Another night, another session of splashing

As I've noted before. I'm dropping my Wednesdays weight sessions, so that I don't compromise my recovery. Instead, I'm doing a short, slow run, just to add some miles, and help recovery after the Tuesday speed sessions. Today was the first time through this. It was kind of refreshing to get home, pull on a pair of shorts and hit the treadmill just to work out the kinks. I could feel the muscles loosening over the course of the run, so it's already paid its benefits.

Run: 3 miles @ 6.5 mph

Then, after dinner and some relaxing (and a lone trick-or-treater; disappointing, but more treats for me), it was back at the pool. Once more, the reminder of "good weeks and bad weeks" paid off tonight.

I know that I have a far from perfect stroke, but I also know that it has improved considerably in these few workouts. Tonight, things felt somewhat rougher than last week, but some of that is changing feedback. My speed was faster than any previous night (most of my lengths that I timed were in the 55-58 second range). My endurance was up (on four separate occasions I did 100m non-stop). My breathing was better and more relaxed (multiple lengths using bilateral breathing, only dropping to every second stroke near the end of longer efforts, to avoid splashing from a passing swimmer, or to do off-side work). And for the first time, I was able to slow down and not be going all-out. So why did things feel so rough?

As I clean up various parts of my stroke, I'm becoming somewhat more attuned to where the problems are in other parts of the movement. The cues that I used last week are still not automatic, so I had to remain focused on those to keep the form I could, but as I moved through the water, I could note where things were still not feeling right: I wasn't rotating as much last night, unless I really though about it; I don't glide much; my hips drop more when breathing on my left than right, and I sometimes seem to barely pull with my left arm.

I start with the coach in two weeks. I know that I should be doing drills to work on some of these issues, but it's tough during crowded lane swimming hours. I'm sure the coaching sessions will include drill work, especially for "new" swimmers like me. There's seven months until my first triathlon, and another 2.5 until the 'A' race. Lots of time to figure all this out.

A little bit faster now

Tonight was my second week of speedwork. These sessions always beat the snot out of me, so I can only handle once a week, and only for a few weeks. Speedwork on the run is a lot tougher than on the bike. I end up feeling it in my muscles and joints for at least a day or two, every time.

But, it pays off. Big time.

Everything gets faster when you're doing intervals. Your stride will get smoothed out, you have to hold good body position or you'll breakdown. Turnover gets faster, stride length increases. All these things will carry over to slower paces as well.

And it's fun. At least until the next day.

Run: 8 miles, w/ 9x2 min sub-5k pace, 3 min recovery

Purified

After a weekend of big(ger) mileage, I've been pretty drained. As I noted last week, I think I'm going to have to step back the weight work or I'll compromise recovery in the coming weeks. So today was the first day of that plan. This will be about strength maintenance primarily. There should be some small gains, but since this isn't a focus right now, I won't be pushing that hard.

Bear 2x4/75 lbs
Row 2x6/110 lbs
Pushup 2x6/30 lbs + 80 lbs tubing
Pullup 2x6
Military Press 2x6/70 lbs
Prehab circuit x15

Rainbow in the Dark

In case you didn't know (although if you read this blog, you probably have some interest in triathlon/running), sixteen miles is a pretty long way by foot. A lot further than 8 miles (yesterday's run). Like, almost twice as much.

This was one of those mornings in the fall that are tough to judge what to wear. It was about 4 degrees, with a stiff wind, when I went out the door. Normally, I'd wear a long-sleeve shirt, windbreaker, and shorts, but a thread on Slowtwitch about running tights got me thinking maybe I should pull mine on. So I did. I also wore my heavier gloves.

Both of those decisions were mistakes. It only took a few miles before I was overheated, but being hard-headed, I kept going through the entire run. The westerly wind took a lot of gas out of me over the course of the run. I followed by usual plan of picking up the intensity into a higher HR band, but my the last few miles, that HR got me only a slight improvement over the pace at the start of the run. So there's some endurance work that needs to be done. Luckily, I have 11 weeks and about 350 miles to get that work in.

Run: 8 miles @ 145 bpm, 8 miles @ 150 bpm

I will note that I saw the most amazing rainbow of my life this morning. I think this was the first time I've seen one that had the entire arc visible. It's the stuff like that that keeps me from spending all my time on the treadmill.

If it's Christmas, where's the snow?

And so, after months of reading reviews, and lucking into a clearance sale, and waiting weeks to get a proper aero fit, and waiting another week for the final adjustments to be completed, I finally got to bring my new baby home. After this, I'll probably cover it in a blanket until spring, so I don't spend all my time drooling on it. (Might rust the frame.) I'll have my wife put a ribbon on it and "give" it to me for Christmas. Imagine my surprise!

I'm not usually one for naming bikes, but sometimes they demand a name, and it's obvious what it is. And so, I give you, Lightning McQueen!

Isn't he sweet? Cervelo P2SL Pro. Imagined in Canada, built in China. The upgrades from the regular P2SL are the carbon fork and seatpost, carbon cranks, and upgraded aerobars. So sleek and smooth. Check out the cranks and the aero cutout in the seat tube.

And the view from the cockpit (if I were to try to TT my basement...) Those are new extensions, since my forearms were too long for the stock model. As they say in the climbing world, I have a high ape-index.

I know the position looks a little high, but my back is nice and flat, and I'll be comfortable through the longer distances. If I want to go a bit lower in the future, it's an option, but right now, everything is tuned to perfection (aside from my fitness ... less than perfect, it is). All I need to do now is develop enough speed to earn this ride. I can't imagine anything more embarassing than riding Lightning and getting my doors blown off my some dude on a MTB.

Hungry for Heaven

Running to Dio is always a good thing. Ronnie James Dio is a metal god, so his music is great motivation to crank through 8 miles on the treadmill. So the workout this morning was pretty good. Then I had the displeasure of "watching" Tech lose another football game. (Gametracker just isn't as good as actual coverage.) But then I went to Endurosport.

Pictures coming soon.

Run: 8 miles @ 7.6 mph

Bear Witness Unto

In the near future, I'm going to have to rethink my resistance training. It's all upper body work, functioning as a substitute for swimming. Once I begin the 3x/week, will I need the extra work? Probably not, but I do enjoy my sessions in the weight room? Yes, and I'm not sure I'd want to risk giving up what (little) I've accomplished, especially given my bad shoulders. (They feel much better with regular, good form, resistance work.) But I know my recovery will be compromised if I try to do too much. This would be exacerbated (5 cent word of the day) by my reduced sleep schedule (which I'd imagine will be a product of the 5:xx swim times). So my thinking right now, noting that this plan could change in a heartbeat, is to cut back to two sessions, Monday and Friday. I'm not sure yet how I'll set things up with varying rep ranges, but I'll work something out. Additionally, this will open up Wednesday for a light run. The added volume there (if I keep intensity down) will be a boost for the marathon training.

I spend too much time thinking about these things.

Upper body - horizontal: light
Bear 2x4/75 lbs
Row 2x20/85 lbs
Pushup 2x20/30 lbs

If you've read this far into the post, there's big news. I just called Endurosport, and my ??? is ready for pickup tomorrow. I'll check on the digital camera situation around the house to see if any work so I can provide pics.

More RWEs

I hate this workout. At the same time, I love this workout. And for all the same reasons. It sucks so much to do, but the payoff can be huge. This is one of the few workouts I spend all day dreading. That should tell you something.

My goal today was to do a little more work than last time (six weeks ago). Surprisingly, I didn't do it. My efforts were almost identical, except that I had absolutely no sprinting legs. So it would seem that I've backtracked a little. That's not a good thing.

However, a closer look at the data and situation is a bit more forgiving. Last time, I had just started my marathon training, and had run 5 miles easy two days before. This time, I'm in the thick of my training, and ran 8 miles of fartlek two days previous, and swam for an hour last night. I should be a bit tired, and I can live with marathon work dampening my top-end. As well, although the three-minute efforts were at the same power, the opening 30 seconds was actually up a little. So that's good. And the entire workout, including measurement during the sprints, sustained efforts, and recovery, was done at a heart rate 3-5 bpm lower.

All told, it looks like a got a good session in, and there are enough confounding factors to keep from saying I've made a step backwards in my fitness. A more telling test will be in six weeks when I repeat this workout, again with only an LSD run two days before. Then we'll know if I've maintained, progressed or regressed.

Bike: 90 minutes, w/ 5xRWE @ 900/600, 325, 600 (these were target wattages. Only the 325 was met.)
Run: 2 miles @ 6.5 mph

Sin and Sacrifice

Thanks to Mark for two important pieces of advice/reminders from last week. 1) Until I've gotten enough pool time, there will be good days and bad days, and just get what I can when I can, and 2) If the form has gone to crap, I'm done. There's no point in ingraining bad form. These are the types of things I've told anyone I've coached in running or cycling, but sometimes we all to be reminded.

And with that, a recap of my night in the pool ... but first, my afternoon workout in the weight room ...

Upper body - vertical: medium
Chaosbringer 2x4/75 lbs
Pullups 2x9, 1x7/unweighted (more like 7.5 on the last set, and nice strict reps)
Military Press 3x10/65 lbs (time to bump up the weight)

Then at 9, I was back in the pool. My first couple of laps didn't feel great, but I tried to relax and focus on what I was supposed to be doing. I tried to do some of my drills, but I still can't get moving again using just my kick. I had taken my new flippers, but I admit to being self-conscious, since I haven't seen anyone else use them. I know I should just nut up and do it, and maybe I will. So there.

Even without the drills, tonight was one of the good ones. I felt a lot better than last week, like I was catching more water with each pull, and my hips were floating with a more relaxed kick. My mental cues tonight were to "reach over the barrel" (I read this on a swimming technique website, and I did what I think they were talking about), and to turn my head to breathe last, waiting until my extended arm's shoulder touched my ear. Those points got my improved pull, and I felt like I was rotating my hips a lot better (to the point that I could feel the muscle working. Either that or it was a "don't swim for an hour after eating" cramp.) Also, with my "shoulder in the ear" focus, I noticed I was fully extending my arm on every stroke, which helped with "pressing my buoy" when I was rotated. So things were falling nicely into place.

I did a total of 1200 meters, same as last time, but much more productive. I was able to string together two 2x50m with 5-10 sec rest lengths, so let's say I did 100m continuous twice. I'm not fast, but I'm faster. I don't have much endurance, but I have more than I did. And that's all I can ask for. Baby steps.

First Day of Quick

After the Turkey Trot, I had decided that I needed to add a few weeks of speedwork to my schedule in the marathon buildup. With this five week block, I'll get some intensity in, but I'll be done before my biggest mileage weeks in the marathon program, so there won't be competing physiological goals. I don't have a track, and I doubt that I need highly structured intervals, so today was some fartlek.

Fartlek is fun. This wasn't as unstructured as a true fartlek session, but instead I just opened things up for a few minutes, then recovered for a bit. Rinse, and repeat. Loads of fun. It always feels good to let the legs go for a while. I got some time at a higher zone, and stretched out my stride. I really believe this will payoff come January.

Run: 8 miles w/ 6x5 minutes @ 5-10k pace, 3 minute recovery

Only One

The rest week is over, so it was back to the weights. Surprisingly, today was a bit tougher than expected. Usually I come back from a rest week with energy to spare, but even with a slight drop in the weights today, my form was a bit off. Still, it counts toward the total, and I'm sure in two weeks it will click.

Upper body - horizontal: heavy
Bear 2x4/75 lbs
Row 8x3/125 lbs (dropped the weight to make sure form was tight)
Pushup 8x3/30 lbs + 120 lbs tubing
Prehab circuit x15

I'm starting to plan next year's schedule. There are the few definites, but I'm planning on a couple of bike races, some shorter road races (5-10k, maybe a half), and at least three tri's before Muskoka. Unfortunately, my planning is ahead of most of the governing bodies of said events. Why can't they put up the schedules now, so I can figure out my next 12 months? Is that so hard?

That's MY boy!

Check out my buddy, Jake, at the Great Floridian Triathlon. Don't worry, you won't have to look too far down the list, since he was the second person across the line. I guess when I call him the fastest person I know, I can really back it up now.

Coming back from the car accident, with a titanium pin in his hip; training through his medical school residency; appearing in his first Iron distance race; these things couldn't slow him down. He's like the bionic man. We can rebuild him, we have the technology.

And just so you know, these was a time (years ago, before he got serious), that I could put the wood to him on the bike. But now, after all those years in the West Texas winds and the mountains of Colorado, I'd be lucky to hold his wheel for 5 minutes.

I couldn't be more proud, kid. You've fought tooth and nail for every bit of that performance. Now let it be the start of an amazing string of results. You've proven you've got the goods, go cash 'em in.

A bit less

An absolutely beautiful morning greeted me today. After a nice up of coffee and light breakfast, I was out for the week's long run. Since this is a back-off week, I was only looking at ten miles. Although I felt good, it was good thing it was a bit short this time. I'm definitely still a bit tired from yesterday's race tempo, and Thursday's brick. (As I write this, I just got up from a nap, and am looking forward to another). But, as I said, it was a good run. I never went too hard, and again, from just a rough estimate of time, my pace continues to get a bit quicker at these easy intensities. You'll never find me complaining about running faster on a 15 degree morning this late in October. These are the days we live for.

Run: 5 miles @ 145 bpm, 5 miles @ 150 bpm

This afternoon, I was back at Endurosport, to do some fitting for next big purchase. It's still to be unveiled, and they still have some adjustments and tweaks left to do, but, man! I can't wait to bring my new baby home. (Oh, and I picked up some flippers and a pull-buoy too. But that's not nearly as exciting.)

Lucky

Seven miles at race pace this morning. I must still be a little tired from the good workout on Thursday, as I was having to dig deeper than expected for the last few miles. Still, it felt really good. Now I'm just relaxing, trying to will Tech to a win in Missouri, and waiting for results from the GFT.

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Run: 7 miles @ 7.6 mph

Paralyzer

My elbow has been feeling pretty good since Wednesday, so today was a chance to get back to the iron. This was just another easy session to keep things moving, until I'm back to high intensity next week.

Upper body: easy
Chaosbringer 2x4/75 lbs
Pullups 3x5
Military Press 3x5/65 lbs
Row 3x5/110 lbs
Pushup 3x5/30 lbs + 80 lbs tubing

Good luck, kid

Tomorrow, a friend of mine, and one of the strongest people I've had the pleasure of running and cycling with, is tackling the Iron distance for the first time. It's not an official Ironman (trademark World Triathlon Corp.), but it IS 2.4 miles in the water, 112 miles by bike, and 26.2 miles by foot. The Great Floridian Triathlon. He's going to kill this course. Anybody who reports they finished a solo century at a shade over 4 hours and felt good enough to do a 5 mile tempo run is ready for this challenge. All this, while going through med school, after coming back from getting hit by a car.

Go get 'em tomorrow, Jake. Own the day. Just don't try to break the bike course record (even though you could). Save a little for that short jog at the end.

Rome wasn't built in a day

But it probably started with a brick.

Although I've been adding transition runs to all my rides for the last month, tonight was the first true "brick", with a solid effort on the run, instead of just an easy pace. The workout was based on the CTS "Hour of Power", which is fundamentally 2x20 minutes on the bike at a hard pace (90% FTP for tonight), and 20 minutes of tempo running. The intervals on the bike were good, not so hard that I was struggling, but hard enough that I had to concentrate to keep from dropping speed. The run went really well, with my HR below where I expected it to be. So, slowly, my conditioning is coming around. I'll keep this workout in my routine for a while. Fun stuff.

Bike: warm-up, one-leg drills, 2x20 min @ 270w (5 min rest)
Run: 20 minutes @ 8.0 mph, 5 min cooldown

Waterlogged

With my elbow flared up (although mostly healed), I cancelled tonight's session in the weight room. All that was on the schedule was a trip to the pool. After a reasonably successful outing last week, I was pretty excited for tonight's go-round.

I did do more distance than last time, but things felt a lot rougher. It may be a case of selective memory, where I only recall the few strokes that felt great, and am comparing them to every stroke tonight. I definitely felt like some of my lengths were good, but others involved more effort (for less speed). I obviously need to do the drill work, so I'll pick up some flippers this weekend and get started. I also think I did more distance than I should have, since the last few lengths were the sloppiest. I need to relax, calmly perform the actions, and then I'll reap the benefits.

Swim: 1200 m (I kept a good count this time)

Foundation

I wish I had something more exciting to post, but I don't. Just another jog around the neighbourhood tonight. Even with a stiff wind, the pace was pretty good, and I kept my intensity low. Next week I'll start with doing some fartlek, but today was nice and easy. A bit cool, but nice.

Run: 3 miles @ 145 bpm, 4 miles @ 150 bpm

Ashes

Upper body - EZ
Bear 2x4/75 lbs
Row 3x5/110 lbs
Pushup 3x5/30 lbs + 80 lbs tubing
Pullup 3x5
Military Press 3x5/65 lbs

This is an easy week, for recovery. This is coming at just the right time. I've been feeling a little more beat up than usual, and after today's session, the tendinitis in my right elbow has flared up. It shouldn't be too much of a problem. This isn't the first time, so I've gotten pretty good at treating myself. I should be back and ready to go by next Monday.

Oakville Turkey Trot

As part of my 14 mile training day, I decided it would be interesting to do a 10k race, then run the loop again to finish up my miles. It was less fun than you think. (I know it sounds like it would suck, but, as I said, it was worse. Don't do it. Remember me as an example.)

For the race, I clocked a 44:2X (official results still unavailable). I was hoping for better, but got hit by a stitch on the second lap. I'm also not sure how official the distance was, since it was on a dirt road, and the start/finish was the same line. What's the likelihood that a random loop in a provincial park is exactly 5 km? Slim, but we'll take it as close enough.

My time translates to a Daniels VDOT of 46. That's not horrible, but I really need it higher. I've been working hard on base work, and it's obviously paid off (considering that I raced at a speed that I haven't run at since the duathlon), but given my strengths (endurance, not speed), I'm thinking that I should add a few weeks of speedwork to my marathon build-up. Just a five week block, finishing over a month before the race, to season the legs a bit. Not 400s or 800s, probably some 1k to 1 mile efforts, sprinkled into my Tuesday runs. I know my initial plan was LSD FTW, but this overspeed work should add the strength I need to increase the pace of my aerobic efforts. If I were coming from a high-intensity port background, I'd have the speed, and need to increase my endurance. Instead, I have the endurance, I need to add more speed. As they say, raise the left, fill the right. Right now, my right is outpacing the left by too much, so I need to catch it up. If the idea is being able to cruise a 1:45/3:35 weekend, I need to get the speed so that the effort isn't that demanding. Looks like there's more work to do.

Cool morning

This morning was the coolest so far this autumn. We've had excellent weather until this week, so it was a bit of a shock to head out in "just above freezing" temperatures. While folks were bundled up in jackets and warming up their cars, I was cruising by on the hoof. My only real concession to the cold was a long-sleeve technical shirt and my pair of running gloves (which aren't as warm as I would hope). There was a stiff wind, which slowed things down, but I kept the intensity down to be rested for tomorrow's race. Hopefully it will be a couple of degrees warmer and the breeze will die down.

Run: 3 miles @ 145 bpm, 4 miles @ 150 bpm

Disagreeable

Upper body - vertical: light
Chaosbringer 2x4/75 lbs
Pullups 2x7+13/assisted
Military Press 2x20/43 lbs
Prehab circuit x12

More new confidence

Tonight's session on the bike was some intervals: 6x2 minutes, 6x1 minute, 6x 30 seconds, all on one minute rest, with 5 minutes between each block. Lots of fun. I'm still working on getting my power outputs right after the calibration. Tonight's targets for each block were 330w, 390w, 450w. I felt pretty good with each, although the last few seconds of the last few reps of each block were a struggle. Still, I got a lot of good work in, and should be reasonably recovered.

As a bonus, when I hopped on the treadmill for my two mile transition run, my HR was 5 bpm lower than any time previous for the same speed. You've got to like that. Faster at a given heart rate, or lower heart at a given speed. These are signals of improving fitness.

Bike: 90 minutes, warm-up and one-leg drills then:
6x2 minutes @ 330w, 1 min rest
5 min recovery
6x1 minute @ 390w, 1 min rest
5 min recovery
6x30 sec @ 450w, 1 min rest
Cooldown
Run: 2 miles @ 6.5 mph

Confidence

Two workouts today, so let's start with the first one. (Seems like a logical place.) As per usual, there was the afternoon session in the weight room.

Upper body - horizontal: medium
Bear 2x4/75 lbs
Row 3x8/110 lbs
Pushup 3x8/30 lbs + 80 lbs tubing

I dropped the weight a little for the rows to make sure my form was tight. I've found myself chucking the weight a bit more than I should, so I'll stay here for a while until I'm sure I can move up.

Later in the evening, it was off for another session in the pool. My intention was to do some normal swimming, then work on some of my Total Immersion drills. I started OK, felt better in the water than last week. Once I began the first drill, which involves learning balance in the pool, I felt like I was at a dead stop in the water. You just kick with your arms at your side. I could feel my balance coming together, but after breathing, and forward momentum was gone. I'd start swimming just to keep from drowning. It's been recommended to me that for drills like this, I should be wearing fins or Zoomers (also mentioned in the book) to help with the kick. I'll look into that next time I'm at Endurosport (Friday, Oct. 19). In its stead, I just did lengths, practicing breathing on both sides, and a few attempts at lengths using bi-lateral breathing. My kick has calmed down this week, and on a few laps, I felt less "flailing monkey", and more "porpoise". (I'm sure that's just in my head.)

All told, I did either 900, 1000, or 1100m. I kind of lost count somewhere in the middle. I only did a clock-check on a few laps, and did a non-all-out 50m in just under 60 seconds. So, now I just need to string together 38 of those, and I'll accomplish my goal of a sub-40 swim at Muskoka. Luckily, I have lots of time to work.

Not today, Baywatch

A funny ad from Nike.

A few more miles

Run: 3 miles @ 145 bpm, 4 miles @ 150 bpm

Mute

Today was my first Canadian Thanksgiving in about 5 years (Columbus Day just isn't the same), and although the food binge was done on Saturday, I was going to put today to use as a holiday. Which is to say, I woke up at 6 like any other Monday, read and drank coffee, ate my usual meals, went for a quick spin and then hit the weights. So it was just like a day at work, except I was in my PJs staring at a book or the TV instead of a computer screen. So that's a positive. What did I do to work out today? Glad you asked.

Upper body - vertical: heavy
Chaosbringer 2x4/75 lbs
Pullups 6x3/+25 lbs, 2x2/+25 lbs (+1 unweighted rep)
Military Press 7x3, 1x2/85 lbs
Prehab circuit x12

Today I bumped up the weight for the pullups after the breakthrough last time in this workout. I was hoping to cruise through all 8 sets, but today is exceptionally warm, and that may have accelerated my fatigue. That also may have caused the small setback on the shoulder work. No worries, I'll nail all reps next time through. Next week is a well-deserved "back off" week, at least in the weight room.

Halfway

The goal is to run 26.2 miles. (OK, the actual goal is to run 26.2 miles the day after running 13.1 miles, but let's assume we got through the half just fine.) Today was the first session where I covered fully half ("fully half"? What an awkward phrase) of that distance. After yesterday's quick effort, today was an easy, "long run" pace jaunt for 13 miles. According to Gmap, I actually covered a bit over 13.5. The effort was very relaxed, not a single deep breath, kept my HR under control. After a pretty heavy storm last night, this morning was somewhat humid, with a bit of a stiff breeze (~15 km/h). Still, I ran into no problems, no slow downs. As they say, another brick in the wall.

Run: 6 miles @ 145 bpm, 7 miles @ 150 bpm

Quicker

Another Saturday morning, another marathon pace effort on the treadmill. It's not my favourite place to run, but it lets me set the pace exactly where I want it. The effort was good. I was worked, but not hammered, when I finished. Still over three months of work to put in, so there's lots of time to extend the runs and add a bit more speed.

Run: 6 miles @ 7.6 mph

Consfearacy

Just my usual Friday weights session, before getting set for another weekend of runs.

Upper body - horizontal: light
Bear 2x4/75 lbs
Row 2x20/85 lbs
Diamond pushup 2x25
Prehab circuit x12

Reading is FUNdamental

Under normal circumstances, reading comprehension is a strength for me. I have good retention, and understand most concepts. Every once in a while, though, my brain will substitute some information into the place of what I think I thought I knew. Tonight is one such occassion.

As written, my plan for tonight was 3x15 min at 315w, which is 105% of FTP. After fighting to finish the second rep, I was only able to do 307w for the last one. Disappointed with the struggling, I checked my Training and Racing with a Power Meter and discovered that what is normally prescribed is 2x15 min @ 96-105%, so I was overcooking the effort. If there's any lesson to learn from Daniels, it's to do the minimum amount of work to stress the intended system. That's not what happened tonight.

I also found I was really struggling through the ends of the efforts, to the point of shifting position every 15-20 seconds to generate more power with "rested" muscle groups. I think I might be better served by reducing my wattage target, and focusing on maintaining solid form through the whole interval. I don't do this as much on the road, more on the trainer, but it's a bad habit, and won't serve me well in the future.

Bike: 90 min, warm-up, one-leg drills, 2x15 min @ 315w w/ 10 min rest, 1x15 min @ 307w, cooldown
Run: 2 miles @ 6.5 mph

Out to Sea

Let me start with my afternoon workout, which was another session in the weight room. Things went pretty well. I noticed I've started to develop a bit of a kip with pullups, so I focused on remaining really strict. This made things tougher (along with my amazingly increasing weight), but at least the reps stayed where they were. I'm stagnating a bit, so after my next rest week, I might change some things up to break through the plateau.

Upper body - vertical: medium
Chaosbringer 2x4/75 lbs
Pullups 2x9, 1x7/unweighted
Military press 3x10/65 lbs

After dinner, some reading, and the start of hockey season, I was off to the pool. If I'm going to become a triathlete, I guess I need to work on that third sport. There was some good news as I went into the building, that as of October 15 the city of Toronto will be opening community centres on Mondays for public use. So, if I'm willing to tape Heroes, I can get in an extra swim for the next few weeks. No decisions made, but will see what happens.

After paying my fee, getting changed, and fighting with the locker (it made an extra 25 cents of my stupidity), it was off to the pool. I need to reiterate at this point, I'm no swimmer. I can stay afloat, even in deep water. I can move myself far enough from the boat for a deep-water water-skiing start. But I haven't had to string together more than 5 strokes at any point in the last 20+ years. The pool was roped into three lanes: slow, fast, medium. Not deluding myself, I started in the slow lane. I pulled my goggles over my eyes (which is a bit disconcerting the first time), ducked under and pushed off.

In my more dreamy moments, I had the thoughts that I'd glide effortlessly through the water, right from the first entry. My stroke would be solid and smooth, and as I passed the wall after finishing my first mile, I'd be summoned from the water by a national team coach and begged to join the Olympic squad.

That didn't happen.

Instead, I thrashed madly for 50m until I reached the far wall. I wanted to remember my TI cues, but I was a lot more focused on getting oxygen and continuing forward progress at all costs. I rested for a bit, then made my way back. During this length, I made an important discovery. I had been struggling to breathe, almost hyperventilating, gasping for air every time I tilted my head out of the water. Then I realized that I didn't need to exhale and inhale with my face out of the water. I could exhale under water, opening up more time for inhalation, and deeper breaths. This worked brilliantly. I wonder if the Olympic coaches know this trick. During my third lap, the lifeguard caught my attention and said I could move to the medium lane, since I was a bit fast for the slow lane. Look at me, already promoted!

I moved over to the medium speed lane, and with a bunch of significant rest breaks, struggled my way through another 500m of swimming. I was still faster than anyone else in that lane, but that's because my panic-driven style was only good for 50m at a time. At this point, I was starting to tire, and although I wouldn't say that my form was breaking down (how much worse could it get?), I had had a good workout, and felt it was better to leave before I ingrain too many bad habits. 600m total, done as 12x50m. Not much by any real standard, but enough for the first time out.

Let's take a moment to review the situation:
Goal #1: Don't drown. Accomplished. I'm writing this, aren't I?
Goal #2: Make Olympic team. Failed. For now.

I have a lot to work on. I know this. Here's the greatest hits package of things to work on. (If I tried to list it all, there would be no more room on the internet.)
1. My solid, smooth stroke is not solid, nor smooth. If this were kung-fu, it would be the Flailing Monkey style. Imagine tossing a small chimp in a river, and you have a good idea of what I'm doing.
2. I'm going too fast. I have no patience for gliding (keeping me from "swimming long"), and I kick too hard (a product of "kick like a motor boat" lessons as a youngster). I need to slow down and relax. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
3. I'm pretty sure I'm too right-sided. My right arm seemed to do most of the work, and rolling onto my right side out of the water was much easier.
4. Assorted minor things like pointing my toes, elbow drop and others, which will become a concern much further down the road.

For next week, I'm going to jot down a couple of the TI drills to do. I will split time between drills and swimming. I will try for 800-1000m total, and at least once do 100m continuous (maybe 200m). I won't claim this is my new favourite sport, but it's an interesting challenge, and I can get a little mule-headed when presented with challenges. Olympic team, here I come.

Swim: 600m total.

Some days, it just clicks

Another really good day running. It was still a bit humid from today's rain, but coolish and calm otherwise. The legs felt good, and the pace was crisp right from the get-go. I stayed in my assigned HR zones, and set something of an unofficial pace record. According to Gmap Pedometer, my 3 mile loop is actually 3.14 miles (and who doesn't trust something that measures to the 1/10,000th of a mile), so doing it twice is over 6 1/4 miles. Although I don't run a timer, I did my run in under 54 minutes. That means my MAP is now under 9 min/mile. When I started this program 6 weeks ago, it was ~10 min/mile. It's always nice to have quantifiable improvement. I'd love to see mid 7s by marathon time. As has been commented, LSD FTW!

Run: 3 miles @ 145 bpm, 3 miles @ 150 bpm

Cry For Me Sky

Upper body - horizontal: heavy
Bear 2x4/75 lbs
Row 8x3/135 lbs
Pushup 8x3/30 lbs + 120 lbs tubing
Prehab circuit x12