Set off at around 4:40AM to try and get in a minimum of 10 miles. The weather was overcast and perfect for a long run. Right out of the gate, I felt pretty good, so I knew it was going to be a fun run. To add to the excitement, I decided on trying out a new route too. Right around mile 5, I decided to take the only gel I had with me. It was a Power Bar banana/strawberry that I picked up from Fry’s. I typically use Gu, but since I had recently run out, I picked up a few of the Power Bar’s to get me by. You know, while it wasn’t my favorite, it seemed to work real well. I also liked how it wasn’t as thick as the Gu. This made it a bit easier to get down while active. I don’t think I’ll switch, but it’s good to know for future reference. Mile 7 is about when it started to drizzle. It was very refreshing and lasted for a few more miles. Mile 7 was also the point where the elevation started to head downhill. Most all of my previous runs ended in more of an uphill finish, so this was icing on the cake. My HR wasn’t as low as I wanted, so that was a disappointment. I was able to keep it below a max of 176 with the exception of the last hundred yards, or so. I had a bit left in the tank, so I decided to really push it. The result was a 182 bpm HR. My average of 170 was in the upper end of zone 4 when ideally, it was to be in the upper end of zone 2. Overall, the enjoyment factor of this run was extremely satisfying, while the “scientific” numbers were not satisfying at all.
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42856496
Monday, August 2nd
One of my favorite “moderate” workouts is the force workout that uses the pull gear for the main set:
Warm Up – 300 swim & 300 kick
8x150 Pull (Desc 1-8) (:20 RI)
8x100 Pull (Desc 1-8) (:15 RI)
8x50 Pull (Desc 1-8) (:10 RI)
Warm Down – 100 swim
The workout felt great and so did my arms. I felt smooth and fast. I was really able to get after #8 in the descending sets.
Today, I was able to take advantage of an unbelievably insane/good offer from the bike shop (Airpark Bikes) that sponsors our road team. As a result, I dropped off my tri bike and will have to ride the BH for the rest of this week.
Tuesday, August 3rd
Double dip….Speed ride in the morning and speed swim in the afternoon. Once again, I utilized Rancho Paloma for my intervals and wanted to keep the workout to an hour. After a modest warm up, I headed off for my first sprint. I quickly realized that I was at my max about a third of a mile into it. Since I can keep an all out pace on my tri bike the entire time, this was a new experience. I came to the conclusion that I would give it everything for about a third of a mile, recover for a third, and then give it everything to the finish. On my very first recovery lap, there was a man walking in the bike lane coming towards me. As I got closer, it was clear that he was not going to move at all. Oh well, I figured that I would give him as much room as possible without swerving out of the bike lane and into the actual road. As I went by, he yells out, “MOVE OVER!” Wait, did I just hear a walker, in the bike lane, coming at me, say that? Wow. OK, so I make it back to start interval number 2 and it goes off without a hitch. On my recovery lap, the same guy turned around and is now walking in the bike lane WITH the flow of traffic (his back towards me). Since he was wearing a walkman, I wouldn’t be able to alert him to me passing him on the left, so I decided to stop and politely discuss the situation and my concerns over safety. BAD idea! Dude started yelling profanities at me and calling me every name in the book. I couldn’t believe it! I told him that I was just trying to be nice and that I wanted to talk to him about sharing the lane. He yelled at me some more and then actually got on the sidewalk as traffic stopped to see what was going on. Ultimately, we both went about our business, but the mood was set. I tried to keep the intensity up on each of my intervals, but I just couldn’t shake the “interaction” and became distracted. I was able to get in 7 intervals and 16.25 miles in one hour. I was a bit surprised, however, that my max HR wasn’t higher than 178. I mean, I really gave it some juice.
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42993846
I picked the following anaerobic workout for today’s swim:
Warm up – 300S, 300K, 200P, 200S, 200K, 200P
4x50 BUILD (1:00 SI)
2x50 FAST (1:00 SI)
1x50 EASY (1:00 SI)
2x50 FAST (1:00 SI)
1x50 EASY (1:00 SI)
3x50 FAST (1:00SI)
1x50 EASY (1:00 SI)
4x50 FAST (1:00 SI)
Cool down – 300S
Even though my efforts this morning were pointing towards some much needed recovery time, today’s swim workout went off without any problems. I was able to keep my fast 50’s between :26 and :30 the entire time. Total yards = 2550.
Wednesday, August 4th
Moderate ride in the AM and speed run in the PM.
I really wanted to get 50 miles today and keep my HR in check while doing so. That means that I would have to keep the pace up and the HR average in zone 2. James had some extra time, so he left at 5:30 whereas I didn’t, so I was rolling at 5. I was able to get in about 8 miles before meeting up with him. About 37 miles later, I headed toward home while he continued in a different direction. As I was getting closer, I realized that I was going to come up short of 50. Since this was one of my goals, I had to put in some additional miles close to home. Ultimately, I was able to get my 50 miles and was able to keep my average HR in zone 2.5. Pretty solid ride for me.
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43156536
Today was another hot one for the soccer field intervals. Erik wanted us following this plan:
Warm up – 3 laps jogging
4-6x (2 laps “on” & 1 lap “off”)
The pace for the on laps was supposed to be steady, like you would in a competitive 10k race. He really wanted us to save some energy for the last rep so we could negative split it.
Cool down – 3 laps jogging
I started out fairly well at 7:15 – 8:10 min/mile and held that for the 2nd on lap as well. My pace slid down to 8:06 – 8:42 on the third. That’s when I noticed that my HR was between 180 – 185 and didn’t come down all that much (170 – 172) for my recovery “off” laps. I decided to go against Eriks orders and walk my next “off” to see how low I could get it before hitting the last “on” lap. I brought my pace down to over 18 min/mile and my HR down to about 149 bpm. My last on lap saw a pace between 7:17 and 8:21 and a near maxed HR of 187. Dismal. I can’t really figure this one out. When I confronted Erik about it, he indicated that I may be over-trained and in much need of some recovery time. I’d have to agree.
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43251205
Thursday, August 5th
Long swim:
Warm up – 200s, 100k, 200s
4x150 BUILD (:20 RI)
4x50 K (:15 RI)
4x100 BUILD (:15 RI)
4x75 K (:15 RI)
4x200 DESC 2-2 (: 30 RI)
Cool down – 200S
Everything felt fine. No sign of fatigue. Total yards = 3000.
Friday, August 6th
I wanted my moderate run to be between 5-8 miles with a goal of 160 bpm or lower. Ultimately, I’d really like to keep my average HR in zone 2 for this run, but considering the latest results, I didn’t think that was going to be possible today. Knowing that my pace was going to be real low, I started out at 4:30AM. I didn’t really have a planned route, so it was kind of an “exploratory” run. I was on some main roads, on the golf course, and in neighborhoods. The only interesting thing I saw was an owl that was hooting on top of someone’s house. That being said, this was a very enjoyable run that had a low pace, new territories, and a couple of obtainable goals. I ended up with 7 miles and an average HR of 153. While this isn’t quite zone 2, I was still pleased that I could keep it down.
Picked up my new ride from Airpark today. Pics to follow tomorrows entry.
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43369576
Saturday, August 7th
Last week, our bid to ride the Ironman course was negated by the weather, so we planned on tackling it today. The day started out with this exchange of texts:
3:50AM [JAMES] It’s raining……we doing this again?
3:55AM [ME] It’s raining HERE. How about on the Bline & Tempe? Risk it?
3:57AM [JAMES] I looked @ weather radar map & FH (Fountain Hills) is same as here – 40% all morng which means rain. Yeah, lets do it
3:59AM [ME] B @ ur crib in 30. I’ll drive.
4:00AM [JAMES] I thgt I was driving
4:05AM [ME] ok, c u in 30. ur driving.
4:06AM [JAMES] Make up ur mind
4:07AM [ME] u r driving.
4:29AM [JAMES] It’s windy & lightning outside….?????
At this point, I was already outside of James’ house and he was right. It was windy and lightning. Since we didn’t know what the weather was like where we were going to start, we racked the bikes and drove off. On the way, there was lightning and rain all around us. When we got to Shea and the B-line Highway, we could see that the storm wasn’t going to be a problem and rolled off at just before 6AM. Before we did, however, I told James that the ride had, “disaster written all over it.” I don’t know what it was, but there was a buzz in the air that led me to make the statement. About 8 miles in, James got a flat. After some quick work, he had his tube in, wheel on, and we were off again. 7 miles later and he got another. This time he had to use my spare tube and one of my CO2 cartridges. We also had to use some spare electrical tape to cover up some small holes in the tire. It was at this point, we made the executive decision to start heading back to the truck so James could grab a 3rd tube. Just under half way back, we realized that the new tube was low again. We had to use our last CO2 to top it off. We were now completely out of spare tubes and CO2. When we got back to the truck, we found out that the tube was down to 50 psi (from about 110), which means it was going flat again. I ended up calling the ride and we headed home defeated again. The only solstice I can take from this ride was that I was able to stay in zone 2. OK, the UPPER end of zone 2, but still zone 2 none-the-less. Oh, and the new ride worked perfectly. Total miles ridden = 28.85.
Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43820308
The new ride:
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