Pickups

I'm still resting, so nothing too strenuous tonight. Just an easy three miles, with a few pickups in the middle to feel race speed. Everything feels like it's falling into place, my legs aren't too heavy, but I'm hungry as all get out this week. This surprises me with the lowered volume. I don't know if maybe the usual volume is dampening my appetite, or if I'm eating more out of boredom, since there's more time I'm not training, but I've been a bit ravenous all week. I doubt it will impact the race too much this weekend, I just need to keep a handle on it for another day or two.

Run: 3 miles @ 7.3 mph, w/3x90s @ 9.5 mph, 3 minute recovery

Splashing around

We covered a lot of ground (or water) in the pool today. Usually we'll do about 3500m on a Monday or Friday swim (90 minutes), and about 3000-3200m on Wednesday (75 minutes). Today we got up to 3500m, and it was from a near continuous set. Lots of movement, with the rest being done "on the go". It was descending distance, and alternating intensity, so a good workout to just remove your brain and do the work. I felt pretty good, and gave pretty solid efforts when the need arose, trying not to leave too much in the bank.

I have one lanemate with whom I've developed a friendly rivalry. We push each other pretty consistently, he's much faster on the short stuff, I have more staying power in the long sets (and through a whole workout). During the 400m timed set, he sprinted onto my feet pretty quick (by the 100-150m mark), then rode the slipstream until the 350m mark, and sprinted past me for a fast finish. The coach and I both gave him a bit of grief for taking the easy way in the draft and making me do all the work, so for the last timed 200 I got to ride right in the draft the whole way. He pushed, I followed immediately, and just cruised. Because of the speed, I was doing some work, but not as much as I would to produce that pace on my own, or as much as I would doing a hard 200 on my own. It's amazing how much you can save when you get those feet. A good reminder with racing starting in a month.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
500 free as 25 head-up/75 ez free, 30"
400 as 100 ez back/300 ez pull, 30"
300 pull w/paddles, 30"
200 as 100 ez back/100 ez pull, 30"
100 free timed, 1' (1:29)
500 as 100 ez back/300 ez pull/100 ez breast, 30"
400 free timed, 30" (6:45)
300 as 100 ez back/100 ez pull/100 ez breast, 30"
200 free timed, 30" (3:08, drafting)
Total: 3500m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

If it was always this easy

It was raining most of the day, so I decided against my short run at work. I did knock out a little run after work, but that was ridiculously easy. I almost feel like this shouldn't count. But miles are miles, and easy weeks are supposed to be easy. I need to keep in mind that I'm topping up the tanks for Sunday, and let my body get all the rest it can handle.

Run: 3 miles @ 7.3 mph

So it's not exactly resting

I guess with a 4:50 wake-up call, it's hard to call it a "rest day". But still, I don't want to miss out on any swims, so off I went, with the intention of keeping things fairly easy today. Little did I know the fun that the coach had in store. If anything is a bad sign on the board, "timed" is a scary word. Nothing easy ever comes from "timed". I kept the effort at about 90-95% (instinct kicks in at a certain point), and had a nice swim. There were more paddle sets, and I got to use my new smaller paddles, which worked much better. I was actually able to get a proper catch and pull with my left arm. Hooray for two-armed swimming!

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
4x50 group swim
400 free, 1', 7:05
300 free, 1', 5:20
200 free, 1', 3:30
100 free, 1', 1:35
200 ez back, 30"
200 as 50 free/50 non-free, 30"
200 ez pull, 30"
3x200 pull w/paddles, 30"
200 ez non-free, 30"
3x100 free w/paddles, 15"
c/d - 100 pull
Total: 3600m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Hammered

OK, that's it. I've been making it sound like "training" was over, but of course I had to get through the weekend, and that meant today's long run. I was up for ten miles, so I alternated two and three mile loops, with the first five miles at a nice easy pace, three miles at high aerobic effort, and the last two at approximately 10k race speed. According to mapmyrun.com, the loops are actually 3.2 and 2.12 miles each. Looking at my times, I don't think those are really accurate. I know my effort (and much of the loops are the same roads), so the discrepancies in pace don't make much sense.

Loop 1 - 3.2 miles - 24:07 (7:32/mile)
Loop 2 - 2.12 miles - 16:41 (7:52/mile)
Loop 3 - 3.2 miles - 22:07 (6:55/mile)
Loop 4 - 2.12 miles - 14:10 (6:41/mile)

Now, my effort was almost identical for the first two loops. There's no way I dropped 20 seconds per mile in there. I upped the pace for the third loop, but wasn't fighting to keep it. I was right on the edge of my 4-4 breathing. Those last two miles were at an effort higher than what I do on T-pace. I was pushing, and find it hard to believe the difference between those two efforts is only 13 seconds per mile. So somewhere, something is a little off.

Now, are any of these paces correct? Probably not. Who knows how far I ran, all I know for sure is I had an increasing effort for 67 minutes and change. I guess I'll find out exactly how fast I can go on a measured course next week.

I've been napping and eating since I got back. My body is fully cooked at this point. Five days of moderate rest, a solid spin next Saturday, and flying on Sunday. That's the new plan.

Run: 10.6 miles (maybe), 1:17:05

A step back

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Luckily, it was later. It's also pretty indicative of how I feel and where I am in the training cycle. After 15 consecutive weeks big gains on the bike, I had a (small) step back today. I was about 2w on average lower than last time, so around a 1% drop-off. Not much to be worried about. Considering how I felt for much of the ride, I amazed it was that close. That means the strength is there, but I was just a bit too tired to tap into it today. With a nice week of rest/taper leading to next weekend's start of the season, I'm where I need to be. I've gotten as much out of this cycle as I think I can, so I'll gas up the legs and have them ready for a spin.

Bike: Spinervals 14.0 - Have Mercy, The Sequel, 120 minutes

Long sets are long

Nothing too hard this morning, but a lot of volume. OK, maybe all that head-up stuff can be pretty draining, but no sprints or timed 400s, so it was a more manageable day. I'm pretty sure that means next week is going to be rough. We were in pretty much constant motion today, and I feel like I'm getting better with my pull on the left side. I need to get smaller paddles, because I'm just not strong enough to make these work yet, so that's a shopping trip tomorrow. But otherwise I felt pretty good.

We had a bit of a guest this morning, the assistant coach was finally back from dominating on foreign shores. I think she must have been a little jet-lagged, but she figured since she was awake, might as well check out what we were doing. It was good to get a little catch-up, hear about the horror of the run in IM China, and she confirmed she took the Kona slot, so watch out in October. She's off racing again next weekend, but I think she's back for the North American part of the season now, so we'll see what kind of torture she inflicts on us once she starts pacing the deck again.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
2x(500 as 50m 4 stroke head-up, 4 stroke free/50m ez free, 1'
500 as 400 pull w/paddles, 100 back, 1'
500 free, group drafting, 1'
100 ez non-free)
Total: 3800m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Weights:
Chaosbringer - 2x4/65
Chins - 2x10,10
Reverse flye/Lateral raise - 2x0,10/15
Side plank w/abduction - 2x15,15
Supermans - 2x15,16
Reverse curl - 1x12/48
Diamond pushup - 1x15/40

The end of fast

So that's it. I've finished my run build for the spring, and have no more truly hard runs on the training schedule until July. The reasons for this are three-fold:

1. I'll be racing on a semi-regular basis (no more than 3 weeks between races) from now until the end of August. That's plenty to keep my legs in reasonably good stead.
2. It's time to start putting a bit more focus on the bike. One of my midweek workouts becomes a bike ride, so while I hammer that for a few months, the running legs get a bit of a breather.
3. I'm getting tired. It's taking me longer to recover from some of these sessions, with two high-intensity days per week, so I need the break. Now, it's not like I'm quitting running, there will still be lots of miles, but for a while nothing over M-pace, then another progressive build over the summer.

Depending on some things, there may be an extra run block in September/October, for a race that hasn't yet been put in the schedule. Stay tuned to see what may happen.

But for now, I finished my last T-pace run tonight. A repeat from last week, with just a touch more time at speed. Last week was 2x12 minutes, this week was 2x13. This is a little closer to Daniels' 2x2 miles recommendation. I'm really starting to feel a lot more comfortable at this semi-high intensity. I know I'm working, but I can find a nice, steady breathing rhythm, and finish all my times without worrying about falling off the treadmill. It's ten days until the first race, and I feel pretty confident I can hit my target times. Now I can start stockpiling energy to burn on that Sunday morning.

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Run: 50 minutes, w/2x(13 minutes @ 9.1 mph, 2 minutes @ 7.3 mph)

Like Greg Valentine

I figured something out on Monday, and playing with it more this morning, had a bit of revelation in the pool. I think I may have mentioned this before, but I've found when doing paddle sets, I tend to lead with my elbow on the left side, slipping my hand through and not getting a strong pull. Paying a bit more attention to this, in just regular swimming, I also wasn't keeping a high elbow on that side. I was dropping my elbow (like the aforementioned Hammer), and costing myself power. No wonder my right side was getting so tired, it was doing all the work. Some reading I'd done recently made a big point about the high elbow, and about scapular retraction, so during the warm-up tried to really focus on these.

Here's what happened: I keep my elbow up, which automatically forces my scapulae to retract. This puts my latissimus dorsi in a stronger position, for more power. It also forces more of a body-roll, so I'm slipstreamed, and more likely to finish my stroke (the over-arching theme of my swimming). There we go, three problems (somewhat) solved in one fell swoop. Not too shabby, eh?

The workout started with a lot of paddle work, and things didn't go great there, as I'm still too likely to slip the paddle. It was supposed to be descending sets, but the level of exhaustion caught up with me quick, and although my effort went up, the speed stayed the same. Then we had an easy pull set, and I just cruised up and down the pool with my new two-sided swimming stroke. We finished the day with a bunch of sprints, done as a group. Like the Olympics, the fastest swimmers were moved to the middle lane, with Tier One (the remnants of Lanes 1-3) on one side, and Tier Two (all the swimmers from lanes 4-6) on the other. Then I was positioned along the wall of Tier One (the equivalent of that guy from a tiny African country who trains in a hotel pool). Not one to tolerate a slight, by the third sprint I was alongside our fastest swimmers. When things fall into place, everything gets faster. All those sprints were tiring, and my performance in the last block using paddles left something to be desired, but I'm moving in the right direction again.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
4x100 pull w/paddles, descending, 10"
100 ez non-free
4x100 free w/paddles, descending, 10"
100 ez non-free
500 ez pull
4x25 sprint, on 1'
50 ez non-free, 90"
4x25 sprint, on 1'
50 ez non-free, 90"
4x25 sprint w/paddles, on 1'
c/d - 100 each back, breast, pull
Total: 2800m

These runs make it worthwhile

Tonight was the last time I have to do an I-pace run for a few months. This is the last week of this build block, then I'll go back to maintenance work for running for a while, before picking things up again in July. Still, this is a tough workout to get motivated for. It's never easy, so there's always some nerves building up to when I turn the treadmill on.

But things went really well tonight. I was able to groove the pace early on, and although I was working, I was never really struggling. During the last minute of the second five-minute interval my breathing had collapsed to a 3-2 or 2-2 pace, but I was able to recover and run a 3-3 all through the last interval. I'm getting stronger, in the legs and in the lungs. I'm still very interested in seeing how my 10k plays out in 12 days.

Run: 2.5 miles, ez
Run: 48 min, w/2x(5 minutes @ 9.9 mph, 3 minutes @ 7.3 mph, 3 minutes @ 9.9 mph, 3 minutes @ 7.3 mph)

Hit the numbers

I'm feeling much better after a good night's sleep. I won't admit to how early I packed it in, let's just say it was early enough to be embarrassing for a healthy 35 year old. But it worked out, and I got in a nice swim this morning.

After feeling out of sorts last week, I was able to get a nice groove going. Nothing in particular stood out, but I felt much smoother moving through the water. For most of the workout, that is. As can be expected by now, as I started to get a bit tired, my form started to go south, which made me work even harder, which made me more tired, which made the form worse. The good news is that I was able to stave off this spiral through the second block we did, but it caught up with me during the third. I can feel it happening, so I need to out-smart myself and convince myself that slowly down the turnover to get a better stroke will work better than splashing as fast as I can.

That, and I need to work more on the flaws in my stroke. Hopefully there will be some stroke improvement clinics once the assistant coach gets back.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
4x50 group swim
300 free, partner draft
100 ez non-free
4x(3x100 free,
100 ez back,
100 ez pull)
1) on 2:00 (1:38, 1:42, 1:45)
2) on 2:05 (1:40, 1:42, 1:43)
3) on 2:10 (1:43, 1:45, 1:45)
4) pull w/paddles on 2:00
c/d - 100 back, 100 breast, 100 free
Total: 3500m

Weights:
Bear - 2x4/65
Bent row - 2x12,11/95
Pushup - 2x15,13/80
Crossarm Situp - 2x10,9
Pillar Opposites - 2x10,12
Barbell curl - 1x12/53
French press - 1x10/40

Finally caught up

Well, yesterday was definitely an apparition. Today was a lot more representative of how I actually felt. Two good days in a row just wasn't going to happen. Granted, part of it was just unpleasant conditions, with a bitter cold wind (over 20 mph) in my face for much of the run, but really, I was just tired.

It wasn't a long run, just eight miles, but I was about a minute slow during the three mile loop, so I made the decision not to push the pace on the five miler. Some days it's just not there, and I know this. I had such a good run last week that I knew my form in general was strong, but today wasn't going to be a good showing. Instead, I kept things under control, but decided to hit the hills pretty hard. Usually, I would keep a fast pace, and maintain an even effort on the hills, but today was the exact opposite. I got my miles, didn't over-exert myself, and hope to be recovered by tomorrow. One good sign is that even at about the slowest I could imagine running, I was still at sub-8:00/mile pace.

Run: 8.4 miles, 25:40/41:49

Good luck to everyone running the Boston Marathon tomorrow, and congratulations to my swim coach with an impressive performance at IM China. First in the swim, first off the bike, and gutted out a tough marathon to finish third. Way to go Tereza!

The body is a funny thing

This last week was a lot of tough running, and sleep was less than optimal. This morning, I wasn't particularly excited about getting on the bike, and even through the warm-up I considered getting off and calling it a day. But I fired up Have Mercy one last time, and waited to see what would happen.

Then I ended up with my highest average wattage for the ride, by 5.5w, at a heart rate average over 1 bpm lower. How does this work?

Bike: Spinervals 9.0 - Have Mercy, 120 minutes

Good luck to all the athletes competing in IM China tonight (tomorrow). But mostly good luck to Tereza and all her Team TBB teammates. Have a good day!

Tired, but got it done

Tough week of training. Less than five hours sleep. When the alarm sounded this morning, I seriously considered just going back to sleep. Instead, I went to the pool, hoping and praying that we wouldn't have a particularly tough workout. Luckily, my prayers were answered, with a good bit of volume, but nothing overly strenuous. My form felt like it was better than Wednesday. I wasn't fast by any stretch, but I wasn't struggling to even get myself moving, which we'll call a win. Now I need a nap. Or three.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
600 free as three-person draft, 30"
3x50 back/50 breast, 10"
300 truck and trailer, 30"
300 pull w/paddles, 30"
300 as 25 head-up/75 ez free, 30"
300 as 25 sprint/75 ez free, 30"
3x50 back/50 breast, 10"
6x50 stroke count, 15"
c/d - 100 non-free, 100 pull
Total: 3500m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Weights:
Chaosbringer - 2x4/65
Chins - 2x10,10
Reverse flye/Lateral raise - 2x10,9/15
Side plank w/abduction - 2x15,15
Supermans - 2x15,15
Reverse flye - 1x12/48
Diamond pushup - 1x12/40

Showtime

In news that will be sure to please my wife, the amount of Lamb of God to be played in the house at high volumes will go on a decline as of today. After tonight's concert, I'm sure to be fully saturated for a while. But if I'm going to be concert, I still need to get in my run, so I was on the treadmill at 6:15 this morning (with Ashes of the Wake and New American Gospel turned up to 11, to my wife's chagrin). This wasn't optimal, but the work must be done.

Sleep wasn't great last night, since I woke up about 3:30 and never got back to solid sleep. I must have been a bit nervous about missing my alarm or not performing up to par because of the early hour. But after some Gatorade and quick stretching, it was time to go. Today was tempo day, with 2x12 minutes of T-pace, extending the time spent at that effort from 20 minutes to 24. It went pretty well, I was never overextended, although there were points that I wouldn't have minded if someone told me I could just stop. I got my miles, cooled down, stretched a bit more (I was surprisingly tight through the hamstrings), and ate. Since then, it's been work, another little run, and anxious anticipation of what should be the concert event of 2009.

Run: 48 minutes, w/2x12 minutes @ 9.1 mph, 2 min @ 7.3 mph

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

After effects

I guess I'm still a little tired after last night. I definitely haven't been flying through the day at all. It started with swimming, where we had our first day at the new pool, the lovely 25m pool at Havergal College. After a week off, I found the swimming muscles exhausted pretty quickly, especially since this wasn't too tough a workout, and I was never able to get into a comfortable rhythm. It wasn't necessarily a bad swim, but it wasn't one of those "one with the water" swims. No worries, I'll be back on Friday, and hope things get grooved then.

My little baby run this afternoon was another indicator that my legs are more than a little run down. No bounce at all. I kept it very easy, tried to pop along as best I could, but there wasn't much there. I'll get another good night of sleep, and maybe some serious calorie replenishment. Tomorrow is T-pace day, so it should be all systems go by morning.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
600 ez pull, 30", as 25 scull/75 pull
4x25 hard free, 15"
500 ez free, 30", as 25 stroke count/75 free
4x25 hard free, 15"
400 ez free, 30", as 25 head-up/75 free
4x25 hard free, 15"
300 ez as 100 back/100 breast/100 free, 30"
4x25 hard free, 15"
200 pull w/paddles, 30"
4x25 hard free, 15"
c/d: 100 ez non-free
Total: 3200m

Run with me through hell

I knew I'd need some serious inspiration to make it through tonight's run, so I fired up Lamb of God's Sacrament album. The first track was "Walk With Me Through Hell", and that pretty much set the tone for the day. With only a few weeks until racing begins, it was back to the Daniels I-pace, with increases from the last time out. I re-read the section on interval pace running, and one point that Daniels makes is that the goal is VO2 max training, and time spent at VO2 max. It takes about a minute for the body to respond at each interval, so a three minute repeat will give you two minutes at the target effort. So comparing last workout (5x3 minutes) to this one (2x5 min/3 min), it was only one more minute at speed (15 vs. 16), but two more minutes at VO2 max (10 vs. 12).

I knew if I could survive through the second five minute repeat then I could get through the workout. But accomplishing that was tough. With the treadmill, there was no way I could bluff my pace. The first five was a solid effort, but not deadly, and even the first 3 wasn't horrible. But by 4 minutes into the second five, I knew I was entering the deep water. I tried to channel what I imagine the Team TBB athletes go through during their track sessions, and I let the drumming of Chris Adler wash the pain away. Then I still had three minutes to go, but I knew I could suffer for 180 seconds, so I did.

It's runs like this that make me think I need to contact my thesis committee, and let them know that I must have fooled them, because I'm not as smart as they were led to believe. You get off the treadmill, and once enough blood is back in the brain, you think, "Why do I do this?" And to answer that question, a quote from Chuckie V:

I do today what you won't, so tomorrow I can do what you can't.

Run: 2.5 miles ez
Run: 48 minutes, w/2x(5 minutes @ 9.9 mph, 3 minutes @ 7.3 mph, 3 minutes @ 9.9 mph, 3 minutes @ 7.3 mph)

More than planned

I don't normally include bike commuting in my daily totals, since it's such a given, but since today I had to make an extra trip to home and back to work, doubling my usual ride, I'm putting it in. It makes me tired, so it gets listed. Other than that, because of the pseudo-holiday, there was no swimming (again), so I got a quick run, and a pretty good session in the weight room. Now I need sleep so I can run quick tomorrow.

Run: 2.5 miles, ez
Bike: 50 (extra) minutes, commuting

Weights:
Bear - 2x4/65
Bent row - 2x12,11/95
Pushup - 2x15,13/80
Crossarm Situp - 2x10,9
Pillar opposites - 2x10,11
Barbell curl - 1x11/53
French press - 1x9/40

Hammer of the Gods

I've said before, some days you're the bug, some days you're the windshield. Similarly, some days you're the hammer, some days you're the nail. Based on today's run, call me Mjolnir.

Last week's run was a little disappointing. I was hoping to turn another sub-40 aerobic loop, and missed by a few seconds. Given that I had only done a flat three miles before, I wasn't too confident that I was running as well as I was hoping. So today I did 10 miles, and instead of sticking to the flats, I did two hilly loops, 5.25 miles each. I turned the watch on when I left the house, but didn't look at it at all during the run, except at the end of that first lap. I wasn't a particularly nice morning, temperatures just above freezing, but with a 20-30 km/h wind out of the north that made things much cooler. It was getting to the point that I was considering either moving to the treadmill or at least changing into warmer gear when I finished, except when I saw the time (41:23), I knew I was having a very good day, and didn't want to break my rhythm.

I stretched out my stride a little more in the second lap, but kept things in the aerobic range. I was moving well, but my breathing never left the 4-4 pattern. The few sections that ran straight into the wind were difficult, with speeds knocked way down, but I wanted to keep things under control. I couldn't have gone faster and kept this breathing, but I definitely could have gone faster. I rolled over all the hills I had to deal with, and made the final stretch to the house. I had still avoided checking my splits, and once I was on the driveway, I stopped the watch and checked the result. 38:11. Sixty-nine seconds faster than I've turned this route. Yesterday was a tough bike ride, I added 12.5 miles to what was supposed to be a rest week, and I spent a good portion of yesterday in a car. End result? A new record. That's a nice way to start the morning.

The frozen hands that were no longer able to squeeze a water bottle at mile 6 were less nice, but it's a fair trade.

Since then, I've been resting, watching hockey, eating cinnamon buns, and getting ready to watch 70.3 Worlds. That's a Happy Easter right there.

Run: 10.5 miles, 41:23/38:11

The last loop

With only a few weeks before the season starts to begin for real, I'm on one last pass through the three Spinervals workouts that have been my guiding light for the last couple of months. Today was the last shot at Aero Base Builder V, and things went well. My heart rate was higher than it should have been all the way through, by about 5 bpm or so. I don't know if I'm under recovered from the week, or just didn't sleep well last night, or maybe drank too much coffee this morning. Given that my power was up (by 8w on average), and my RPE was right where it should have been, I'm not going to be too concerned. Sometimes those things just happen. If two of the three measures vote for progress, then that's a majority, and it goes in the log as a good day.

Bike: Spinervals 25.0 - Aero Base Builder V, 120 minutes

And if you have nothing better to do tomorrow afternoon, you can play a game of "Where's Waldo?" during NBC's coverage of the 70.3 Worlds. Look for the pale, skinny guy who's not dealing well with the heat. Hopefully I won't be immortalized during a walk break.

Good Friday

Except for the cancellation of swimming, yes it was. (Although it was nice to sleep in until almost 6:30 this morning. Yes, that's sleeping in. I've got problems.) I accomplished a boatload of nothing, except I did get out for a relaxing 3 mile run, and hit the weights before dinner. That's how a statutory holiday Friday should be.

Run: 3.15 miles, ez

Weights:
Chaosbringer - 2x4/65
Chins - 2x10,10
Reverse flye/Lateral raise - 2x10,9/15
Side plank w/abduction - 2x12,15
Supermans - 2x15,15
Reverse curl - 1x12/48
Diamond pushup - 1x12/40

Double up

Today was an easy day, so I got in my new daily run at work, and a few miles when I got home. Nothing too quick, just enough to keep the blood flowing and legs moving. Nice stuff.

Run: 2.5 miles, ez
Later ...
Run: 3 miles @ 7.3 mph

Last swim at Glendon

For whatever reason, we're changing our Wednesday pool starting next week. No more in the non-metric pool. Now it's all metres, all the time (LCM on Monday & Friday, SCM on Wednesday). So with today being farewell, and since the long weekend is cancelling the next two swims, I tried to put my best effort into today. We didn't do anything too hard to start, although counting 40 lengths is a bit mind-numbing. I kept something approaching good form most of the way through, with lots of flip turns, so there was that. Then we did sprints, with paddles. I don't know who came up with this idea, but they should be shot. Although I normally go faster with paddles over 200+ metres, I was just about at my usual 50 yard sprint times. It's impossible to get the turnover, and the last 10 yards the triceps were screaming. It's just mean, but that usually means it'll make me faster, so I put up with it.

Swim: w/u - 200yds each free, non-free, pull
1000 ez free, 1' as 75 ez/25 head-up
200 ez non-free
2x(4x50 sprint w/paddles, 1'
100 ez non-free, 15"
100 ez pull, 1')
Total: 2600yds

Edited at 3:16pm:
Went for the afternoon run, an easy 20 minutes, about 2.5 miles according to Google Maps. This ranks among the smartest ideas I've ever come up with, right after marrying my wife (although that was mostly her idea). I feel refreshed, nobody will get punched today, and there was a fox running through the park, so all is good.

Run: 2.5 miles, easy

Like I said

It's a recovery week, so this should be easy, but since I didn't get my freebie miles at work, I added a couple to the end (seemed like the most useful place to put them). Still nothing too strenuous, just bopping along. Having days like this every so often feels really good.

Run: 5 miles @ 7.3 mph

Stealing miles

One lesson we all should have learned by now is that, as Paulo Sousa says, "more is MORE". It's so simple it's genius. But obviously, due to time restrictions, nobody can just keep adding time and miles to their workouts. I'm at about my limit of time away from family and other pursuits that I'm comfortable with, but what if I want/need more training. One way I help to cover that gap is the bike commuting. Since I have to go to work anyway, it's a free five hours of easy to moderate-easy riding every week. Add on a high-intensity ride, and a long ride, and my cycling legs stay right up there.

Swimming? Well, unless we get forty days and nights of rain, I won't be adding much more beyond my three sessions every week. That will have to do. So let's just skip on to running.

Although my running legs are pretty good right now, I know that they can be better. It should be my strength. So I took a look at my training, and compared it to last year. I'm running about 12-15 miles a week less, and on three days instead of five. There is a gap there, but if I'm nearing my limit, how can I cover it? And I thought, why not do runs at work? Nothing too strenuous, but the equivalent of the bike commuting. Two or two and a half miles per day, a quick jaunt before lunch or in the afternoon. We have showers, I can get to work 15-30 minutes earlier most days so it won't affect my productivity, and I might be less inclined to want to punch someone in the head post-run. If I can do this on the trails around the hospital park 3-5 times a week, I'll sneak in 7.5-12.5 easy miles, with the accompanying speed bennies.

So now I have shoes, a couple pairs of shorts and shirts, and a towel at work to help get through the days. I would start today, but it's -4 (feels like -12), so maybe I'll just tag a couple of extra miles tonight to make up for it.

I think my arms fell off

That was some kind of workout. A little bit of easy-ish work, then sprints. Lots of 'em. With not nearly enough rest. Then a bit of rest. Then more sprints. I hurt. I went slower and slower. But I tried to keep good form, as much as possible. It became quite difficult during the latter sprints, but I'd get at least 25-30 minutes of respectable form before being visited by death.

Who comes up with workouts like this?

Swim: w/u - 600m ez free, done as a group OW simulation
100 ez non-free
3x300 free, 30", descending (5:50, 5:35, 5:25)
100 ez non-free
8x50 sprint on 1:05
200 ez non-free, 30"
200 ez pull, 30"
8x50 sprint on 1:10
c/d: 200 ez non-free, 100 ez pull
Total: 3200m

Run: 2.5 miles @ 7.5 mph
Weights:
Bear - 2x4/65
Bent row - 2x12,10/95
Pushup - 2x12,15/80
Crossarm Situp - 2x10,8
Pillar opposites - 2x10,11
Barbell curl - 1x11/53
French press - 1x8/40

Never gets easier

When you're going through a little crisis of confidence, it's always nice to turn an amazing workout that restores your faith in your fitness, and lets you know everything is going according to plan. That's not quite what happened to me today.

It's not that I had a bad run, far from it. But I wasn't flying along like I was two weeks ago. My first lap was almost exactly the same, but I lost over a minute on the second. There are a few reasons this might happen:

1. Last time was at the end of a rest week, this was after two weeks of the hardest speed work I've done in years. Fatigue may play into it a bit.
2. There was a very significant wind coming out of the north this morning. I was putting little effort into the opening southbound leg, and I covered that stretch 13 seconds faster than the other day, so that means I lost 81 seconds over the next 4.3 miles. There's one stretch almost a mile long where I was dead into the wind, and it was like running uphill.
3. I was definitely holding tight to an easier pace on the hardest climbs. My plan of 4-4 breathing held the entire way, and trying to maintain that on these tough climbs (some into the wind) required a very short stride. I could easily see losing 15-20 seconds per climb just from that.
4. It was a bit warmer out than they said it was, and I was overdressed. It may not have been singlet and short weather, but it wasn't long-sleeve shirt, wind jacket, wind pants and toque weather either.

I get a rest week for the next few days, and with the holiday weekend, I think I'm going to switch up my 10 miler on Sunday. It's supposed to be all flat work, but I think I'll head out for two hill loops, so I can compare to some of last year's runs. That will either be a big confidence boost, and the cold, hard slap of reality, which may be useful too.

Run: 8.4 miles, 24:51/40:28

Spitfire

Another small step up during today's ride. I raised average wattage by 4.5w, while riding at a lowered heart rate by 2 bpm. Both of those are good signs that improvements are happening. It'll be a while before I really get to test the cycling legs, but I feel like I'm moving in the right direction. It wasn't an easy day, but I wasn't reduced to tears. Recovery will be important to set up a good run tomorrow. So I've got the compression tights on for now, then I'll put my feet up and eat a bunch for a few hours. It's horrible how I have to spend my Saturdays.

Bike: Spinervals 15.0 - Have Mercy, The Sequel, 120 minutes

Good luck to all the athletes racing in all the big races this weekend: IM Oz, IM South Africa, 70.3 Oceanside, and 70.3 New Orleans. Have fun and go fast.

A lack of consistency

Last week, I crushed the 400m time trial. I'm still feeling pretty good about myself on that one. Then, this morning happens, and things aren't so good any more. I just can't seem to make it happen with any consistency. Every day, I have little idea as to how well I'm going to swim. I know that I can bring it, but I never know if I'm going to.

We're continuing to build toward a 2k time trial at the end of May, so today was 5x400 on a minute's rest. Given that I knocked out a 6:43 400m, I felt pretty confident that I could hit my reps on 7:10-7:20. That should be good enough, right? Well, that lasted for two repeats. I took extra rest (90 seconds) before reps 4 and 5, and I let myself draft more than I am willing to accept. Quite simply, I was weak physically and mentally today.

I know that the main issue is how my form goes to crap when I'm not thinking about it. During the time trial, since I knew I was getting to the end, no matter how much it hurt, I could keep getting reasonably good strokes. Today, there was always so much work left to do, that all I could think about was the ache, and I know that cost me time and energy, swimming slower and working harder to do it. This isn't good, I need to keep my head in the game better than this. In about a month we'll do 4x500. I'm going to own that day.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
100 as 25 hard/75 ez, 15"
100 as 50 hard/50 ez, 15"
100 as 75 hard/25 ez, 15"
100 ez non-free, 15"
100 pull w/paddles, 15"
100 ez non-free, 90"
5x400 free, 60+" (see above, 7:15/7:10/7:30/7:23/7:30)
c/d - 200 ez non-free, 100 ez pull
Total: 3500m

Weights:
Chaosbringer - 2x4/65
Chins - 2x10,10
Reverse flye/Lateral raise - 2x10,8/15
Side plank w/abduction - 2x12,14
Supermans - 2x15,14
Reverse curl - 1x12/48
Diamond pushup - 1x9/40

Once around the park, Jeeves

Tonight was another tempo session. Since in the next block I'll be doing 2x12 minutes (24 minutes total at T-pace), I decided to extend today a little from 18 minutes to 20. Then it was warm-up, hit my speed for 20 minutes, and cool down. There was a progressive breakdown of breathing over the twenty minutes, holding 4-4 until about minute 5, then 3-3 for about 10 minutes, then floating between 3-3 and 3-2 for the remainder. My legs felt good all the way, but my breathing was definitely getting laboured. Now I'm just relaxing in my compression pants, trying to aid the recovery as much as possible.

Run: 40 minutes, w/20 minutes @ 9.1 mph

And now, a brief glimpse into some the dark thought of the endurance athlete:
It's just over four weeks until my first race, a test workout of 10k, of the season. I have to admit to being less than confident right now. My swimming, on good days, is far better than last year. Although it's nearly impossible to compare, I feel stronger on the bike now than at this point last season, and in terms of max power, than I'm better than any point last year. But I'm not sure about the run, which is really what I've been focusing on.

I'm running a faster T-pace than last year, which is good, but I was doing workouts that had up to 50 minutes at that pace, while right now I'm peaking at 20 (going to 24 soon). Could I do the same workout, but faster now? Not easily, and I don't know how hard it was last season. Given how I felt at 20 minutes, I don't know if maybe I'm overestimating my T-pace, since I question whether or not I could hold this for 60 minutes, and I'll be expected to go faster for twice as long. My I-pace days are harder than anything I did last year, so I have that, but we'll see if that works out to my benefit. I did turn my fastest five-mile aerobic loop recently, but last year it followed 5+ hilly miles, but this time it was after 3 flat miles, so the result may be a little counterfeit. Given my fatigue levels, I don't think I'm undercooking myself, so maybe I'm doing it right and doing just enough without hitting the diminishing returns point. I hope so. I'm getting anxious for race-day, just so I can find out whether or not I'm making things work.

For time, not distance

A bit of an odd set for swimming this morning. The distances are kind of random, since we were actually swimming on time, so that the intermittent sprints could be done as a group. So the workout was more along the lines of "Do this until 6:20, then a bunch of sprints, then do that until 6:35, more sprints, etc." A nice day, with absolutely no reason to look at the clock and check splits.

Swim: w/u - 200yds each free, non-free, pull
450 ez free w/gloves
4x25 sprint
100 ez non-free
350 as 75 ez pull/25 scull
4x25 sprint
100 ez non-free
350 as 75 ez free/25 back
4x25 sprint
c/d - 2x25 back/25 breast/25 free
Total: 2400yds