run/bike/run

did something new tonight....ran/biked/ran....all indoors, but whatever, i did it!

so i did a 5 min warmup walk, 15 mins run. Then 40 mins on the bike. Then 25 mins on the dreadmill to finish off week 7 of coolrunning.com

Which means, that I am basically done with the couch to 5K running program now. Its time to ACTUALLY RUN a 5K. Yay!!!! Time to go outdoors! Maybe....its SNOWING again...haha

ah well, i will get out when i get out.

I am feeling a bit more prepared for my first race, a duathlon March 22nd down in Brooklyn's prospect park. I know I can do one half of the run distance. The bike is whatever, as LONG as I get onto the bike OUTSIDE!!! its getting really frustrating. Sunday is supposed to be nice-r. Cold, and windy. I think I just gotta suck it this time. HTFU!

Speaking of which, this video comes to mind. So funny!

My tri bike should hopefully be done tomarrow afternoon.

tried to swim last night

Did about 44 lengths before I just had to stop because my arm pits were getting so raw. I mean RAW. I am gonna try body glide next time, but if that wears off, i am basically screwed...ah well.

I am off in a couple hours to get fitted onto some time trial bars and a new seat post. Also gotta sign up for a few more races today.

Maybe I will bike and run tonight. We shall see.

new shoes!

Oh its like riding a brand new bike, yet your feet thank you better than your back.

I bought some Mizuno Wave Rider 11 's. Sweet shoe.

I have worn New Balance for the past.....well forever...so I had no idea what it meant to wear another brand. I tried on 3 shoes when I went to the running store. First I tried on some Asic's, which were super light and the first thing that I noticed was this incredible bounce in my stride. Then I tried on some New Balance, which felt like I was wearing bricks. Finally I tried on the the Mizuno's, which were much lighter than the New Balance and had tons more support than the Asics. In fact I did one final run with both the Asics and Mizunos on and I felt like the Asics were like moccasins they were so light. So I went with the Mizunos.

As for my workout tonight...~50 mins on the bike, which @ one point my quads tensed up...something I havent felt in awhile....i guess its a good thing.

As for the run, the mental part of running 25 mins on the dreadmill is a pain the butt. I have found that while watching commercials that if I tally up how much seconds each spot is as they come on and total the time, it makes time fly. I am wierd I know....

But I did the run. My feet don't feel as trashed, same with my knees. I still need to break the shoe in.

I am also thinking about starting to suck it up and run in the AM again. This dreadmill thing has got to end!

bike and run

whatever bike ride...

25 mins on dreadmill...easier than last time

good news, friday is the day that i bring in my frame and get it hooked up with aero bars!

also, my new blue seat came in...wrong one...but still sweet

rode indoors and finished week 6 running

First the biking indoors...whatever

I tried to use my zones, but they are crap when riding on the indoor bike....i couldn;t get my heart rate above 120 ish...i really need to be outdoors to use them effectively. I remember when I did get outdoors that I was having the hardest time of the life keeping my heartrate BELOW a certain level that I had to work really HARD at to keep above.

Can't wait to get outside, which should be this sunday...maybe...the weather should be nice, but who knows about the roads. We got dumped on today with 6 inches of snow.

Now for the run, I felt like a machine @ times. I did 5 min walk, 25 min run, 5 mins walk. So no more walk running anymore. It is just strictly running from here on out.

got my heart rate zones

Altheus sent me my heart rate zones and VO2 max yesterday. Pretty cool stuff! So here goes:

Zone 1: 142-152
Zone2: 152-161
Zone3: 161-170
Zone4: 170-180
Zone5: 180-188

My VO2 max is 50.3 and I was generating 210 WATTS of powers at my max heart rate of 188.

swam a mile tonight

what the subject said. and I swallowed a mouth full of water on the last lap, dang! haha

so yeah, 72 laps, which is 1.0227272727272727272727272727273 miles, sorry.

i felt like i could keep going, but i needed to stop to save energy for tomorrow night, which will be 40 -60 mins on teh bike (using correct heart rate zones!) and then a 25 min non stop run.

Its supposed to snow/sleet all day tomorrow (come on! get warm!) but sunday is supposed to be around 40 and sunny. Hopefully the roads will be all better by then so i can get in ~48 miles.

had my anaerobic threshold test done

So finally the weather cooperated and I was able to get down to altheus and get my anaerobic threshold tested so that I can have some correct training zones. Unfortunately their printer was down and I still haven't received an email copy of the zones yet, so nothing to share. Its ok, I am not going to use the zones tonight as I worked pretty hard during the test.

I had a mask/ventilator put on my head and I breathed into it so that the computer system can monitor my oxygen in and CO2 out. All the while he would ask me everything 3 mins what exertion level I was at on a scale of 1 -10 then he would increase the resistence. By the end I was at a 10 and my max heart rate rose to a final number of 190. Funny how that number is nothing when I run. He mentioned that if you had aprox 5-10 more beats you can roughly get your max running heart rate, but its just an approximation but not worth it since running is not my specialty, hence why I tested on the bike.

It is recommended that I do the test again about 2 weeks before my big race for the season, which will be August 16th. That way I will know at what heart rate I should race at to achieve optimal performance.

Hey, let the numbers do the talking!

swim and week 6.2 run

Didnt want to kill myself 2nite with the swim, as I am going to try for a mile on thursday. So I did 50 laps in 45 mins. Im getting there but I am noticing that my form is not really that great. Funny how the more you swim the more you concentrate on your form....duh!

The run was good, 5 min walk, 10 min run, 3 min walk, 10 min run, 5 min walk. Felt great, can't wait to finish the full 3 miles in a couple of weeks AND i can't wait to get outdoors. I think attempting to do 3 miles indoors is gonna crush my motivation. I think I am gonna check out some warm weather running clothes. It doesnt seem all that bad and a lot of folks say that running out in the cold is a LOT easier than biking, cuz you dont have as much cold wind resistence hitting your body, plus your whole body is moving making you warmer.

I had my folks bring down my second bike over the weekend. Basically it has an awesome frame (aluminum, but as light as my carbon fiber bike (cuz the front and rear forks are carbon)), but the rest needs to be replaced cuz its still the leftovers from a crash that I had back in '99. I mean, everything works, just its time to replace some things, and UPGRADE!!! I am gonna do before and after pictures.

Tomarrwo night is my AT test, FINALLY....guess what, its supposed to snow again! blah...

did some (good) damage 2nite

did 1:38 tonight on the bike and run

bike was whatever

i felt good enough to start week 6 of coolrunning.com

was starving by the end...i mean REALLY starving

whatever, i felt like i made tons of progress tonight. My calves are sore...which is good

taking tomorrow off

or maybe a walk around the neighborhood; i haven't checked to see if they ever finished the running track down the road

swim and ran

My swim tonight sucked....i felt outa form and winded. I swam once last week and so far once this week. I can't believe my breathing has gone out the window this fast. I bought a kick board and tested it out....my kick sucks..

ok, enough mental garbage, the worst workouts are your best because they show REALLY show what you need to work out....MORE TIME IN THE POOL!

My run was going great, until with about 1-2 mins left i hit the emergency stop button by accident and couldn't get the f-ing dreadmill going again. MAN!

So I jumped to my left into the other dreadmill and got going again, doing and extra minute or so. Ah well. At least I finished week 5 of coolrunning.com

I signed up for the Herriman state park triathlong today for june 8th. That will prolly be my first for the season. Time to start looking into wet suits cuz the water is gonna be FREEZING! At least I will be swimming in fresh water....

an hour on the bike

I felt like I have been neglecting the bike lately...i mean, not being able to go outside just sucks, and i guess riding indoors just isnt the same....well it isnt but I still need to put time on on the bike.

So I put in an hour. 20 min @ ~60% MHR, then 20 min with rolling % MHR, and then another 20 min @ ~60+ MHR.

My butt hurts.

Tonight before the workout I attended a heart heart dinner/talk that talked about using a heart rate monitor. Let's just say the presenter had a hard time staying on topic and let the audience completely take over and skew him waaaaaaay off topic. Didn't learn much new stuff, but I am going to read the pamphlet he gave out. Ah well, you learn from your mistakes. @ least the $20 covered dinner!

week 5.2 tonight

5 min warm up walk, 8 min run, 5 min walk, 8 min run, 5 min warm down walk.

The run was super easy....probably because I rested from last friday, when I did a short run for week 5.1.

Some nasty weather blew in so I had to reschedule my threshold test. Doh!

Tomorrow night I am heading up to listen to a talk about training with a heart rate monitor. I am starting to get all of this, just need some reinforcement to make it all "click."

60 laps tonight

What the title of this post says....60 laps or .85 miles. I fell 11 laps short of a mile. Ah well, I had to be somewhere (like watch LOST :) ).

The thing that I was most proud of tonight is that I swam 6 laps then rested, as opposed to 4. I am definately making progress in the pool. I just need to up the frequency of going to the pool.

I made an appointment with altheus for an anaerobic threshold (AT) test for next tuesday. I will put my bike onto a computrainer where they will monintor my breathing, heart rate and watts output. Over a 30 minute test they will determine my AT and I will be able to set my heart rate zones to start some serious training. Fortunately I am still in sorta a base training mode right now, so I am not worried too much about those higher zones, but I would rather have it now for when I do start those higher zones.

I watched 2007 Kona today. What an inspiration! A blind 60 year old guy (with a guide) completed the race. A guy with no legs on prosthetics completed the race. A 65 year old great grandmother completed the race. One day....one day....haha

I remember watching the race back in the late 90's and thinking, "Haha, riiiiiiiiight." Now I am itching to do that race....one day.

Gotta finish a 3mile/20 mile/3mile duathlon first....

finished week 4 running

I finished week 4 of running. Went too fast on the dreadmill @ first. I slowed it down @ the end and felt a LOT better. I also did the usual 40 mins on the bike. I think I am going to start tossing it up a bit and do more intensity a few times a week.

Here is a link to last saturday's ride. I think we went a slightly different route around greenwich and that is why we did almost 40 miles as opposed to the 37 and change mapmyride says. Whatever, it was a good ride (except for that crash of course).

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ny/armonk/132451929

I found place down the road www.altheus.net that will give me an aerobic threshold test for $150. They can't do a lactate threshold test but from the sounds of it this will probably yield the results that I am looking for. Plus they won't have to prick me for blood every couple of minutes. Yay!

maybe lactate threshold isnt such a bad thing

I have been avidly visiting and postin on beginnertriathlete.com for about a week now. I have learned TONS of new info. I think the most signifigant info that I have learned is that finding your max heart rate is unnessecary. Apparently the "sprint till ya puke" method is crap. Its unreliable and unnessecary at the same time.

Sooooo, back to the lactate threshold test. I guess I can do the test in one of my heart rate training books, but I would like to fork out a bit of $$$ and get it tested professionally. Do it right and do it right the first time, so no more second guessing and stupid unessesary tests.

I have taken 2 days off in a row. GASP! ah well, i need to clean my place. I think pigs live in less clutter than I do right now. haha

A clean home is a clear mind.

40 miler and a nasty crash

I did a 40 mile group ride today. Cold at the start but it warmed up to about 50 by the end. Unfortunately, the ride was ultimately plagued by a nasty crash by one of the guy's on the ride. We were on a windy downhill with quick ups and he was out in front behind the leader. I was in the third position about a curve behind him and when I came around the curve all I saw was a bike on the ground and guy on his back, not moving.

A squirrel had run out into the road just as he was passing and got caught up in his spokes, bringing him down. Because his bike was a good 10-20 feet from his body it looked like he was going @ a pretty good clip when the squirrel collided with his wheel bringing him down while he seperated from this bike. He must have stopped while the bike continued to slide across the road.

When I approached, I got quickly off my bike and went to see how he was doing. The guy who was out in front was already there attending to him. Unfortunately he was having a hard time breathing and was complaining that he could not feel much.

When I came up to his bike the squirrel's stomach had come completely out of its body and was laying about 5-10 feet from its body which was wrapped up in the spokes and was clearly dead. I thought the head had been decapitated by the angle I was looking at it but that was just the hole in its chest from where the stomach had popped out. Quite a biology lesson.

The cops and ambulance eventually arrived and took him to the hospital. Poor guy. He was 61 and was the strongest rider in the group. I hope he has a speedy recovery.

As for the ride itself I felt strong most of the way. I felt my legs a lot towards the end of the ride which ended on some ok sized hills. I still have to remind myself that I have never been out this early in the season riding this much and that for the amount of riding that I have been doing outdoors that I am feeling pretty dang strong. As long as the weather cooperates, I am hoping for a strong start to the season. I just need to keep my motivation up.

went outside today

I got outside today. It was a bit raw, but it was a HUGE relief to get outside. Indoors just.....sucks.

The goal for today was to find my max heart rate, which I totally failed @ getting. I didn't want to do the "sprint till ya puke" method because I am riding 40 miles tomarrow down to Greenwich. However, I realized that I am going to need to use this method to find my max heart rate. I have been reading some less extreme methods @ finding the rate, but they just seem too inaccurate. For example, I had to run until I could somewhat recite a 30 second passage. So I did just that. Then you take that number(which happened to be 184) and divide it by .8. So that means that my max rate rate is 230. WHAT!!!!!

230!!!!!

Thats a load of BS!!! haha

What this means? All of the % heart rate training that I have been doing on the bike is crap. I was doing testing throughout the bike portion of my workout today where I would try my darndest to ride in the 60-70% zone. I was riding on a flat section, in my easiest gear going pretty dang slow and not feeling very little resistence and my rate was coming out @ 70+%. Thats crap....

Fortunately it is so early in the season that just gettting out and riding is enough that I do not need to rely on the numbers from the heart rate monitor.

I did week 4.2 of coolrunning.com. The run was good. I felt the "chicken legs effect" from transitioning from the bike to the run. There is HUGE difference between biking and running indoors and outdoors. I am actually kinda scared that if I getmyself up to 3 miles running indoors that when I finally transition outdoors I might need to go backwards a bit. We shall see. Regardless, It felt GREAT running outdoors.

Also, I swam 50 laps last nite.... .71 miles. My arms are sore today, which is a good thing because thats the first time I have actually had sore arms after swimming. I guess I have two goals right now for swimming. Keep increasing the volume, but also be able to swim a quarter mile without stopping and not feel wasted. Then when I accomplish that, go for a half mile without stopping.

I think on monday or maybe wednesday I am gonna shoot for going .125 miles without stopping and take it from there.