3+ hour ride

Three hours and then some on the bike today. First time I got back on the road (on a tri bike to boot!) In more than a month. I took it very easy, capping the HR at 155. However, I really didn't come anywhere near that as I averaged about 138 for the ride.

The ride felt relatively easy. Of course it was super slow, but I don't feel like I lost that much fitness aerobically. On a muscular level though, My quads started to sing a bit. I imagine this stems from the fact that I haven't been on the TT bike in a while. Mountainbiking has kept my fitness relatively good, but the specific actions involved with riding in such an aggresive position were definatley felt today.

I had planned on running a bit afterward today, but the urge left me. A run wasn't in my plan, so it would be purely extracurricular today. Not to mention I put in a couple easy miles with a client this morning.

Also, it never ceases to amaze me how stupid people are when driving. I imagine in a state where more people cycle and run on the roads this would be less apparent, but here on Long Island it's dispicable. Spending a month tearing up the trails made me a bit soft to drivers out on the road. All I can say is that you have to be defensive in every circumstance. Scary!

Swim

Swim today. I decided to get out the door early today and swim before work. I usually start work around 5:30 in the morning, so this often makes it hard to get a workout in beforehand. I've been feeling a bit lazy lately so it was nice to start the day off being motivated.

I swam for a little over 45 mins today, again with nothing but drills. I'm convinced that this is enough time for me. At first I assumed that anything under an hour would be too little, but being as difficult as it is doing just drills, I've found this to be just about enough. It allows me to get in some quality work and not get bored at the same time.

I'm getting better at the drills I'm doing. They're very basic (which all drills really are for the most part). It's motivating to see my improvement with drills alone. I'm very excited for the day I'll actually start back in with regular strokes again!

This weekend I'm headed up to Boston for a swim clinic. Should be interesting. I participated in one last year and wasn't very impressed. The coaching was a bit shabby, and the organization of the clinic itself stunk. They were very nice people, but when it comes to triathlon I'm not hear to f*ck around. If I'm paying my money and spending time trying to learn, I want my money's worth. If I take this seriously, I want my coaches too as well-to me that goes without saying.

This afternoon I plan to finish building up a spare tri bike (just cables to go but I HATE doing cables!) and take it for an hour or two spin, very easy.

By the way, I'm watching Ironman Wisconsin right now and getting super pumped! I'm so excited to tackle ths distance! I know it's gonna be very good for me!

So that's it for today. It's a nice, cool, fall day here so I'm gonna try and take advantage of it. Should be fun!

Swim and Run

Had a good swim today. Again it was all drills. I tried the workout Lucho suggested:25 yards of sculling followed by 25 yards of stict form catch up, and repeat. It was tough. I wanted to go on doing it for as long as I could, but I only made it to about 15 minutes before the catch up got sloppy. It was great though, and served the purpose of getting to move fast without really "swimming". I'm very happy with these drill workouts. Although they're hard I feel that they're very important to my swimming development.

After the pool I headed to one of the local trails for a "no watch" run. I didn't have a ton of time before I had to head back to work, but they've been doing some work to the trail system and I wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, they covered up one of my favorite climbs. It was probably the steepest and longest hill there. I guess I'll have to find somewhere else to do my hill repeats when I run there.

Good day of training today. Nothing special, but consistent. I still didn't feel all there on the run, but I guess it's just that time of year. I slept 10 hours last night and I hope to get in at least another 8-9 tonight. So much for a social life. :)

Run

Ran for a little over an hour today. I wanted to run more, even though I never felt good during this run. I think the thing is that I just love running. It's almost never a hassle for me to get out the door, and if it is, after the first 500 feet I get into the run.

Today was about 8 miles, very easy, with around 2000 feet of climbing. The goal today was just putting in some base miles. I started too fast (first mile was about 7 mins) and never allowed myself to warm up. This gets to be a problem for me when I'm excited to run. I start out of the gate like an over-energized puppy. This really prevents me from finding a groove in the run and has ruined many a run for me. However, I've learned to stop, walk for a bit, and "re-set" myself, which often works. That method didn't work today though. Not sure why.

I ran on the same trails (for most of the run) that I mountain bike on. This was a great decision as they are super technical and completely new to me as far as running is concerned. Not only did this slow me down (therefore decreasing my heart rate-the goal of the run), but it also got me into a tiny bit of a rythm.

I think another reason for my sub-par run today was not sleeping much last night. I was at an election party for my mother (she was running for a Town Clerk position), and didn't get home until late. I'm not making an excuse, but....

Tomorrow is back in the pool. I'm excited to get back in the water and work the swim some more. I just have to remember to have zen-like patience.

Swim-drills, and drills, and drills

Another day of drills in the pool. Today was much much better than my last swim on Sunday. In looking back, I don't think I was being fair to myself. Sunday was only my second workout of the new "drills only" protocol. Sure I was tired, but I think my frustration generally stemmed from the fact that I wasn't moving very fast and that drills are damned hard-especially when that's all you do!. I still wasn't used to breaking everything down into drills. It takes patience and discipline, two things I was greatly lacking this past Sunday.

Today though, I bounced back. I tend to do this after a bad workout, especially in the water. Most often, when I've had a disappointing day, something in my head makes me click into the "start from scratch" mode, and I focus on the basics. If it's running, I break down my stride, and work on my form. If it's cycling, I worry about cadence and worry less about speed. It seems that the common theme of triathlon is form and efficiency. If you have those two things, you're gonna be steady. And if you're gonna be steady, you're gonna get fast. Then your fitness takes over and you can hold that speed for longer durations. At this point, I still have to remind myself to K.I.S.S-"Keep It Simple, Stupid". Maybe there are instances where it's better to KISS than to HTFU-Not many, but I'm just sayin'...

Rest Day

Relaxing a bit today. Since yesterday's dissapointing swim, I decided it would be a bad idea to try and force another today. I need a day to reset. Since I generally haven't taken 24 hours to rest without exercise, I'm going to try real hard to do that today. I plan on taking Lucky out for a walk/jog later, but that's about it.

The day that shouldn't have been: 45 min swim, all drills

I have to say it. I had no business being in the water today. I didn't sleep well last night. I was up late. I felt bad when I woke up. I was cranky. I waited 'till the end of the day. And most importantly, because of all this (especially not getting enough sleep!) I was totally under-rested and not prepared to train today. I didn't have the discipline to get my ass to bed last night and it killed my training for today-plain and simple.

While I'm a bit dissapointed in myself, it's not the end of the world. These swim workouts are important, but flubbing one is not the end of the world. The problem arises when it becomes a habit. For now though, I'll take it as I needed to stay up late for whatever reason, and I'm not gonna beat myself over the head for it.

Again I did lots and lots of drills. Not a stroke of freestyle, although I did manage some loose catch up that may or may not have passed for freestyle. Depends on who's watching! :)

Otherwise today was mostly a relaxing day. I watched the NYC marathon and was super inspired by Meb Keflezighi's performance. That was everything I think any athlete can aspire to be. I couldn't help but tear up as he crossed the finish line. Oh, and not to mention the fact that 6 of the 10 top finishers were Americans. Very impressed and inspired!

Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day, but I think I may get back to the pool to make up for today's waste of a workout. It will all depend on how I feel the moment I wake up. If I feel good, I'll swim. If not, it's all about resting up to train the next day. We'll see.