Finally Recovered.

Good grief! It seems like I've been dealing with this sore throat/cold thing for a month. Although in reality, it's only been a week, but I think I'm officially over it. I had a good run this morning with Dr. Nitrous and the Zoomer. We kept a fairly lively pace for our typical 7.6 miler through the Tiny Kingdom. We fell a little short of our goal pace, but it wasn't because of the extra snot I've been carrying around.

This weekend should be one for the books. The Zoomer and I will be staging a multi-brick session from my garage on Saturday. The plan is (after a warm up) to get on our trainers for 15 minutes of fast paced pain then transition into a 2 mile hard as you can go run. Then, repeat as long as you can. I'm shooting for 4 reps of this before calling it quits and heading over to Super Sams for a bit of deliciousness. I'm not sure if my bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich counts as proper recovery, but I'm not changing my ways.

Lastly, I've been working on an invention of sorts. I've started noticing a lot of pros using a bottle mounted to their aero bars. Not the Aero Drink! I have that and I hate it! The device holds a bottle in a regular bottle cage attached to your bars. Due to my bike fit, my aero bars won't support a full length bottle. My plan is to devise a system that makes use of a smaller bottle but still contains a straw just like the dysfunctional aero drink. More on this to come. Later taters.

Dear Triathlon

Here's an email that I sent to Dr. Nitrous today. Thought I'd share.

Dear Triathlon,

Please let this serve as notice that due to lingering effects of a sore throat, sinus pressure, continuously feeling like crap as of late, until further notice I am officially retiring from the sport of Triathlon. In turn, I will be sleeping in, eating what I want, and buying pants with elastic waistbands to make room for the impending gut expansion. I renounce any high ideals I might have had regarding striving to continually challenge myself and leave others in my dust. The amount of money that I will safe on entry fees and gear, I will put toward buying that nice set of golf clubs and getting a country club membership. I bequeath all of my power gels, apparel, and aforementioned gear to the triathlon community (aka: those misfortunate souls who haven’t figured out that you are evil yet). With that, I bid you adieu!

P.S. – You can stick this notice where the sun doesn’t shine. It’s going to take a lot more than a runny nose to keep me from kicking your ass every day. Game on!

Here's the Doctor's response. Love it.

Dear Bullet,

Thank you for submitting you comments. However, I regret to inform you that I do not care about you. I have broken down the most elite of your species and I will continue to torment the likes of you until all the oceans and lakes dry up. I will continue to recruit new members at an alarming rate, and it will take them years to figure out that I do not care about them either. My human agents, in the form of race directors, have sold their souls to me, and I will continue to make them rich as they aid in my quest for world domination. You may be one of the few enlightened humans who are able to see through my facade, but you do not stand a chance of changing the minds of those who are committed to me. I will destroy their lives, and they will not even see it coming. On the contrary, they will think they are actually doing a good thing. So, congratulations on escaping the matrix, but freedom is not all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

Sincerely,

Triathlon.

Come On Somebody Why Don't You Run?

Some how I've got this hokey country song stuck in my head. At one point it was getting annoying, but the more I think of it, it's a little fitting to my training right now. All I've wanted to do as of late is run. That's RUN! Yep, I'm not talking about the boring recovery runs or the garbage miles. I'm talking like running like you been caught doing something you shouldn't. Running has been my release as of late and my quads have been screaming at me.

I just received my new K-Swiss K-Onas in the mail on Friday and have been doing my best to wear them out since then. I absolutely love these shoes. They're super light and have these neat little holes in the bottom to drain all of the sweat that typically fills up my shoes during a race. They actually fit my wide foot which is an added bonus. They're great with or without socks. Enough words, here's a pic.

So since getting the shoes, I've been doing the best to work toward race tempo. My workouts have typically consisted of above race pace intervals. For the last couple of weeks, I've alternated between 2:00 mins hard/2:00 recovery, 2 miles hard, 4 min recovery, 1 mile hard/.5 mile recovery. Hopefully soon I'll be able to stretch these distances out into one consistent run. Endurance at race speed just isn't there yet, but here's to hope!

I'm about 1 month out from the first race which is a short little reverse Tri up in Podunk, AL. It'll be a good warm up and test for my fitness. There's always hope for hardware, but it just really depends on who shows up. More of that later. For now, it's time to RUN!

Swimming And the Medius

Today's swim session included some drills and speed work. Typically, my Intermediate race goal is to keep my pace around 45 seconds per 50. Today's speed work involved 4 sets of 150 on 3 minutes, 3 sets of 150 on 2:50, 2 sets of 150 on 2:40, and 1 set of 150 on 2:30. I was happy to see my splits staying in the 2:14-2:18 range until the last couple of sets which saw times around 2:23 (I was toast). While it's still early in the season for me swimming wise, it was good to see that my lack of speed work over the winter months didn't totally kill what I had accomplished last year. I still struggle with kicking even the least bit. I'm working this extensively in drills. What could I do if I only knew how to kick?

Afterwards, I hit the weight room for some light shoulder and back work. Also as all good little triathletes should do, I made sure I did adequate core work as well. But the newest exercise to my regime is working the all important gluteus medius. I've listened to even podcasts and read enough articles on the importance of this little muscle to know that I need to start paying some attention to it. Having a strong 'G.M.' can greatly decrease your chances on IT band injuries. The muscle works as a pelvic stabilizer while running. Odd eh? The exercise is aptly name the "fire hydrant". Basically you get down on your knees and elbows and do your best impersonation of a dog peeing on a fire hydrant. 3 sets of 10 reps per side will have you screaming for mercy, as well as looking like an idiot.

That's all for now. Tailwinds to all.

Tuesday Morning Hill Repeats

First of all, this past weekend was amazing. It was our first sure sign of Spring. Temps were in the high 60's and the sun was blazing. Dr. Nitrous and I had a great ride on Saturday which left my aching during my run on Sunday. It was good to hurt.

After taking the "day off" with a pool session yesterday, I decided to tackle hill repeats this morning with my training partner, the evil Dr. Nitrous.
The good thing about the Dr. is that he's just a little bit better than I am on the run. He's on form right now with a recent 1/2 Mary in 1:33. Nice work and definitely on track for NOLA 70.3 in April.

The plan this morning was to get a 1 mile warm up in and then tackle a .32 mile hill beside my office. Yes, this is the same hill that I get to see the local Cross Country kids run during the day while I'm stuck inside working. After today's workout, I won't feel so bad about being the one in the office in the future.

I thought that I would have been fully recovered from this weekend's training after the day off, but half way up the hill I could start to feel the fatigue of the weekend start to creep in. During the second interval, my body was asking if this could be our last. My quads felt tight, swollen, and dead. Despite the pain, I was only 3 seconds slower. I could feel a bit of a change in my third hill and actually felt faster, but still was 3 seconds slower than my first. But no drop off. The fourth and yes final hill actually felt like my best. My body was adapting and my legs felt a little lighter. I came in 1 second slower than my first hill. Not bad.

The workout was short and sweet. Overall, only about 3.5 miles of running, but it was quality work. Next week, we'll see about adding a 5th and maybe a 6th.

Tailwinds.

Let's Talk 2010

Like a bear emerging from a long winter's hibernation, triathletes all around are gearing up for yet another exciting year of triathlon. This triathlete is no exception. 2009 was great. I made some great strides in stretching my abilities and have learned a lot about myself and where I want to go, but it's time to build on that and not rest on any past laurels.
2010 will be a year to focus on speed and more speed. Due to a new baby in the house, I've taken IM out of the equation and will focus on sprints and Olys. I've laid out a manageable and exciting schedule that has me racing twice most months this summer. The hope is seek out a few races that I either haven't done yet or haven't done in a while.
So physically where am I right now? Honestly, since my last post it's been a lot better. I've picked up two pool sessions a week where before I was maybe only swimming once. I'm not exactly happy with my technique right now, but the times are still there. I'm about 80% where I want to be on the bike. Endurance has picked up, but I'm just not climbing the way I used to right now. I'm on the bike/trainer at least three times a week right now so hopefully that will change soon. The run is still an unknown. I've had good days and bad days. I'm ready to stretch out some of the speed work I've been doing to see if I can maintain my goal pace for the entire run. This is where I've fallen back in the past in Sprint races. I'd love to be able to get under 20 minutes for a 5K in Sprint but I haven't been able to maintain that pace.
This biggest thing that needs to happen is for this damned winter to end. It's making life and training way to difficult and complicated. I'm ready to sweat and suffer on the road instead of in my garage or on the dreadmill. Regardless, the motivation is there, and it's time to get serious. 2010 is here and I'm ready to play. Game on!

Wow, Did I Just Get Out of Shape That Fast?

Finding time or the strength to train as of late has been difficult to say the least. My routine of working out before work every morning is a thing of the past. Now, I'm struggling to put together a few consecutive hours of sleep just so I can function at work. We're into our 4th week now and things are slowly getting better. I am managing to run a couple of times a week before work, but nothing else goes on until the weekends. Even then, my weekend training is down to an hour and a half sessions.
It's been pretty tough watching my Ironman-forged six pack disappear behind the baked zitis, the casseroles, cookies, and other deeply fattening meals provided by friends and family. It's been great, don't get me wrong. I love to eat, but man it just hasn't been healthy. Luckily it's winter time and there aren't any races in sight, and there's no real need for me to be on top of my game.
BUT! Man, it's killing me not to be making some serious games in my fitness, much less taking steps back. So, what's a new dad going to do? Well, I'll tell you. He's going to check the calendar, and put a running race on the calendar that's what. January 9th, just over 1 month from today, there is a "Red Nose" 10 miler. I still have my endurance up for the long distance runs so no issues there, but I just haven't had the speed. This weekend I managed to get two 10 milers in. The plan each day was to run the first 5 miles at a comfortable pace and then turn around and negative split the second 5. Each one went well and overall it gave me hope. None of my splits were under 7 minute miles which is the eventual goal, but for where I am now I'll take it.
So, I'm not dead. I have some goals, and I'm going to fight like hell to find time to make them happen. Other than that, I am the happiest guy in the world with the cutest little girl in the world.