Well I knew it was only a matter of time before I got the whole training thing together again. The holidays can really stress the process and this year proved to be no exception. But I'm back on track with three good days of training and hopefully a fourth to come tomorrow (I'm trying not to jinx it). Of course the holidays can undo you in more ways than one, when I went to the pool today no one bothered to inform me that they we closing 1 hour early. So I ALMOST had another aborted swim. This time though, I went to my new gym L.A. Fitness, jumped in their pool and finished up. Anyways here is a synopsis of how I got the motor running again...
Thursday: Back in the game FINALLY! 15 minute elliptical warm up and 20 minute run on the treadmill at about an 8:45 pace. Wanted to ease back into running. Then I went and lifted for about 75 minutes hitting the upper, lower and core.
Friday: Hit the trainer on the bike. Worked on my pedaling technique doing 1 leg pedaling drills and some big gear strength exercises. Felt good to be on a bike with real shifters.....
Saturday: Got out and ran my 5k course. Didn't feel to great though, maybe because..
POP QUIZ
A) The long layoff
B) Running and lifting a few days ago
C) Cycling less than 24 hours previously
D) The brutally hilly course I run
E) ALL OF THE ABOVE
Give yourself 95 if you picked A,B,C or D. You get 100 if you picked E.
Saturday(still): Went and worked on my swimming, my bete noire, remember? I have been working on a program for gearing up to a mile swim. Here's the link if you want more info: Swimmer's mile. This program is 6 weeks long and I figure it will give me a good base to start from so I can work on improving the last 10 weeks or so before St. Anthony's. I did the workout nine days ago ( I know, I know, 3x a week cut me some slack it was Xmas!) and I have already shown signs of improvement. My 100 yd. times dropped by about 7 or 8 seconds per 100. Now I know that most progress comes early in training, because the less fit you are, the bigger the initial gains, but hey any good news is encouraging.
I should point out this is one great reason to keep notes in a journal about your workouts. I didn't really feel any faster or better today, but obviously I've improved something in the pool, my form maybe , or my stamina, or something... so I will continue to work and monitor my progress. My 50's went down less (by about 3-4 seconds per repeat) and my 25's were about the same. Still the progress is encouraging. In addition, I've dropped about a pound or 2 since November so hopefully having less of me to drag around may help as well.
OK enough about me let's hear from you guys! How's everyone's training going? Problems? Solutions? Just want to vent or give advice? Drop me some comments, I can't wait to hear.
Peace,
Rob,
P.S. Keep training....
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Gifts for your triathlete...
Since this is the holiday season, what better time then to think about what to get the tri-guy or gal in your life. I really hadn't thought to much about this until I received some Xmas presents of my own. In the spirit of the season I would like to make some recommendations.
Of course, for most triathletes the ultimate gift would be a new bike. Now, I am not suggesting you all run out and get yourself, or someone you know/love/care about, a new bike. But if you can afford it, I highly recommend it! My wife got a new steed right before Xmas and I am already having bike envy. Her bright sparkling, super light weight Serotta carbon Attack with Dura Ace groupo, Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels, and carbon bars is making me lust for a new bike on a daily basis. Since that will be too expensive for most folks let me suggest some other alternatives.
Since winter traps most of us indoors for an inordinate amount of time think about getting your tri-person a few Spinervals! These DVDs will take the monotony out of spending time on your indoor trainer plus give you a program to follow instead of mindlessly focusing on re-runs of Mork and Mindy.
So much for the practical gifts..... The best gift I got this year was totally unexpected and completely geeky (kudos to my wife for this one). As a triathlete I am always looking for feedback to inform me of how my training is progressing. I have a body fat monitor scale, numerous cycling computers (wired and wireless, with and without cadence), a number or heart rate monitors, I had a GPS device for running but lost it (damn...), you get the idea. But now I have the ultimate feedback device the HydraCoach! It's a fancy-smancy water bottle that keeps track of how much water (or anything else in the bottle I guess) that I consume in a 24 hour period. You start by telling the bottle how much you weigh, your sex and it gives you a hydration goal in ounces per 24 hours. You can alter the amount higher or lower, depending on your personal preference. For my 180 lbs. the HydraCoach suggested 90 oz per day. You then start the clock and it keeps track of how many ounces you drink, the percentage toward your goal, ounces per hour stuff like that. Too cool! You can stop or reset the timer whenever you feel like it. After 24 hours the clock stops and tells you how you did, pretty interesting. Now you may be asking yourself is this really necessary, well of course not, but if I'm not the best hydrated athlete on April 27th I can't blame HydraCoach or my wife.......
Happy Holidays....
and keep training........
Of course, for most triathletes the ultimate gift would be a new bike. Now, I am not suggesting you all run out and get yourself, or someone you know/love/care about, a new bike. But if you can afford it, I highly recommend it! My wife got a new steed right before Xmas and I am already having bike envy. Her bright sparkling, super light weight Serotta carbon Attack with Dura Ace groupo, Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels, and carbon bars is making me lust for a new bike on a daily basis. Since that will be too expensive for most folks let me suggest some other alternatives.
Since winter traps most of us indoors for an inordinate amount of time think about getting your tri-person a few Spinervals! These DVDs will take the monotony out of spending time on your indoor trainer plus give you a program to follow instead of mindlessly focusing on re-runs of Mork and Mindy.
So much for the practical gifts..... The best gift I got this year was totally unexpected and completely geeky (kudos to my wife for this one). As a triathlete I am always looking for feedback to inform me of how my training is progressing. I have a body fat monitor scale, numerous cycling computers (wired and wireless, with and without cadence), a number or heart rate monitors, I had a GPS device for running but lost it (damn...), you get the idea. But now I have the ultimate feedback device the HydraCoach! It's a fancy-smancy water bottle that keeps track of how much water (or anything else in the bottle I guess) that I consume in a 24 hour period. You start by telling the bottle how much you weigh, your sex and it gives you a hydration goal in ounces per 24 hours. You can alter the amount higher or lower, depending on your personal preference. For my 180 lbs. the HydraCoach suggested 90 oz per day. You then start the clock and it keeps track of how many ounces you drink, the percentage toward your goal, ounces per hour stuff like that. Too cool! You can stop or reset the timer whenever you feel like it. After 24 hours the clock stops and tells you how you did, pretty interesting. Now you may be asking yourself is this really necessary, well of course not, but if I'm not the best hydrated athlete on April 27th I can't blame HydraCoach or my wife.......
Happy Holidays....
and keep training........
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Life sucks......
OK so maybe it's not that bad...... but sometimes that's how I feel when a week of training gets disrupted like the one that just passed. In fact, the week was so hectic I didn't even get to write my blog (shudder the thought). Here is how my best laid plans went into the toilet last week.
Monday: The dreaded deadline reared its ugly head again. So there went lifting after work as I arrived home around 10:30 PM with temperatures in the 30's and no food in my stomach.
Tuesday: See Monday, but update the get home time to 1AM!
Wednesday: Another late work night but only until about 9, a pattern is forming here......
Thursday: Brief respite, got home around 8:45 or so, with the promise of the next day off for all my hard work. YEAH!
Friday: Here is where life can really piss ya off. Got some sleep and used most of the day to catch up on things I had neglected due to working late hours. I had planned to join the new gym up the street and then go workout there. I got as far as joining the gym when my phone rang. It was my wife telling me her car had broken down and I needed to pick her up. So I jump back in the car drive to where she has broken down. Push her car about 10 feet and wait for a tow truck..... Oh well there goes Friday's workout.
I managed to make it all the way to Saturday without really getting in a decent sweat. Finally, on Saturday, I made it to the gym for 2 solid hours of lifting and cardio. I balked at doing anything specific for my training plan since the week was shot. I just did whatever I felt like doing and enjoyed it.
Sunday: The last insult came Sunday when I went for my swim. I was about 20 minutes into my workout when the whistle blew and the life guard told me I needed to get out of the pool so the kids could have a swim meet. Feeling robbed I sulked to the hot tub determined to get, at the very least, a relaxing soak. I put my foot in...
the water was cold.....
Life really does suck sometimes.......
but I keep training anyway....
Monday: The dreaded deadline reared its ugly head again. So there went lifting after work as I arrived home around 10:30 PM with temperatures in the 30's and no food in my stomach.
Tuesday: See Monday, but update the get home time to 1AM!
Wednesday: Another late work night but only until about 9, a pattern is forming here......
Thursday: Brief respite, got home around 8:45 or so, with the promise of the next day off for all my hard work. YEAH!
Friday: Here is where life can really piss ya off. Got some sleep and used most of the day to catch up on things I had neglected due to working late hours. I had planned to join the new gym up the street and then go workout there. I got as far as joining the gym when my phone rang. It was my wife telling me her car had broken down and I needed to pick her up. So I jump back in the car drive to where she has broken down. Push her car about 10 feet and wait for a tow truck..... Oh well there goes Friday's workout.
I managed to make it all the way to Saturday without really getting in a decent sweat. Finally, on Saturday, I made it to the gym for 2 solid hours of lifting and cardio. I balked at doing anything specific for my training plan since the week was shot. I just did whatever I felt like doing and enjoyed it.
Sunday: The last insult came Sunday when I went for my swim. I was about 20 minutes into my workout when the whistle blew and the life guard told me I needed to get out of the pool so the kids could have a swim meet. Feeling robbed I sulked to the hot tub determined to get, at the very least, a relaxing soak. I put my foot in...
the water was cold.....
Life really does suck sometimes.......
but I keep training anyway....
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Planning plan blah, blah, blah....
Ah yes remember all that stuff I said about planning? Well this week was a perfect illustration of what happens when life gets in the way. One good reason to make a training plan is the simple fact that life will do everything it can to throw your plan out of whack. Knowing what days you have open will allow you to reschedule your training when your plan is overcome by events, as mine was this week. Family members visiting and a deadline at work made short work of my training "plan" for the week. I was forced to skip a few days and try to make up some workouts on the weekend.
This brings up a good question, "What should I do when I can't make a workout I have planned?" My first advice, don't panic. One or two workouts will neither make nor break your training plan. If you can make it up on a rest day then go ahead, but if it's going to cause you more stress than skipping it just skip it. The only suggestion I would make in this regard is, if you must miss a workout, try to miss one in your strongest sport. In my case, since I'm a strong cyclist, if I need to miss one workout I am more likely to sacrifice a bike session than a run or a swim. I always try to make sure I get my weaknesses covered since it helps my confidence on race day. I race better knowing my weakness was sufficiently covered in training.
One other thing I should have noted last post. Know what your going to do for any given workout is just as important as knowing when the workout is. Alot of people just "wander" through a workout instead of focusing on a specific training need. For instance, while I consider cycling my strong sport, I know I need to work on my aero positioning since most of my cycling background was racing on the road where you aren't in the areo position nearly as long. So I need to do work on getting comfortable in that position in preparation for the hour and fifteen minutes or so I need to be in that position. Your need may be power or endurance or just saddle time to get comfortable on your machine, but whatever it is you should have that worked out ahead of time.
Next week I'm going to start chronicling my actual training regimen to give you some idea of what I'm going through and hopefully get some feedback from my readers. Until then, safe swimming, riding, and running....
Peace
Rob
This brings up a good question, "What should I do when I can't make a workout I have planned?" My first advice, don't panic. One or two workouts will neither make nor break your training plan. If you can make it up on a rest day then go ahead, but if it's going to cause you more stress than skipping it just skip it. The only suggestion I would make in this regard is, if you must miss a workout, try to miss one in your strongest sport. In my case, since I'm a strong cyclist, if I need to miss one workout I am more likely to sacrifice a bike session than a run or a swim. I always try to make sure I get my weaknesses covered since it helps my confidence on race day. I race better knowing my weakness was sufficiently covered in training.
One other thing I should have noted last post. Know what your going to do for any given workout is just as important as knowing when the workout is. Alot of people just "wander" through a workout instead of focusing on a specific training need. For instance, while I consider cycling my strong sport, I know I need to work on my aero positioning since most of my cycling background was racing on the road where you aren't in the areo position nearly as long. So I need to do work on getting comfortable in that position in preparation for the hour and fifteen minutes or so I need to be in that position. Your need may be power or endurance or just saddle time to get comfortable on your machine, but whatever it is you should have that worked out ahead of time.
Next week I'm going to start chronicling my actual training regimen to give you some idea of what I'm going through and hopefully get some feedback from my readers. Until then, safe swimming, riding, and running....
Peace
Rob
Monday, December 3, 2007
Failing to plan means....
Well day 2 certainly was better than yesterday. Today I officially embraced my plan. What plan you say? Oh that.... using the resources at my disposal I have laid out the first month of training in preparation for the St. Anthony tri. This is an often overlooked step in preparing for an event. Alot of people just "workout". But to train requires, that you know your goals, and how you plan to get there.
For instance, I have 21 weeks until St.Anthony's. I plan to split this time into 4 periods of training.
Preparation: 4 weeks Get the body in shape and prepare for future stresses.
Base: 4 weeks Start building my endurance in each sport.
Build 1: 4 weeks Start increasing intensity and volume.
Build 2: 4 weeks Fine tuning race strategy and fitness
Taper: 1 week Rest up for the big day.
Now I haven't planned every workout for the entire 21 weeks, that would be too hard, plus other obligations are bound to arise. Work, family obligations etc. I plan each period about a week before it's due to start. This also allows me to fine tune my training to take into account how the previous period went. One good place to start if you are not sure how to plan your own training is the following:
Training plans for multisport athletes
This book is an excellent resource with a wide variety of training plans for different types of events and different types of athletes. So get busy and get a plan, the season is closer than you think....
Rob....
For instance, I have 21 weeks until St.Anthony's. I plan to split this time into 4 periods of training.
Preparation: 4 weeks Get the body in shape and prepare for future stresses.
Base: 4 weeks Start building my endurance in each sport.
Build 1: 4 weeks Start increasing intensity and volume.
Build 2: 4 weeks Fine tuning race strategy and fitness
Taper: 1 week Rest up for the big day.
Now I haven't planned every workout for the entire 21 weeks, that would be too hard, plus other obligations are bound to arise. Work, family obligations etc. I plan each period about a week before it's due to start. This also allows me to fine tune my training to take into account how the previous period went. One good place to start if you are not sure how to plan your own training is the following:
Training plans for multisport athletes
This book is an excellent resource with a wide variety of training plans for different types of events and different types of athletes. So get busy and get a plan, the season is closer than you think....
Rob....
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Training Day...
Remember the movie Training Day? If you didn't see it, a short synopsis would go something like this.... Good cop gets paired with REALLY REALLY bad cop, almost gets fired , killed, corrupted etc.. but ends up surviving through some combination of luck and seemingly Divine intervention... So what does this have to do with triathlons you say? Well can you imagine Ethan Hawke's character (the good cop) the next day? He must have thought, "Well I'm set now 'cause it can't get any worse!" Well my first training day went something like that...
It started innocently enough, I woke up and plodded downstairs ready for breakfast. After all, you gotta fuel up if you want to work out, right? Oh damn... no food! No milk for my cereal, last bagel is moldy, well U get the idea. I know, I'll get dressed and run over to Tastee Diner! I walk outside, damn again, I forgot, my car is in the shop and it's 39 degrees out! Now this could dissuade many an athlete but I was not to be deterred! I pumped up the tires on my mountain bike (I figured riding on knobbies would lessen my wind chill) and off I went.
I was frozen solid in about 5 minutes, but with bottomless coffee and my friend and waitress Claudia awaiting, I rode on. Of course, trying to ride on the previous nights dinner of wheat thins proved tougher than I had anticipated. I managed to make the 5 mile or so ride nonetheless and proceed to imbibe a whopping 3 coups of coffee (not to mention 2 eggs, whole wheat toast, grits, and a couple of glasses of water for good measure). So now nicely filled up I pedaled back home. With some carbs in me to power my brain I thought, "I guess its's time to start training!"
So where do you start when training for an event? Step 1: set a reasonable goal. My last Olympic distance tri I did in about 3 hours and 11 minutes and my bete noir in that race was the swim. I simply didn't have enough endurance. So my first thought: Train my weakness.
So to the pool I go. Oh, did I mention that by this time it is now colder and raining? A smarter man would merely have switched workouts and say, rode indoors on their trainer, but not I! I will ride my bike to the pool, I mean, so what if it's cold and slippery and by the time I return it will probably be dark?
When I arrived at the virtually empty pool I was greeted with the "That guy is crazy look" and I began to think they might be right. I was so wet I could have just swam in my cycling gear, but to keep from making a spectacle of myself (or at least less so) I changed into my swim suit. I haven't swam in about 3 months and it showed... Tired arms, weak kick, you name it. But at least I managed to get my training started. And much like Ethan Hawke in Training Day, I figure from here on in it's got to get better......
Rob....
It started innocently enough, I woke up and plodded downstairs ready for breakfast. After all, you gotta fuel up if you want to work out, right? Oh damn... no food! No milk for my cereal, last bagel is moldy, well U get the idea. I know, I'll get dressed and run over to Tastee Diner! I walk outside, damn again, I forgot, my car is in the shop and it's 39 degrees out! Now this could dissuade many an athlete but I was not to be deterred! I pumped up the tires on my mountain bike (I figured riding on knobbies would lessen my wind chill) and off I went.
I was frozen solid in about 5 minutes, but with bottomless coffee and my friend and waitress Claudia awaiting, I rode on. Of course, trying to ride on the previous nights dinner of wheat thins proved tougher than I had anticipated. I managed to make the 5 mile or so ride nonetheless and proceed to imbibe a whopping 3 coups of coffee (not to mention 2 eggs, whole wheat toast, grits, and a couple of glasses of water for good measure). So now nicely filled up I pedaled back home. With some carbs in me to power my brain I thought, "I guess its's time to start training!"
So where do you start when training for an event? Step 1: set a reasonable goal. My last Olympic distance tri I did in about 3 hours and 11 minutes and my bete noir in that race was the swim. I simply didn't have enough endurance. So my first thought: Train my weakness.
So to the pool I go. Oh, did I mention that by this time it is now colder and raining? A smarter man would merely have switched workouts and say, rode indoors on their trainer, but not I! I will ride my bike to the pool, I mean, so what if it's cold and slippery and by the time I return it will probably be dark?
When I arrived at the virtually empty pool I was greeted with the "That guy is crazy look" and I began to think they might be right. I was so wet I could have just swam in my cycling gear, but to keep from making a spectacle of myself (or at least less so) I changed into my swim suit. I haven't swam in about 3 months and it showed... Tired arms, weak kick, you name it. But at least I managed to get my training started. And much like Ethan Hawke in Training Day, I figure from here on in it's got to get better......
Rob....
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