A Breakthrough Weekend!

First! If you haven't seen or entered my "Unusual But VERY EXCITING Giveaway" yet, please do so! I am giving away a signed "Rio" poster, signed by the folks who made the movie, aka, ME :) You have 4 chances to win it!

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This past weekend was the weekend I had been waiting for all season: The weekend where every workout is an uber success.

Saturday was another 2.5 hour ride followed by a 4 mile brick run. Sunday was a 1:45:00 min run. Lots of volume. So what are the options? 1) Sandbag the ride and brick run to save the legs for the long run? 2) Kill the legs on the ride and brick run and sandbag the long run? OR! 3) Kill your legs on the ride and brick run then murder your legs on the long run?

I went with option #3 :)

I went farther and faster on a hillier and MUCH windier ride than the previous weekend's long ride, ran faster on the brick run, then almost PR'ed my half marathon run on the long run.

It was a good weekend :)

Saturday's ride came out as 50.67 miles in 2:37:10 for a 19.34 mph avg. The wind on the way back was brutal! I was getting blown all over the road and every time a gust would nail me I would scream as loud as I could. The wind was really killing my speed averages, especially on the flats and even on some downhills. Nothing more frustrating then riding downhill and feeling like you are riding through molasses.

So my power average came out as 185 watts with 199 watts normalized. This was vs the previous weekend's ride of 178 watts @ 18.68 mph, but 3+ miles shorter and on a flatter route. Already within a week my body is responding to the long rides and is improving. Not quite there yet on the bike, but getting closer!

By the time I finished the bike, I thought my legs were just toast and that this brick run was going to suuuuuuuuuuuck. So I just started running, keeping an easy-ish pace. My legs responded well! I finished with 4 miles in 30:45 for a 7:41 pace. Splits came out as:
Mile 1: 7:48
Mile 2: 7:42
Mile 3: 7:38
Mile 4: 7:35

Woke up Sunday morning to some fresh-ish feeling legs and ran around Central Park 2X. After ~2.5 miles that rain storm that socked the Northeast got me and it was rainy-city for the next 10.6 miles. I don't mind running in the rain! Some of my best runs have been in the rain because it keeps your body cooled down. I wound up with 13.1 miles in 1:45:45, so 26 secs slower than my half marathon PR. Coach wanted me to run with a heart rate between 150-160 bpm, and I did it with a 155 average. Good to know what that heart rate zone will yield.

My splits came out as (before my GPS distance crapped out on me):
Mile 1: 8:38
Mile 2: 8:06
Mile 3: 8:23
Mile 4: 8:09
Mile 5: 7:53
Mile 6: 7:50
Mile 7: 7:52
Mile 8: 7:48
Mile 9: 8:03
Mile 10: 7:48

Then mile 11 showed a 6:37 pace and I had slowed down by that point so I knew it wasn't tracking distance correctly anymore. Fortunately I know that each loop around the park is 6.05 miles, so once I hit loop #2 @ 12.1 miles, I estimated a 0.5 mile out and 0.5 mile back, which surprisingly was accurate when I checked it on mapmyride.com! I love running around Central Park :)

Last week was some nice, but faster volume, especially on the run:
Swim: 8300 yards
Bike: 90 miles
Run: 36.46 miles

Hope you had a great weekend!

Confidence Building Workout and a Week in Review

This past weekend was nothing but outdoors! It was great! High 30's/low 40's temps never felt so good!

On Saturday I saw glimpses of my former self; I did a 2.5 hour OUTDOOR ride followed by a 4 mile brick run. Although this ride was on paper not the fastest ride I have ever done in that amount of time, it did quell a lot of self doubt that I have been feeling about myself on the bike. I saw wattage numbers that I haven't seen since August that I was able to sustain for a short period of time. For me, seeing those numbers and the way my body was able to recover mid ride really boosted my internal confidence.

I wound up with 47.09 miles in 2:31:15 for an 18.68 mph avg. Not bad considering I have 6 weeks left to fine tune the bike.

Then I ran a 4.05 miler done in 31:58 which also helped put down those confidence demons. My splits came out as:
Mile 1: 8:00
Mile 2: 7:53
Mile 3: 8:02
Mile 4: 7:44

I am still finding that I run fastest after a long ride.

The weather on Saturday was in the high 30's, but with little wind. Fortunately I wore some thicker socks so my feet didn't get as cold as two weeks ago. It was a VERY good day!

And even better I got home and my beef roast was done in the crock pot!!!!

All American Dinner!

Sunday's run was prescribed as 90 mins at a steady pace. It didn't turn out to be the best long run ever, but I did pick a pretty hilly course. I got the run in, and that was all that mattered. Wound up with 10.33 miles in 90 mins for an 8:42 avg pace. I actually weighed myself post run and came in @ 140.8 pounds. I'm down almost 10 pounds for the year! I swear I am eating TONS of food!

So this past week was a good one! It was week #8 in the training schedule. Here are my #'s:
Swim: 9000 yards
Bike: 100.27 miles (two outdoor bikes, two on the trainer)
Run: 31.35 miles
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~13.5 total hours of training

After this past week, my fears are a LOT calmer now about the 70.3 down in Galveston in April. I know I could do a HIM today if I had to, but I always like to execute all of my future races better and faster than past races. I don't want to do Galveston with the excuse of it being a "training race" or a "benchmark of where I am in the season race." I want to race this one as a "race" that will obliterate my body! I want to go into this one 100% knowing that it will be bad execution that will lead to a bad day rather than my legs not being 100%.

As long as the weather holds up during March and I can get in a quality long ride every week, I think I will hit this goal.

My favorite stroll through Greenwich and Google calendar ROCKS

When it comes to training, I am ALWAYS talking about the weather. It determines where you are going, what you are wearing, and sometimes how hard you can go.

Take for today: Another bright and sunny 45 degree day. Is winter over with? It IS January 18th, right?!?!?

Well, coincidentally I had to bike for 90 mins today so this is one of those days that I call PERFECT. There was no need to time trial anything so I brought out the road bike. Its been a long time since I rode over the border into ritzy Greenwich, so I went out onto one of my favorite 26 mile courses:




I just cruised nice and easy. This course is so wonderful because it offers rollers, some steep pitches, and some nice long flat straightaways. Not to mention a number of $10 million dollar houses. There is a $95 million estate available a mile from this route if anyone is interested!

I also want to give a shout out to Kevin @ ironmanbythirty.com for hooking me up with this totally kick@$$ google calendar (almost) widget.


Check out his site and send him a comment if you want instructions on a how-to to get this going. I use this blog as my training center and I am constantly looking at my calendar to see what I have to do currently and in the near future. This calendar widget just made it 100's easier and clearer. I *heart* Google!

Outdoor TT/new FTP test. PLEASED!!!

It hit 45 degrees today with sunny and windless conditions. Score! aka perfect time trial conditions :)

And boy did I take advantage of the conditions! I went out to Time Trial heaven and did an 8.5 mile TT to put up some solid #'s, especially for this time of season. I feel like I have redeemed myself from Wednesday night's FTP test.

I was SO HAPPY to get outside on the bike today, that I had to take a picture of my bike prior to doing battle:

*WARNING, I am about to totally NERD OUT!*
So the time trial was 8.5 miles, took me 22:39 for a speed average of 22.37 mph for an average wattage of 230 watts. MUCH better performance than Wednesday night. Subtract 5%, and my new FTP is 218.5 watts, which is in line with last year, but I am 7 pounds lighter (currently 158), which makes my power to weight ratio @ 3.05. So in reality, I am ahead of this time last year. SCORE!


So now to talk about reality. That power to weight ratio # is OK. Its not super great. But thats ok! It gives me something to work towards. According to this chart, I am at the middle-bottom of a CAT 4 cyclist. A goal that I would like to work towards in time for Timberman next August 22nd, is to lose 10 pounds and increase my FTP to the low 230's. That would bump me up into the low end of Cat 3. Its a goal!

8 months to lose 10 pounds? Is it possible? (hide the chocolate basket!)

FTP test and a pyramid swim

I train with power on the bike. In fact, I use a PowerTap as the rear hub on my rear wheel. It can be a really nifty (and expensive!) bike computer, or it can be used correctly to give you improvements on the bike.

Since training with power is based upon watts, you need a base. That base is your FTP, or functional threshold power. In human terms, its a wattage # that you can hold for 60 mins. To improve that threshold, you need to not only ride a lot, but also ride above that # to increase your threshold.

I did my first FTP test of the season today, and my magic number came out to be 200 even. Sweet! Even number!

Not so sweet that it is 20 watts lower than this time last year :(

No problem, its something to work towards to improve. So this number will determine what watts I need to ride to recover, go smooth, or go hard without burning a match. Last season, I found that I used it to limit myself during races, to save the legs for runs. I can take that number and use it to base what my wattage should be for the half ironman races I am competing in this year.

Here is the test via graph:
and specific 20 min test:
So the test consists of a 20 min warmup, 5 min @ an intense level to "open" the legs up, 10 mins EZ, then the 20 min test at a level you think you can sustain. Then a cool down.

After the 20 min test, you take the average watts (of only those specific 20 mins) then subtract 5%, because that is the estimate of what you would have done over a 60 min period. 211 watts - 5% = ~200 watts.

Ok, nerd stuff DONE! haha!

Earlier I did a pyramid swim today. Did everything on a 2 min base.
500 WU
100 EZ
200 EZ
300 EZ
400 (harder)
400 (try to beat the last 400)
300 (go hard if you can)
200 (go hard if you can)
100(fast!)
50 to get back and forth
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2550 total in 50 mins

So the intensity basically built throughout the entire swim where you were going your hardest (and possibly) the fastest by the end of the swim. The swim hurt like heck, but I could feel myself getting stronger as the swim went. This time last year a 1000 yard swim took 30 mins and was a long swim for me. I feel like a completely different swimmer!

Chock full O' workouts

Its go time! Monday marked the official start of "Base" training. Good bye prep period!

No more, "Oh well, I missed a workout because [fill in the blank]." No more missed workouts from here on out (if a miracle happens ;) )!

The next 12 weeks will define how big I go this season. Big meaning results. As long as I follow the plan and stay uber consistent, I should see the results that I am wanting. It's as simple as that! And the great thing about the base period is that it is all fairly low intensity; you just go and grind it out and gradually increase volume over time.

So after Saturday's 5 mile race, I took it easy for the rest of the day and slept. It felt gooood!

Sunday, I was on the trainer for 1:45:00. Used the TT bike and alternated between 5 mins sitting up, 5 mins in the aero position, and standing every 10 mins for a butt break. The legs were smooth and was in the Endurace zone (zone 2) for the entire time.


Monday was back into the pool @ lunch. Both Bob and I were NOT feeling 100%, so we did our best to get this much done:
500 WU
4 x 100
2 x 50
500
200 EZ
300 EZ
50 to get back and forth to clock side of pool
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2050 yards total

And since I could NOT get up Monday morning, I moved my trainer session to last night. I did another 1:13:xx.


After finishing around 10-ish, then stretching and showering, it was off to bed around 11-ish, only to get up @ 5:45 for 5 mile run up @ the Kensico Dam. (Yeah, tell me about it! sleep, workout, eat, stretch, shower, sleep, workout, eat, stretch, sleep.......and shower!)

We held 10 min miles......haha! Boy was that a change from 8:05's only a few days ago!

Got home for more stretching. I am finding that I have been spending a LOT of time stretching/foam roller/icing after every workout. Yes, it takes up a lot of time, but my knee is starting to feel more "normal" finally. The foam roller is a miracle device!

I go in for "THE ELBOW" tonight! Wish me luck!

REALLY good recipe, squeaky wheel and a swim

I combined two recipes together into a burrito that tastes just oh-so good! The first part is that spicy quinoa recipe mixed with a sweet potato veggie medley. Somehow quinoa and sweet potato go perfectly together and it mellows out the spice.

So make these two recipes first:

Vegetarian Grain and Bean Mix
(im going to chop this recipe in half next time I make it, it makes a LOT)
Grain Mix:
1/2 c Israeli couscous
1/4 c Orzo (green or red)
1/2 c Quinoa

Spice Mix:
2 tsp. Chipotle chili powder
2 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Granulated Garlic
1 tsp. Minced Onion
1 tsp. Kosher Salt

Bean Mix:
1 can black beans
1 4oz can chopped green chili

Use a 2:1 ratio for the liquid:grains. 2.5 cups in this case Add water (or vegetable stock for more flavor), spice mix, and grains to a pot and cook till all the water is absorbed or cooked off. Add the beans and green chili and stir. Viola!!!

Sweet potato veggie medley:
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed into 1" cubes
1 small red bell pepper, diced large
1 small red bell pepper, diced large
1 med zuccini, diced large
1 small onion, sliced
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
dried thyme powder
salt and pepper

combine veggies in a bowl and season with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. bake @ 375 for 45 mins or until sweet potato is soft

to combine the entire recipe together, i take 1/3 cup of quina mix and 1/3 cup of veggies, place in a large burrito shell, then cover with 1 oz shredded cheddar and 2 Tbsp of salsa. Wrap and nuke for 20 seconds. So yummy and it filled me for practically 5 hours.

Then for today's workouts:
Meant to do 60+ mins on the trainer this morning, but after the first 10 I couldn't take the squeaking of the wheel. I had on noise canceling headphones and I could still hear the squeak. I apologize to my neighbors if I woke you!

Turns out the rear tire's tread was completely flat and worn out, resulting in a near 90 degree ridge on either side of the tire. So I swapped out the front and rear tires and problem solved. *Note to self* replace front tire before going outside. After the time spent changing tires, I was able to get in another 20 mins before I was out of time.

Then I did a lunch time swim. No speed, just volume. Nothing too special.
1000 WU
3 x 500
50 CD
2550 total.

I was actually sore before the swim due to supporting myself while using the foam roller this past weekend. Who knew that its a pain machine AND an upper body workout all in one! ;)p

a running start to the new year, my cockpit setup, and do you like spicy?

I hit the ground running (literally) this year by putting in a short 3 miler to finish in 27 mins on the dot. It was 33 degrees outside....that temp actually feels warm now!

While watching hours of Ironman World Championships on the Universal Sports channel I got motivated to install my Speedfil hydration system onto the P2:

I tested it out on the trainer and I don't have to move my head to drink, only my left arm and hand. The tube clips in easily between my PowerTap computer and the aero bars. In my opinion, this beats Profile Design's aero drink and tube mounted and rear mounted water bottles. With my XLAB bento box, I think my setup is complete and will keep me in the aero position for the entire bike portion of a race. If anything, I will add a Gu flask mount.

Finally, here is a recipe a guy from work gave me. It sure is filling, and its SPICY!

Vegetarian Grain and Bean Mix

Grain Mix:
1/2 c Israeli couscous
1/4 c Orzo (green or red)
1/2 c Quinoa

Spice Mix:
2 tsp. Chipotle chili powder
2 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Granulated Garlic
1 tsp. Minced Onion
1 tsp. Kosher Salt

Bean Mix:
1 can black beans
1 4oz can chopped green chili

Use a 2:1 ratio for the liquid:grains. 2.5 cups in this case Add water (or vegetable stock for more flavor), spice mix, and grains to a pot and cook till all the water is absorbed or cooked off. Add the beans and green chili and stir. Viola!!!

I'm thinking of adding some salsa, shredded cheddar and sauteed bell peppers and onion and sticking it all inside a tortilla. Yum!

learning the backstroke

Not only did the PT tell me that I was "rounded" meaning that my shoulders slump in due to the fact that I work on a computer 8 hours a day but that I should learn the backstroke to open my chest up and develop some back muscles. Thats fine; I can do that. I started today in the pool with my super swimmer coworker, Bob.

Little did I know that learning the backstroke IMMEDIATELY improved my freestyle. I was shocked! Basically with the backstroke you are rotating your body and using your core to drive power and to whip your arms out of the water. I guess I was not rotating my body enough with the freestyle because I took that same concept and applied it and my freestyle rotation was soooooooooo much easier and better! I'll take it! So I am thinking of adding a little bit of backstroke to my warmups almost as a drill to improve rotation.

Then this morning at 'oh dark o'clock, I was on the trainer for 60 mins:


I watched Righteous Kill. Eh, ok movie; it kept me distracted.

a beat down in the pool and an indoor spin

I got 8.5 hours of sleep last night and I still couldn't get out of bed. Well after 20 mins of hitting sleep I did get out and hopped onto the trainer for 60 mins. Now I'm up! I just spun for spinning sake going off of RPE. I experimented with using my big ring vs the small ring at the same intensity. I guess I pushed some more watts? Regardless, I need to put more time in the saddle........which hurts SO BAD when the bike isn't flowing freely like out on the road. Again, I need more time in the saddle. These #'s are SUPER WAY low. haha!



Then for lunch, we went to the pool. No snapped goggles this time cuz I bought a brand new pair. This swim, for the type of shape that I am currently in, was a man-maker. I did 2500 yards and it HURT!

600 WU
6 x 300, fast on #'s 3 and 6
50 CD
50 mixed in there.

For the 300's, I went 5:19, 5:19, 5:14, 5:26, 5:26, 5:11. I saved the best for last and my arms simply felt stupid during the short cool down. Bob and I again reminisced about the 3000 yarders we would consistently put up in 60 mins late last spring. We WILL get back to that level! And Im looking forward to getting my 100 yard pace back down into the 1:3X's. Its great to have benchmarks this season!

season 3 begins!.....outside!

To kick start my 3rd season of Triathlon, I went outside this morning......on the bike! And it was 27 degrees! That is a new all time coldest temperature that I have biked in. Running in 27 degree weather is balmy; biking in it is a different story due to the extra wind resistance and your entire body isn't moving.

I was dressed appropriately and only had a few numb digits. First my nose and face went numb; but by the time that warmed up, my thumbs were numb. By the time my thumbs warmed up my toes were cold. Seems like the warm blood kept traveling. I had on a pair of thick wool/polyester hybrid socks and neoprene booties and I'm surpised it took to the end of the ride for my feet to go cold. Maybe I need to keep my shoes a bit looser to help with the circulation? I surely had enough warm stuff on around my feet.

I was staring at the trainer last night and realized that I didn't HAVE to ride the trainer. I can always go outside! I feel very victorious for putting up with the cold and putting in 17 miles.

Finally, my water bottle was almost frozen by the end ;)

bought the right bike

I did a 39 miler this morning on my Cervelo P2 time trial bike. This was the longest ride that I have done on it while staying in the aero position for most of the time. My back never got sore and my arms only hurt a little. In other words, THIS is the bike for me and this ride justified me buying this bike.

I did the same route as last Sunday but I started 5 miles sooner on the same road which meant I had 10 more miles of aero riding on some nice straight road.

Unfortunately I got a flat @ mile 17. My steering suddenly became sluggish, which is a sign that the front tire was going soft. Easy fix. If its the rear tire, your bike starts bouncing when you pedal.

I am in love with this route! You can just go for miles and miles while cranking it in the big ring while in the aero position. Gonna spend a long time on these roads next season.

yet another 18 miler, and a yummy greek-ish dinner

I hit up the same old same old 18 miler @ lunch. A bit colder today @ 53 degrees, but sunny and not a cloud in the sky = PERFECT RIDING WEATHER!

And I went a bit more adventurous for dinner tonight. I made a shrimp and feta tabbouleh knockoff. Instead of using bulger I used couscous instead, cuz you can cook it in about 5 mins. I boiled the shrimp. Here is the recipe. Warning: it has an explosion of flavor! (and its healthy :) )

a nice route discovery

This ride has been in my backyard for almost 4 years, and my stubborness of not looking for new areas to ride kept me from riding some roads that I rode 3 seasons ago that are more appropriate to time trialing than where I ride in Greenwich, CT. Gaaarrr!!!!

But now I have found it:



And the cool thing is that I can tag on another 5 miles of perfect time trial riding at the start, to add 10 more miles total of staying in the aero position. The amount of R&D that I am doing now BETTER pay off next season! haha!

As for today's ride, it was just what I expected. Lots of staying in the aero position and boy oh boy is my Cervelo P2 a missile! Kudos go out again to Ed, my bike fitter for making my ride super comfy. Just gotta keep working on the engine!

So we did 29 miles, I pulled for most of it and on certain sections I could just haul ass! I wasn't incredibly consistent from start to finish, but there were about 3 sections of road where I was able to get comfy and go consistent. Looking at those sections from my computer, I was holding in the low 20-25 mph range. Not bad! No way I can hold that in the long term, but its always fun to do some intervals of that effort. The biggest thing that I am proud of though is that my cadence work was between 90 and 100 for most of the ride, which is right on target.


I will be visiting these roads often next season.

And finally, to finish my infinite ramblings, I have come to the conclusion that my riding style needs to change, and is already starting to change. Up to the end of this season, I have been more of an explosive rider where I would climb standing up and could always hit the gas climbing up a hill if I needed to. Well this meant that I was sacrificing those long haul muscles and no wonder I was not doing so well on the flat stretches @ Timberman. I of course flew up the 2 climbs at that race, but those savings were very short term vs the long term savings that I could have gotten by training on the flats more and would have helped my run.

Ok, I am done vomiting all of this post. Over and out!

biking

So this indoor power training program is just the motivation that I need get the biking volume back up. This morning I headed outdoors for a 24 miler to round out 3 bike sessions for the week.

The leaves are mostly down so riding through the countryside of Greenwich, CT was pretty cool today:

week 1, Q2 session

I completed the week 1, Q2 session this morning. Looks like this:


WU:
10' @ 125 watts
5 x (20" @ 215 watts / 40" @ 125 watts)
Main Set:
5 x (1' @ 180 watts / 1' @ 125 watts)
15' @ 150 watts
CD:
5' @ 120 watts

Averaged 144 watts.

This was another "get reaquainted" with the trainer session. Sorta looking forward to the harder sessions....just sorta. haha!

i went outdoors

on the bike! it was in the low 40's and really sunny, so why stay inside! this beats the trainer any day. This is also the first ride that I have done outside with the PowerTap. Here is what the graph looks like:
I had to smooth the heck out of it to make it resemble something readible. At the default settings the graphs were just a gobblygook mess. Here is the elevation profile so you can line up the hills with the graphs (somewhat):
So if you look at in the middle of the graphs, you will notice that the blue and purple lines cross, this means that I am climbing up the largest hill of the ride. In other words my speed (blue line) drops, while the torque (purple line) spikes along with the wattage/power (yellow line). This gives me a better understanding of how torque, speed, and wattage all play together, especually while climbing. The opposite is true between the 10 and 12.5 min marks when speed increases, and torque and power tank....this means I am going down a hill.

Pretty cool stuff!

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!

the billy goat bonk

I had one goal for today. Do 7 hill climbs and then go home and eat a cheeseburger. That is all.

Part of that goal was to NOT bonk. Yeah...especially up the last freaking steepest hill of em all! I was so sapped of energy going up Beemer hill that I don't really even remember most of it nor did I really feel it. All I felt was the feeling of draining water and just wanting to eat a bar of chocolate.

So three slices of pizza, a bowl of special K, half a bottle of gatorade, a triple chocolate chaos bar, and a chocolate gu was not enough fuel to get me through a 44.5 mile ride. WTF!

Well, I did the ride, and I did it in 2.75 hours with an average speed of 16.18 MPH, so I think I did REALLY well despite some poor nutritional choices. After last friday's run and resulting cramp and today's ride, I really need to rethink my nutritional choices for this week. I could really screw myself up for a week if I am not getting enough fuel!

I am better now. Here is my route for the day and elevation profile:

recovery ride

Did the usual 14.5 mile recovery ride. I did it on my TT bike and wished I hadn't by the end. My seat was really uncomfortable! I did hit some sections of the route where I went pretty fast. Sometimes I wish I had a computer.