2010 was a pretty uneventful year.2011 has gotten of to a rocking start. Where do I even begin?
Last week I was offered an amazing new job. I have been networking on this opportunity for more then half a year and it finally happened. There was never a doubt in my mind that I was their chosen candidate, it was just a matter of timing as this was to be a new position within their company. Back in May 2010, I did a charity bike ride called the http://www.allianceride.com/">Alliance Ride put on by Jackson Healthcare and the Scott Rigsby Foundation. I found out about this ride through a Facebook friend who used to be a member of our tri club.
Being in the healthcare industry, I was curious to see what Jackson Healthcare did. The more I researched the company, the more I was impressed. Though I was initially interested in a different position within one of their other divisions, my friend convinced me I was an even better fit for a position that he was about to pitch to his managers. This position would be a data analyst for their Anesthesia Division, which is exactly the type of area I have been most interested in and looked to focus my career on. Time went by and I met with management both unofficially and officially. I had actually expected to get my offer earlier, but between the holidays and the nearly week long shutdown of Atlanta due to snowmageddon there were several delays. It will tough leaving my current employer, but I look forward to new challenges and exciting opportunities.
My new boss (my friend from the tri club) is an Ironman finisher and there are many more Ironman finishers within the company. The company has a run/tri club and an impressive gym on site, so it will make it even easier to get my training in. There are other great benefits and the company has been in the Atlanta Business Chronicle's Best Companies to Work For for the last 3 or 4 years. I cant wait to start next month
2011 will very likely be my return to Beach 2 Battleship Full. Right now, I am only 100% committed to a single race and after that I will make my plans since B2B Full will more then likely still be open in June. I am planning on doing the http://gamultisports.com/rock-%E2%80%98n-rollman-race-series/"> Rock n Roll Man half iron race in Macon in June. If I can get close to the weight I would like to be at and stay injury free, I plan to sign up for B2B full after finishing the half in June.
In order to get to my goal weight, I have begun eating Paleo/Primal style. In the last 6 weeks, I am down over 10 pounds and definitely have much more energy. More to come on this later. I really must get to bed. Another part of my plans for 2011 is to start getting more sleep, which will help both my training and weight loss.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Monday, October 4, 2010
Race Report:Lake Lanier Island Sprint Triathlon
After a very disappointing (and slightly expensive) triathlon season last year, I decided to only do one race this year. When I decided on this one, I hoped to be in much better shape then I was on race day. The ruptured tendon set me back more then a month. I really didnt know what to expect going into this race. I have done very little swimming this year and my bike training would be 2 days one week and maybe no days the following week. Prior to the injury I was riding once a week with the tri club doing a hilly route and getting faster with each week. In the last few weeks, I was starting to feel like my running was coming back, even possibly better then it had been before my injury.
While technically my 2nd race ever back in 2007, I consider this my first race because my first race was one week earlier and it was a one-time only event so I could never go back and race it again. Interestingly enough, this was also the last full distance sprint I had done.
Saturday we volunteered to work packet pickup. Because of the way the park is set up and the 3/4 mile walk from the parking lot to transition, this race required dropping your bike off the day before. We volunteered to work 12-3 but unfortunately some volunteers who signed up to work 3-6 no showed so we ended up staying to 5. We went home and I had a couple of PBJ sandwiches and a beer to calm the nerves and went off to bed at a reasonable time.
I was up Sunday at 4:30 AM. Transition was open from 5:30-7 but we didnt want to be parked to far away so we planned on heading out about 5. After another PBJ for breakfast (a staple in my diet) we headed out to the park. When I arrived I found a surprise awaiting me. Because this race had a large number of triathlon newbies who apparently decided to rack their bike on the wrong racks, someone decided to re-rack all the bikes in numerical order. Not a big deal, but a slight pain in the arse since the night before I chose an end spot. I set up my stuff and waited until about 6:45 to make sure that those adjacent to me did not mess up my bike or my stuff. I was in the first wave so at least I didnt have to likely worry about someone messing my stuff once the race started. I headed down towards the swim with a quick stop at the mens room.
They had announced that the water was 72 degrees. since this was such a short sprint, I was not going to use my wetsuit. I got into the water up to my chest and was pleasantly surprised that the water wasnt that cold. The only problem was going to be getting out of the water since it had to be in the upper 40s or lower 50s and breezy. I did a little swimming to get my head under water and loosen up my arms and shoulders until we were asked to get out of the water for the announcements and national anthem. I got shivers waiting for them to allow us back in the water. We got in the water a few minutes before the start. I chose a somewhat middle of the pack position given my lack of swim training this year. I had an idea of what I could swim it in and I swam right about what I thought I would. As soon as the gun went off, I regretted not taking a more aggressive position. I had forgotten how much of a washing machine a short sprint can be. The first thrid of the race was like a knock out brawl. My stroke is somewhat of a catchup in order to protect my face. As I got close to the first turn buoy I picked up my pace and it felt like I had to climb over other swimmers to get some space. Finally after the second turn in to the swim finish (it was a candy cane shaped course) I was able to get some space and picked up my pace. My goggles were totally fogged, but I believe I took a fairly straight line to the finish while others went wide to the outside. As I was getting close, I could tell the water was getting shallower. Once I could touch the bottom with my fingers, I stood up and started my LOOONG run to T1. I looked at my watch and I had finished in 7 minutes 5 seconds (about 1:45 per 100 yards) this is what I figured I would finish in based on previous experience
The thing about races done at Lake Lanier Islands as anyone who has ever raced there will tell you is the run from the swim to T1 is long and hard. I ran until I hit the steepest part of the hill and then resumed running once I crested the hill. When you reach the top of the hill, you are at the front end of transition, but have to run all the way around to the back end of transition. I reached T1 at 9:44, almost three minutes from out of the water to transition. When I look at my swim and T1 times from 2007, I suspect that the timing mat was at the bottom of the hill before you ever made it to transition whereas this year it was right as you enter transition.
I was in and out of transition pretty quickly. I ran to my bike, strapped on my helmet, shoes and put on my sunglasses and I ran on out of transition and mounted my bike. I had packed arm warmers just in case, but was just warm enough that I didnt need them. In and out of T1 in a speedy (at least for me T1).
The bike course is slightly challenging in the first half, especially given the fact that the bike is my weakest link. It begins with about 4 or 5 miles of rollers getting out of the park. I kept my resistance low and cadence high to get the blood back in the legs. I knew the first half was the toughest so I wanted something left in the tank for the second half of the ride. There is one challenging hill at about the 6 mile mark which had me out of the saddle. By this point my lower back was bothering me that I was worried may sabotage my run. One of my problems when climbing (besides the obvious spare tire I am carrying around) is that I really tense up when on a long slow climb. All this tension finds it endpoint in my lower back and has been known to then kill my ability to have a good run. Once I made it past this, I used every down hill to stretch out my back and legs. I was able to maintain around a 19mph pace on the flats which was decent, but every hill sucked every bit of speed out of me. I kept my cadence high and only used my big chain ring when going downhill fast so I didnt blow out my knees pedaling fast. In previous races I have overused my big chain ring a really used up too much energy. I finished the bike strong in 45:31 (17.1 mph), again about what I expected though I would have liked to have been a little faster.
T2 was a little slower then T1, but still not too bad (1:38) as I had to put socks on to head out on the run. I cant run without socks as I am really blister prone.
Heading out on the run I didnt really know what to expect. The run is also slightly challenging. It is an out and back course. The course starts downhill for almost a mile, climbs for a half mile and downhill again to the turnaround then do it all again the other way. Starting downhill, I was averaging about a 8:15 pace. This surprised me some, but my legs felt really fresh. I think I didnt realize I was going down hill at this point. Once I started the first climb, my pace became pretty inconsistent. At times I was close the 12:30/mile, but I was styaing at a fairly consistent effort level. I reached the first mile marker in 10:23, but the garmin showed I had almost done 1.1 miles for a 9:40 pace. Based on the rest of the race, I suspect the garmin was more accurate. I took a slight walk break to chug down my water since I am no good at drinking from a cup when running fast and picked my pace back up to the turnaround. I kept my effort level steady and walked the water stop again on the way back in. I only had to walk one other time for about 15 seconds as I headed up the top of the worst hill on the way back. As I got closer I could hear the crowds and I picked up the pace more. When I hit the chute I sprinted to the finish and passed several runners on the way in. I think that was the fastest I had ever run in my life. I crossed the finish line in 1:26:39 a PR by 3:22 almost all of which came on the run. My only regret was that based on how much energy I had at the finish, I probably could have run faster, but Im not going to complain. I am still learning the art of running fast. My 5K time of 28:23 (9:09/mi) is my fastest run in two years. Overall I am satisfied with my results
Up next for me is the Silver Comet Half Marathon, which is my PR race, which interestingly enough, I also ran in 2007. 2007 was a good year as far as first time accomplishments (tri, half mar) this year may turn out to be a good year for breaking those PRs from 2007. The other intersing thing is looking at my photos from 2007 I was lighter then. Once I can take off this weight, I should be able to make even bigger improvement.
Swim
2007 8:16
2010 9:45
Swim + T1
2007 12:40
2010 11:09
Bike
2007 44:25 17.5 mph
2010 45:31 17.1 mph
Run
2007 31:59 (10:19/mi)
2010 28:23 (9:09/mi)
While technically my 2nd race ever back in 2007, I consider this my first race because my first race was one week earlier and it was a one-time only event so I could never go back and race it again. Interestingly enough, this was also the last full distance sprint I had done.
Saturday we volunteered to work packet pickup. Because of the way the park is set up and the 3/4 mile walk from the parking lot to transition, this race required dropping your bike off the day before. We volunteered to work 12-3 but unfortunately some volunteers who signed up to work 3-6 no showed so we ended up staying to 5. We went home and I had a couple of PBJ sandwiches and a beer to calm the nerves and went off to bed at a reasonable time.
I was up Sunday at 4:30 AM. Transition was open from 5:30-7 but we didnt want to be parked to far away so we planned on heading out about 5. After another PBJ for breakfast (a staple in my diet) we headed out to the park. When I arrived I found a surprise awaiting me. Because this race had a large number of triathlon newbies who apparently decided to rack their bike on the wrong racks, someone decided to re-rack all the bikes in numerical order. Not a big deal, but a slight pain in the arse since the night before I chose an end spot. I set up my stuff and waited until about 6:45 to make sure that those adjacent to me did not mess up my bike or my stuff. I was in the first wave so at least I didnt have to likely worry about someone messing my stuff once the race started. I headed down towards the swim with a quick stop at the mens room.
They had announced that the water was 72 degrees. since this was such a short sprint, I was not going to use my wetsuit. I got into the water up to my chest and was pleasantly surprised that the water wasnt that cold. The only problem was going to be getting out of the water since it had to be in the upper 40s or lower 50s and breezy. I did a little swimming to get my head under water and loosen up my arms and shoulders until we were asked to get out of the water for the announcements and national anthem. I got shivers waiting for them to allow us back in the water. We got in the water a few minutes before the start. I chose a somewhat middle of the pack position given my lack of swim training this year. I had an idea of what I could swim it in and I swam right about what I thought I would. As soon as the gun went off, I regretted not taking a more aggressive position. I had forgotten how much of a washing machine a short sprint can be. The first thrid of the race was like a knock out brawl. My stroke is somewhat of a catchup in order to protect my face. As I got close to the first turn buoy I picked up my pace and it felt like I had to climb over other swimmers to get some space. Finally after the second turn in to the swim finish (it was a candy cane shaped course) I was able to get some space and picked up my pace. My goggles were totally fogged, but I believe I took a fairly straight line to the finish while others went wide to the outside. As I was getting close, I could tell the water was getting shallower. Once I could touch the bottom with my fingers, I stood up and started my LOOONG run to T1. I looked at my watch and I had finished in 7 minutes 5 seconds (about 1:45 per 100 yards) this is what I figured I would finish in based on previous experience
The thing about races done at Lake Lanier Islands as anyone who has ever raced there will tell you is the run from the swim to T1 is long and hard. I ran until I hit the steepest part of the hill and then resumed running once I crested the hill. When you reach the top of the hill, you are at the front end of transition, but have to run all the way around to the back end of transition. I reached T1 at 9:44, almost three minutes from out of the water to transition. When I look at my swim and T1 times from 2007, I suspect that the timing mat was at the bottom of the hill before you ever made it to transition whereas this year it was right as you enter transition.
I was in and out of transition pretty quickly. I ran to my bike, strapped on my helmet, shoes and put on my sunglasses and I ran on out of transition and mounted my bike. I had packed arm warmers just in case, but was just warm enough that I didnt need them. In and out of T1 in a speedy (at least for me T1).
The bike course is slightly challenging in the first half, especially given the fact that the bike is my weakest link. It begins with about 4 or 5 miles of rollers getting out of the park. I kept my resistance low and cadence high to get the blood back in the legs. I knew the first half was the toughest so I wanted something left in the tank for the second half of the ride. There is one challenging hill at about the 6 mile mark which had me out of the saddle. By this point my lower back was bothering me that I was worried may sabotage my run. One of my problems when climbing (besides the obvious spare tire I am carrying around) is that I really tense up when on a long slow climb. All this tension finds it endpoint in my lower back and has been known to then kill my ability to have a good run. Once I made it past this, I used every down hill to stretch out my back and legs. I was able to maintain around a 19mph pace on the flats which was decent, but every hill sucked every bit of speed out of me. I kept my cadence high and only used my big chain ring when going downhill fast so I didnt blow out my knees pedaling fast. In previous races I have overused my big chain ring a really used up too much energy. I finished the bike strong in 45:31 (17.1 mph), again about what I expected though I would have liked to have been a little faster.
T2 was a little slower then T1, but still not too bad (1:38) as I had to put socks on to head out on the run. I cant run without socks as I am really blister prone.
Heading out on the run I didnt really know what to expect. The run is also slightly challenging. It is an out and back course. The course starts downhill for almost a mile, climbs for a half mile and downhill again to the turnaround then do it all again the other way. Starting downhill, I was averaging about a 8:15 pace. This surprised me some, but my legs felt really fresh. I think I didnt realize I was going down hill at this point. Once I started the first climb, my pace became pretty inconsistent. At times I was close the 12:30/mile, but I was styaing at a fairly consistent effort level. I reached the first mile marker in 10:23, but the garmin showed I had almost done 1.1 miles for a 9:40 pace. Based on the rest of the race, I suspect the garmin was more accurate. I took a slight walk break to chug down my water since I am no good at drinking from a cup when running fast and picked my pace back up to the turnaround. I kept my effort level steady and walked the water stop again on the way back in. I only had to walk one other time for about 15 seconds as I headed up the top of the worst hill on the way back. As I got closer I could hear the crowds and I picked up the pace more. When I hit the chute I sprinted to the finish and passed several runners on the way in. I think that was the fastest I had ever run in my life. I crossed the finish line in 1:26:39 a PR by 3:22 almost all of which came on the run. My only regret was that based on how much energy I had at the finish, I probably could have run faster, but Im not going to complain. I am still learning the art of running fast. My 5K time of 28:23 (9:09/mi) is my fastest run in two years. Overall I am satisfied with my results
Up next for me is the Silver Comet Half Marathon, which is my PR race, which interestingly enough, I also ran in 2007. 2007 was a good year as far as first time accomplishments (tri, half mar) this year may turn out to be a good year for breaking those PRs from 2007. The other intersing thing is looking at my photos from 2007 I was lighter then. Once I can take off this weight, I should be able to make even bigger improvement.
Swim
2007 8:16
2010 9:45
Swim + T1
2007 12:40
2010 11:09
Bike
2007 44:25 17.5 mph
2010 45:31 17.1 mph
Run
2007 31:59 (10:19/mi)
2010 28:23 (9:09/mi)
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
I,Oohh I'm Still Alive
For the past four months I have seriously considered retiring permanently from blogging. I've been busy and just haven't had the blogging mojo. It was much easier when I was in school and spending several hours at school 2 or 3 days a week and had some time between classes. Lately I have been spending my lunch hour reading technical books to help further myself up the career ladder. I've also been trying to get to bed earlier, which further reduces my free time. I've been back and forth about it but have decided to keep it going. I've met so many great people and have gotten lots of encouragement and advice from fellow bloggers. Now I just need to push myself to actually update it. I have been keeping up with reading the blogs I follow, but havent done much commenting. I am going to try and do better with that as well.
Things had been going well for me. My big focus this year was my running. little by little I was regaining my running speed. I was getting faster and faster and then BAM! In June, I was starting off on a run at my local 1 mile park loop when I felt a sudden burst of pain and felt/heard a pop in my calf. I tried to walk and stretch it out, but no such luck. The next day I saw an ortho who sent me off from a MRI. I had a ruptured Plataris Tendon, and a minor gastrocnemius (calf muscle) strain. While the tendon rupture sounds bad, it was actually the strain that kept me from working out for a month. From what the doctor said, this tendon connects to a "accessory" muscle that isn't really necessary and it will never heal. If I hadn't also strained my calf, I could have kept running without any complications.
A month later I was back up and run/walking. I have built back up to mostly running with some walking when necessary, especially on my longer runs. A couple weeks ago, I also started doing some intervals and tempo runs. I had hoped to still do the marathon in November based on a run/walk schedule from John Bingham. After I couldn't complete the scheduled 8 miler, I knew I wouldn't be able to make it through the full marathon plan. I emailed the RD and was able to switch to the half. So after that, I now have 2 half marathons and a sprint tri on the schedule for this year and the GA full marathon still on the schedule so far for next year.
This week I added another event onto this years schedule. There is a new 200 mile relay race this year in GA called the Souther Odyssey Relay. For those familiar with Georgia geography, the race starts in Athens, heads towards Gainesville, then through the mountains, across to Dahlonegha, and finally south to the Finish in Roswell. Each team has 12 members who do 3 legs of the race. It starts on a Friday morning and finishes sometime Saturday afternoon. When I first heard about this race I was definitely interested. Well this week I happened to be on the Georgia board on beginner triathlete and saw someone I know from a local group ride needed more members on their team. I thought about it for a little bit and decided to sign up. I am also hoping a few other people I know are going to be signing up for the team as well. It should be lots of fun and I hope to take lots of pictures.
October is going to be a busy month. This race is the weekend after my sprint tri and two weeks before my first half marathon. I am definitely looking forward to get back into racing.
I am already starting to plan out the next two years. I hope to do two half irons next year and am shooting for 2012 for my second attempt at a full Iron. I have tentative plans for which one I would like to do, though I may change that depending what others are doing. We had 10 or 11 people from our tri club finish Ironman Louisville last weekend. The support they had on facebook, from club members who werent racing and traveled to the site, and from their fellow racing club members was just amazing. It makes a big difference to have all that support. If I have that opportunity I definitely will take it.
Things had been going well for me. My big focus this year was my running. little by little I was regaining my running speed. I was getting faster and faster and then BAM! In June, I was starting off on a run at my local 1 mile park loop when I felt a sudden burst of pain and felt/heard a pop in my calf. I tried to walk and stretch it out, but no such luck. The next day I saw an ortho who sent me off from a MRI. I had a ruptured Plataris Tendon, and a minor gastrocnemius (calf muscle) strain. While the tendon rupture sounds bad, it was actually the strain that kept me from working out for a month. From what the doctor said, this tendon connects to a "accessory" muscle that isn't really necessary and it will never heal. If I hadn't also strained my calf, I could have kept running without any complications.
A month later I was back up and run/walking. I have built back up to mostly running with some walking when necessary, especially on my longer runs. A couple weeks ago, I also started doing some intervals and tempo runs. I had hoped to still do the marathon in November based on a run/walk schedule from John Bingham. After I couldn't complete the scheduled 8 miler, I knew I wouldn't be able to make it through the full marathon plan. I emailed the RD and was able to switch to the half. So after that, I now have 2 half marathons and a sprint tri on the schedule for this year and the GA full marathon still on the schedule so far for next year.
This week I added another event onto this years schedule. There is a new 200 mile relay race this year in GA called the Souther Odyssey Relay. For those familiar with Georgia geography, the race starts in Athens, heads towards Gainesville, then through the mountains, across to Dahlonegha, and finally south to the Finish in Roswell. Each team has 12 members who do 3 legs of the race. It starts on a Friday morning and finishes sometime Saturday afternoon. When I first heard about this race I was definitely interested. Well this week I happened to be on the Georgia board on beginner triathlete and saw someone I know from a local group ride needed more members on their team. I thought about it for a little bit and decided to sign up. I am also hoping a few other people I know are going to be signing up for the team as well. It should be lots of fun and I hope to take lots of pictures.
October is going to be a busy month. This race is the weekend after my sprint tri and two weeks before my first half marathon. I am definitely looking forward to get back into racing.
I am already starting to plan out the next two years. I hope to do two half irons next year and am shooting for 2012 for my second attempt at a full Iron. I have tentative plans for which one I would like to do, though I may change that depending what others are doing. We had 10 or 11 people from our tri club finish Ironman Louisville last weekend. The support they had on facebook, from club members who werent racing and traveled to the site, and from their fellow racing club members was just amazing. It makes a big difference to have all that support. If I have that opportunity I definitely will take it.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Aprils Stats
April has been a pretty busy month for me. I have not had the time to blog. I am working to expand my knowledge in certain areas that will help me advance my career. This is keeping me busy reading and programming SQL queries. I am enjoying it, but that combined with swimming,biking, and running has left me with no time to blog.
Even though my weight loss has slowed down in the last couple weeks, I lost another 4 pounds in April. The last couple weeks, I haven't really tracked my food intake and I have basically stayed the same or gained a single pound, so I am happy with that. Time to get back on the serious weight loss wagon.
With April comes pollen season and awful allergies and asthma. This has hampered my training, especially my running. This week was the first week in several where I finally felt like I could breathe.
I am swimming a couple times a week. My average swim is around 1500 M. I am mainly focused on building back my strength and a little speed. I am doing lots of 100M's right now on 2:00. I think I can bring them down to 1:45 soon. I did another 200 TT this month. I came in 15 seconds faster (7.5 sec/100M) and I think I may have had more in me.
My biggest focus on the bike is the Tuesday night tri club ride. There are lots of hills and the pace picks up to over 25mph on the flat segments. Each week I am getting a little faster. My first ride was 14.1mph. My last one was over 16. My goal is to be able to keep up with the A group by the end of the season. If I can keep losing weight, I should be able to reach this goal.
My running continues to improve, even with the setbacks of spring pollen season. I "ran" one 5K, but the problem was this was the peak pollen week, and by the 1st mile I was completely out of breath. I still finished in 33 min, but figured if I hadnt been out of breath, I could have ran it around 27-28 minutes. I am currently basing my training paces of a guesstimated 27 min 5K and it seems to be just the right amount of challenge. I resumed speed work this week after two weeks off from any speed work due to asthma. The paces felt good, but I had to cut the distance back down. I am reworking my 10K plan to peak at the Peachtree. I have also decided to add more volume to my plan and build up to 40 mile weeks for my 10K training and build from there to 60 mile weeks for my marathon training. I know as I lose weight, my body can handle this volume as long as I build my volume properly. The only down side is that it likely means I will have to be up in the morning at least twice during the week to run 3-5 miles during 10K training and 6 miles or so during marathon training.
April's totals
6,700 M swim
50.53 Miles Bike (Way too low, did over 200 in march)
40.84 Miles run (less then I'd like, but asthma kept me from running. The reduced mileage this month is probably good for my legs though)
Even though my weight loss has slowed down in the last couple weeks, I lost another 4 pounds in April. The last couple weeks, I haven't really tracked my food intake and I have basically stayed the same or gained a single pound, so I am happy with that. Time to get back on the serious weight loss wagon.
With April comes pollen season and awful allergies and asthma. This has hampered my training, especially my running. This week was the first week in several where I finally felt like I could breathe.
I am swimming a couple times a week. My average swim is around 1500 M. I am mainly focused on building back my strength and a little speed. I am doing lots of 100M's right now on 2:00. I think I can bring them down to 1:45 soon. I did another 200 TT this month. I came in 15 seconds faster (7.5 sec/100M) and I think I may have had more in me.
My biggest focus on the bike is the Tuesday night tri club ride. There are lots of hills and the pace picks up to over 25mph on the flat segments. Each week I am getting a little faster. My first ride was 14.1mph. My last one was over 16. My goal is to be able to keep up with the A group by the end of the season. If I can keep losing weight, I should be able to reach this goal.
My running continues to improve, even with the setbacks of spring pollen season. I "ran" one 5K, but the problem was this was the peak pollen week, and by the 1st mile I was completely out of breath. I still finished in 33 min, but figured if I hadnt been out of breath, I could have ran it around 27-28 minutes. I am currently basing my training paces of a guesstimated 27 min 5K and it seems to be just the right amount of challenge. I resumed speed work this week after two weeks off from any speed work due to asthma. The paces felt good, but I had to cut the distance back down. I am reworking my 10K plan to peak at the Peachtree. I have also decided to add more volume to my plan and build up to 40 mile weeks for my 10K training and build from there to 60 mile weeks for my marathon training. I know as I lose weight, my body can handle this volume as long as I build my volume properly. The only down side is that it likely means I will have to be up in the morning at least twice during the week to run 3-5 miles during 10K training and 6 miles or so during marathon training.
April's totals
6,700 M swim
50.53 Miles Bike (Way too low, did over 200 in march)
40.84 Miles run (less then I'd like, but asthma kept me from running. The reduced mileage this month is probably good for my legs though)
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
What a month!
March has been an amazing month in terms of my training progress. March was my fourth highest month ever in terms of run mileage and seventh in terms of bike miles. The last time I ran 60+ miles in a month was June of 2008. I feel like I am in better shape then I was at any time last year. I am looking forward to my next race in a couple of weeks so I can reset my training paces. My long tempo run on Saturday (7 miles) was only a minute off my 5K race pace and it didnt feel too hard. Plus, it included walk breaks every two miles to take a few shot blocks. While I have my set pace for my intervals, based on my last 5K, I am starting to push myself a little faster as long as I feel like the intervals are consistent and I am not red-lining. This week was 6x1/4 mile and I averaged 7:59/mi through the 6 1/4s. Needless to say, I am super stoked about how my running is progressing. I expect to be able to take another minute or two off my 5K time. Off course I need to be careful what I wish for, because a faster 5K means faster training runs, which may make my long tempos harder.
On the bike, I continue to see gains in my strength on the bike. Last night I did my third week of the hillacious Roswell Ride. After the ride, I do a quick 1.5+ mile run through the park where we meet. Each week, it gets a little easier to climb the hills. I can wait for the point I can keep up with the main group. I hope to achieve this before the end of the group ride season in the fall.
I got back in the pool for the first time this month since B2B in November. I started off with a 200M Time Trial to get a baseline pace to evaluate my progress and plan on testing it once a month. I also began adding push ups and planks to at least one swim each week. I did that on Friday and the shoulder/ab soreness lasted through Tuesday. Definitely an "easy" way to squeeze some core work in.
I am down over 13 pounds in the last 5 weeks. This is obviously one big contributor to my success so far. I hope to be able to reach my goal weight before November both for my goal race, the Chickamagua marathon, as well as our 10 year anniversary cruise that Cathy and I are going on.
March Totals
Starting Weight: 273.6
Ending Weight: 262
Weight Loss 11.6 pounds
Swim: 3,000 Meters
Bike: 187.61 Miles
Run: 61.25 Miles
On the bike, I continue to see gains in my strength on the bike. Last night I did my third week of the hillacious Roswell Ride. After the ride, I do a quick 1.5+ mile run through the park where we meet. Each week, it gets a little easier to climb the hills. I can wait for the point I can keep up with the main group. I hope to achieve this before the end of the group ride season in the fall.
I got back in the pool for the first time this month since B2B in November. I started off with a 200M Time Trial to get a baseline pace to evaluate my progress and plan on testing it once a month. I also began adding push ups and planks to at least one swim each week. I did that on Friday and the shoulder/ab soreness lasted through Tuesday. Definitely an "easy" way to squeeze some core work in.
I am down over 13 pounds in the last 5 weeks. This is obviously one big contributor to my success so far. I hope to be able to reach my goal weight before November both for my goal race, the Chickamagua marathon, as well as our 10 year anniversary cruise that Cathy and I are going on.
March Totals
Starting Weight: 273.6
Ending Weight: 262
Weight Loss 11.6 pounds
Swim: 3,000 Meters
Bike: 187.61 Miles
Run: 61.25 Miles
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