11/07/2010 - 11/13/2010

Sunday, November 7th

Another 13 mile run with the following instructions:

“13 mile run holding tempo keeping HR into ZII high end low end of ZIII. Work on holding your pace in a comfortable zone that you can maintain the entire 13 miles, this is about preparing to finish strong for the second leg of the marathon.”

We had to go to a friend’s daughter’s birthday party around lunch time, but first, there was a silent parade in Cave Creek honoring fallen firemen, women, and police officers. We wanted to take the kids to go see it and then head to the party afterwards. As luck would have it, the corner of Cave Creek and Carefree Highway is 13 miles to Tim’s house (where the party was), so I had Kristi drop me off and I started the trek. Good news is that the route is entirely downhill. Bad news is that it’s extremely boring with no real change of scenery….just a straight shot. Once I got to Tim’s front yard, I figured that I’d go for the additional .1 miles to get the “half marathon” distance.

Here are my notes:

“My number one focus was to run comfortably at a steady pace. The results show that I was able to accomplish that (with the last 3 miles slowing down a bit) Even with all of the elevated HRM spikes, it shows an average of mid ZIII (which probably means that I was closer to high ZII / low ZIII) Mission accomplished.”

Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/55991891

Monday, November 8th

Recovery Day!

Tuesday, November 9th

Did the following swim:

Warm Up

4 x 100 swim (:15 RI)
8 x 50 swim (:10 RI)

Main Set

3 x 200 swim
6 x 50 kick (:15 RI)
6 x 50 swim (:10 RI)
cycle through set three times

500 swim

Warm Down
2 x 50 easy

With the following results:

“Another very solid swim.”

Immediately after the swim, I laced ‘em up and went for a 7 mile run. When I first saw the workout, I noticed that Frank had me completing it in 1:15:00 and sent him the following text:

“Hey, you have me going 7 miles in 1:15:00 2day. That’s a 10:42 pace. You want me as close to that as possible (slower)?

His response:

“Want you at a very comfortable pace. Stay as close as possible. Will be interested to see HR.”

Here are my notes:

“An extremely comfortable run. Felt like I could settle in and keep going infinitely (think Forrest Gump). Corresponding average HR was 159 which is low ZII for me (My ZII is 152 - 170) No ill side effects and no nutrition taken.”

Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/56207993

Wednesday, November 10th

Two hour temp ride with these instructions:

“2 hour ride on trainer, may be getting tough to complete outdoor ride after work due to lack of daylight”

With these results:

“A real windy ride that produced solid results. 162 bpm is the last of ZII and first of ZIII. 21.4 average mph. Could have been faster, but the wind was trying to blow me over every chance it had. Felt strong and efficient. Only had about 20oz of water. Trainer, schmainer!”

Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/56306048

Thursday, November 11th

Warm Up

400 swim
4 x 50 swim (:10 RI)
6 x 50 kick (:15 RI)

Main Set

4 x 400 swim (:30 RI)
3 x 300 swim (20 RI)
2 x 200 swim (15 RI)
1 x 100 easy

“Another solid swim. Felt strong.”

Friday, November 12th

Bartlett open water. On Thursday afternoon, I sent out the following e-mail (to some of my teammates that were planning on going):

“The Valley is under a freeze warning from 11 p.m. Thursday until 9 a.m. Friday. Temperatures Thursday night could be in the mid 30s to mid 40s, according to the National Weather Service. Friday's high temperatures will reach 65 to 70, well below normal.”

Two of the three that I sent it to mysteriously didn’t show. Hmmmmm.

The results:

“Another top swim for me. Good form, full pulls, efficient sighting.”

Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/56420331

Another slower 7 mile run with the following results:

“Another extremely comfortable run. Really enjoying the slower pace. Did this exact run one week ago. Interesting to compare the data: Then - 9:01 pace with a 178 bpm HR.”

Link to workout:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/56826497

Saturday, November 13th

Long ride with the following instructions:

“Dropping mileage down to 70 this week starting your taper as of today.”

Here are the results:

“This ride felt more like work than fun. Ran out of gas around mile 55 and had an uncomfortable ride home. I was probably 50/50 in the aerobars vs. out of them during this span. 20.1 average mph and 68.45 miles ridden”

From now until race day, I'm going to try and update the blog daily.