ass kicker spin class

Got it handed to me as usual last night at spin class. I was using my TT bike again, and my coach pointed out that my aero position can be made better. Sweet!

The main set of spinning was utterly brual. Basically 90 seconds above LT, then 90 seconds rest.....7X's!!!!! Oh man, the first and fifth hurt the hardest. Amazing how if you can just concentrate on something and stay focused on it, how much it makes the pain hurt a teeny bit less.

Then I was like, phew the hard part is over. WRONG! 90 seconds more of the same thing but in one easier gear, then 45 seconds back to the same LT intensity, then 45 MORE seconds at an even harder gear. Yeah.......OUCH!

fast dreadmill run

33 mins on the dreadmill, with lotsa intervals. It was good to be indoors running! I did about 3.5 miles. Intervals are the way to go!

5 min WU
2 min speed increase with incline increase
4X (30 seconds fast, 90 seconds recover)
1 min fast, 1 min recover
2 min fast, 2 min recover
3 min fast, 3 min recover
2 min fast, 2 min recover
1 min fast, 1 min recover

coooooold ride!

it was freaking cold this morning....sub 30, which isnt bad for running, but for biking it is so cold because of the wind factor. 3 miles out of the gate i couldn't feel my fingers, and once the feeling started to return, they started to burn like nothing else! finally they settled back to normal and I was good to go from there. Man that burned!

We only did about 26 miles in an hour and 50 mins, so we were averaging like 14.5 miles/hour, and we are both fast riders. It was just so freaking cold!

I actually used my time trial bike for the first time in about 2 months because my road bike is in the shop getting a new headset. The headset on that bike kept freezing up, and when they opened it up yesterday the bearing cage completely dissolved! Yikes!

But it was good to be back on the TT bike...I felt totally comfy on it and riding the 25 miles didn't hurt even though I was not in the TT position for 99% of the ride. I did get onto a flat section where I was booking a constant 25-26 mph average. I like that!

dreadmill run

First run in exactly a week. Oops! Never felt like I stopped running, which is good. I did the usualy 30 mins of boredom. Thankfully there are intervals.

a moderate spin class

We did mostly strength training last night. Mostly it was sets of 60 rpm @ a high resistance. I prefer this over the fast stuff. The last 5 30 second sets were the hardest of the night. Basically it was the same resistance, but building ever 5 seconds until the last 5 seconds are all out. My heart rate got up there pretty high.

Now I gotta get back to running, something I haven't done in almost a week! Yikes!

a tough swim class

We were worked pretty hard tonight at class. I am really sore right now. Basically we are learning how to make our stroke as long as possible, so we are using muscles that we aren't used to using. I got a few pointers on fixing my squiggly right arm on my pull; I should not force it and just pull lighter.

I am going to do an endurance swim this week so that I am not dying so fast at class.

wiiiiiiindy long ride

Today's long ride was very windy. So much so that at times I wondered if I would get blown off of my bike! This ride went over a couple of race routes, so it was strange to be back on these roads and not be at a race pace.

This is also the longest ride I have done I think since I last crashed last July. My legs felt fine and I was zooming up the hills. Perhaps now that I am 14 pounds lighter on the bike that it is helping me go faster? I think its due to how I have been constantly keeping my shape up.

We did 47.7 miles at about a 15mph pace, kinda slow, but it was because of the wind and the hills. Here is the profile for this ride:

short

Short swim last night, like 850 yards in 22 mins (yeah crappy time, but it was all drills).

Then this morning I was determined to get out for a short spin. It ended up being 40 mins in drizzle. Blah...nocked off 11.5 miles with a 16.5 mph average. Whatever, its keeping my legs moving.

ran a bit longer than had anticipated

aka, I took a wrong turn. oops! I only ran an extra half mile, so no biggie. I did 6.77 miles in an hour flat. My feet are a bit sore. I haven't ran this far in about 3 weeks, so I think I have lost some of that longer endurance. I think I am going to try to put in 1 10K per week until the season starts in January.

the timing is getting better

Hit the pool tonight for 37 mins, working on drills drills and more drills. So one thing my coach has been harping on me is my timing with my arms, especially when my left arm enters and my right arm catches and pulls. I keep my right arm out too long. So tonight I did a bunch of drills that MADE me pull my right arm earlier. Then when I would practice the timing during normal swimming, I was getting it. I found a constant rhythm from right arm to left arm, etc. Now I gotta get my catch and pull looking better, as those two things look like utter poo.

a difficult swim

Tonight nothing was clicking at my swim class. I think everyone was struggling too. This is ok, though. I think in 1-2 weeks it will click and everyone is gonna look like different swimmers. We are all starting to realize our specific faults with our swim techniques and we know how to fix it, we just gotta get out there and do it.

I HAVE to get to the pool 2-3 times more this week to make this stuff stick! Plus I WILL watch my swim DVD a few more times to review and to see proper technique.

a good ride and an 80's style run

Saturday morning I went out and did a 34 mile loop. The first half I felt like crap and wasn't sure how this was going to pan out, as I haven't done this distance in months. By the 2nd half, my climbing legs finally kicked in and I started flying.

This was also my first ride in a LONG time where I was riding with a computer that told me how fast I was going and at what cadence I was spinning at. Its cool to see that I can maintain a cool 20 mph on the flats, and can get up to 28 mph on the flats when pushing it at or around my AT/LT. :)

As for cadence, spinning at 100 RPM is really not that hard and I was naturally doing that. Yay!

Here is the elevation profile:

And then yesterday I was up in a hotel in Massachuesets where their gym had these old 1980's style treadmills. They had a sign that said "dont go over 6 mph". Was this because the thing was so old that it would break over 6MPH or its too loud? I had the place to myself so I went over 6 MPH. The thing held up, but it got boring afterwhile since I was staring at a wall for 30 mins. I'm looking forward to getting back outside.

fast run

My friend and I did a fast paced run today. He led and I shadowed his pace. He is a much faster runner so it was good to be challenged, especially now that I have a solid running base. Here is the elevation profile for today:


So this mean that he pushed me up and down the hills. We were going pretty fast down the first hill, which meant that we then went pretty fast back UP that hill. I was huffing and puffing by the top of it. I definately went over my lacate threshold, which is good.

a constructive swim and a day off

Last night I went to the pool and put in a solid 1300 yards in under 40 mins, all drills. I basically redid my swim class from Monday night. Basically I was trying to get rid of that wonky S shaped wild swing that I do with my right arm stroke. I need to rotate more when catching and pulling with my left arm to set up my right arm. If my body is too flat before my right arm, I will do the wild swing thing. Also, I need to widen the entry of my right arm more. I had some luck, and when I wasn't paying attention, I would go back to bad habits. I think I am figuring out how to nip this technique error.

I am taking today completely off. My knees have been bugging me, especially during some kicking drills last night. Also I am noticing it while climbing stairs. I think a day off will not only strengthen me, but will help the joints heal a bit.

3.87 mile run, and new elevation maps!

Did a quick 3.87 miles this morning, with ~.75 miles of it being on the Greenway trail, which is totally AWESOME to run on now that there is enough light in the morning to be able to see where I am going. I am looking forward to running on it again. To get to it you have to go down a hill, then to get back from finishing it, you have to go back up the same ridge, just on a steeper but shorter incline.

So I was curious to see how steep it really is, so I mapped it @ mapmyride.com and to my surprise they have a new elevation profile with color coded elevation %'s. Sweet! Here is today's run profile:

And as an extreme, Mt Ventoux!


Finally, I weighed in today and I weigh a measly 732 pounds. I think my scale is broken. I did weigh myself in after Saturday's run and I broke 160 and was down to 159.5. Thats down 14 pounds for '08!

an easier spin class

sorta easier. I don't think I had the correct amount of resistance by about 10%, so I couldn't get into as hard of a gear.......oooooorrrrr, it hurt but I was putting out some awesome power? I did .1 more miles in the same amount of time as last week, so what does that mean? I don't know. I am looking forward to metering my output with power, that should tell once and for all if I am putting out enough output.

Run early tomorrow AM.

I am feeling good though! (with no pressure!)

run and swim

Yesterday morning I hit the dreadmill for 30 mins. Did some intervals, with an interval @ a 7:30 min/mile pace for 30 seconds. I felt like I hit a peak yesterday, and that was coming off of my 8:25 min/mile pace from Saturday AM's run, I think my running form has hit a new level. I just need to start extending my distances again to a 10K level.

Then I had my 4th swim class last night. Things are starting to click except for my right arm stroke. I do this really wierd S curved thing that was ingrained into me when I learned how to swim as a kid. Unfortunately I take it to a new level and make it look extreme. I will be doing one arm strokes this week for sure.

8:25 min/miles

Felt like crap this morning, but I wanted to get another run in to make it 3 runs in 3 days. I did 4.17 miles in 35:07, or 8:25 min/miles. Wow! I REALLY felt like crap, but I knew I had another gear to go faster. Hmmmmm, running more often will make you go faster? Noooooooo!