What happened to my run?

Chris was kind enough to take me out on a morning run on Tuesday (see training log to the right). Yuck.

There are many things that I am proud of for 2008. For the first time I ran more than 3 miles, I can go more than 2 laps without stopping my swim (try 2 miles!), I did a number of formal and informal triathlons including my first USAT official Triathlon.

Yet what happened to my run? An 8:16 split over 5.4 miles?

Back in June I could run 6 miles with an average pace (non-race mode) of 7:37. Check it out here.

But an 8:16 just 6 months later?

In all fairness I have not exercised regulary in Nov/Dec. Furthermore I have been working a heck of a lot harder on my swim than on my run. But it does go to prove that no matter how much work you do over the course of a year, fitness wanes...quickly.

New Cyclops Trainer

For Christmas I got a ton of new training stuff. One of the highlights is the Cyclops trainer (with bike thong). Even though I am mechanically challenged, it took me 10 mins to get this thing setup and pop my Felt on it.

The first thing you read when you open the box though is the warning "This trainer generates a lot of heat and can wear through tires quickly). Never one to ignore a warning, I think I will see if Zane's has any spare wheels I could pop on so that I can save my Felt wheel for racing.

Quick (42:33) training ride today. Put in a DVD that came with the trainer. Got to listen to Robbie Ventura pontificate about the energy in a criterium. Actually, the DVD was a help.

Let's see if I can keep with if for a few months!

Heartrate Inflation

My normal 6 mile run around the green and fairgrounds was interesting. I was trying to keep my cadence higher, which ultimately meant that I would expect my heartrate to be higher. I was shooting for my "Zone 4" which would be between 160-168 bpm.

The interesting part is that even though my perceived exertion and HR exertion was higher, my time for this loop was only about 30 seconds faster. Maybe that's OK. I will have to talk to Coach Ruser about that, but I would have hoped for something more in the 2 minute range.

That said, with the lack of sleep and time change playing chaos with my body, I am not surprised that the HR was a bit inflated even without the intentional extra effort. Undoubtedly that dampened any performance gains made.

Intercontinental Running

I went out for a run at 9:00PM on Tuesday. Why so late? Because my body thought it was 4:00, I had had dinner already and the internet connection wasn't strong enough at the hotel to do work.

England is a great place to run. They have all of these "footpaths" that take you through fields, graveyards, seawalls and farms. While I had to ask for directions back to the hotel after half an hour, I had a great time and it really was nice to have a change in scenery.

The most interesting part of the whole run? I saw spots for about 5 minutes. Nice glowing objects in the middle of my eyes. I am not going to get too wrapped up in this. It was dusk out, and I was dealing with time zone issues. But still, weird. I wasn't working that hard, and felt very good.

I got back to the hotel just before 10:00PM and it was still somewhat light out! Wow.

2 for 2 - or - DQ'ed (again)

Fairfield Du-It

DQ'ed. Not my fault at all. Even the race director gives a "mea culpa" as one catholic described it to me. That means that I have DQ'ed from 2 out of 3 official races and 2 out of 4 total races. Yes, I have a complex about that.

The 2 for 2? I have now dropped a water bottle in 2 straight races. I am going to get arrested for littering at some point.

It wasn't a bad race though for me. My bike needs a lot of work, but the run cadence was great and the 1st run time wasn't far off of where I was hoping. Don't get me wrong, I was much more pleased with the Greenwich cup performance, but the stats on this race were fine with me (with the exception of T2 and R2 when I knew I was DQ'ed and was just for exercise at that point).

Results posted here. Note 13th place.

Many thanks to Peter Fitton for heading south with me for this race. He sounded pretty upbeat about the whole thing.

Back in the saddle

I can't say it was my most impressive workout, but I did hop on the bike for the first time in a week. I took it easier than I should have because my head was still congested. 38 minutes later I was up at the Killingworth farm ready for Memorial day festivities.

Peter Fitton has graciously offered to take me out for a spin tomorrow morning. At least now I know I can actually generate a few watts without dying.

I think total uphills comes out to about 1100 feet. Not significant, but roughly the equivalent of the stupid rental bike ride I made out in CA.

Joe Friel's Training Bible

This is an interesting book. I wish I had started it last October as it seems to be best suited for those who are just beginning off season training.

It breaks down your training into 6 zones. Got it. However to identify your 6 training zones you need to have time trials. Not ready for that yet. Maybe in June.

Nasal Congestion

I have a cold. This sucks. Cancelled a weights workout on Tuesday, and had to cancel a bike ride tonight. If I am lucky, I am going to get three sessions in this week.

Yes, this bothers me.

46 Lengths at the Y

I made the decision tonight that I am no longer going to attend the learn to swim class. I officially know enough to wait until the Fall before I take more lessons.

Hopped in the pool today and cranked out 40 lengths (about 2/3 of a mile). Things went well, but I am TERRIBLY slow at swimming. I just cannot seem to get faster.

I seem to be well suited for distance swimming. Only problem is that my longest plan race this year is 0.5 miles of swimming. Not exactly distance material.

The coaches are telling me to keep swimming for distance and speed we'll come. I am trusting them for now, but as of June 20th (40 days before my 1st A race), I am starting intervals.

High Kicking

Did the typical 6 mile loop down to the green, the fairgrounds and back. This time, about half way in, I did some "High Kicking" exercises. Bascially touch my heel to my butt every stride.

Interestingly, I think my overall cadence went down but my pace did not. It was awkward, and my quads feel tight, but this is worth exploring.

Also, check out the new RSS feed of my training calendar to the right!

0.87 mile swim and 50m TT

Nice-

Pulled out of work an hour early and headed to the YMCA. Got my own lane and off I went. I had planned on tackling 1000 meters, but all my parts seemed to be moving properly.

I can swim long distances. That part (which certainly wasn't true a year ago) is clear now. Unfortunately, I am snail-pace slow.

To confirm this, I chose to do a 50m time trial at the end of the 1400 meters. Spurred on by notes on the white board that showed Peter Fitton and Bridget's 37 second 50mm TT the night before, I put all I had into it....53 seconds.

At least I have a benchmark. Hopefully I can improve from there. But for those of you who aren't math majors, Peter and Bridget's time was 43% faster than mine, and it was the shortest unit of measurement you can pace at. Imagine what the damage would have been (in minutes, I assume the % wouldn't change much) had it been a quarter mile swim like the SHYC tri.

Greenwich Cup Duathlon Goals

Harcourt, Peter Fitton and I are going to head down to Greenwich on Sunday for a 7:00AM duathlon. 2.5 run / 10 bike / 2.5 run.

The course map is below:



Here is my "projected" math:

Run 1 - 2.5 miles (1 mile @ 7:45, second and last half mile @ 7:30 split) = 19 mins
T1 - 1 min
Bike - 10 miles @ 20mph (the course is fairly flat) = 30 mins
T2 - 1 min
Run 2 - 2.5 miles (1 mile @7:45, second and last half mile @ 7:30) = 19 mins

That comes out to a total of 1:10:02....let's hope I can shave off the 2 seconds to break 1:10.

This should be a fairly reasonable goal, when I do the math. I have become much more comfortable in the aero position thanks to the new Felt. I may even be able to shave a bit off the bike.

The run is where I am most concerned. I am concerned for two reasons:

1. I have a tendency to start out slow. I need to get over this, hopefully with a good warmup
2. My performace in Brian's Beachside Boogie revealed that I do get calf cramps after the bike (something I didn't get last season for whatever reason).

The weather should be OK (a bit of risk of rain, which wouldn't be good for aero).

We'll see.

Mission

The inaugural post is devoted to the mission of the blog. Before that, a few sentences on background.

As new to the tri scene, I have to rely on the knowledge, support, encouragement and time of friends to improve. I am fortunate that these friends deliver on all fronts. While I am no competitive threat to any of these people (note the blog title), I have gotten the sense the the time and attention that I am putting into multisport concerns them.

So the mission of this blog is to publicly post my triathlon training activity. This has three benefits:

• By publicly training noone can accuse me of "pulling a Harcourt" as one friend put it (note that Harcourt Schutz had an impressive performance last season by quietly training on his own for several weeks. His performance surprised his friends as well as himself I think it would be fair to say)


• By stating season goals I might be able to keep motivation high throughout the summer


• By reporting regularly I should be able to maintain a systematic log of performance

Let's see how it goes. Knowing me I will have moved on to another activity within three weeks.