x100 warmup
1x300 stroke count (~51 for a 50- blegh. Have to work on that)
1x300 mixed sprint
1x300 mixed stroke
1x300 timed (5:45)

Then some relays and pushups and tossing of a waterpolo ball around.

David out

Run: Hill repeats

Up the hill, down the hill. Up the hill, down the hill. Repeat for 30 minutes.

Distance: 3.69 miles
Time: 30:10
Avg Pace: 8:10

Not bad for sand. My knee is a little sore, so I'm going to lay off serious running for a bit longer.

David out

Swim: Distance

Back in the pool after a long hiatus! Feeling slow, but glad to be back. I need to work on getting my ankles flexible again, as well as general stroke work.

300 swim
100 stroke
100 kick

5x100 swim

100 swim
200 swim
300 swim

David out

Swim: Technical

A little fatigued in the shoulders today, but felt great to get back in the pool. Unfortunately, lots of glare due to the kickboard work- I should invest in goggles with more tint.

300 free
100 stroke

Main:
Set of 3{
2x50 kick
100 free
2x50 kick
100 stroke}

Timed 100
1:40 (ish)

David out

Let's do this

Hi folks,

This blog is a continuation of my old marathon training log. It won't be quite as focused towards a single race, but instead will detail my overall training for this year's triathlon season and beyond. My goals for this year are to race as much as possible and to race a half-Ironman. And who knows- perhaps I'll even Escape from the Rock this summer. But to do this will take a lot of sweat and determination- I can hardly wait!

All this and more. Stay tuned!

David out

Recovery ride

Type: Bike
Distance: 10.63 miles
Time: 42:29
Avg Speed: 15.0 mph

Here we go again. My generic short, flat bike ride through the Arastradero preserve. It was a bit chillly (currently 51 degrees F) but I quickly warmed up. Muscles feel pretty good; this is the first workout since my marathon and I'm ready to go.

David out