I Heart Trainer

Did another ride on the new trainer this afternoon. I am really enjoy using it for some of my biking workouts.

The work out was a long hill climb ride: 5x5 minute climbs at threshold and as hard as I can go without straining, with 3 minutes of recover in between each interval. I cranked my Blackburn up to the highest resistance setting and went to town. The total ride time was 1:15, with the hills in the middle. When the hills came I dropped the gear down and hammered through it.

The trainer is really letting me focus on my form and cadence, without worrying about traffic, stops, and the unpredictable terrain around town.

So far so good!

Me vs. The HRM vs. My Dog

Sunday was the long run day. But, before I get in to that, I need to jump back to a conversation I had Saturday afternoon.

My friend (and TriAustin.com partner) Luke and I had a conversation about training. In particular, the two different ways we are approaching it. I am almost completely self coached by a combination of research on the web and printed material I have found. The exception is swimming, which I do with a group and a coach. I have a pretty solid running background so I'm comfortable with that training. The bike is still my redheaded step-child, but I'm working on it. All of my intensity is gauged by feeling my body's effort and breathing, basically what that call "Rate of Perceived Effort (RPE)".

Luke, on the other hand, has hired a coach, and does everything based on his heart rate monitor (HRM). His coach builds, and changes, every single workout based on the HRM. Luke doesn't do anything (except swim, I think) without it.

While we were talking, initially I felt like he was somewhat a slave to this thing. He did nothing that contradicted what his little chest strap was telling him. He forced himself to run slower that he could. He claimed that he was making drastic improvements because of this little thing.

I was (am) skeptical, but admittedly, with no good reason. It just seems like a crutch. Then I started reading about it. And read I did. I read, and read, and read... I found this interesting article by Mark Allen. I realized, shoot, if Mark Allen was training at five-ish minute miles, strapped on a HRM, and realized that he needed to be at eight-fifteens, I'm (a) definitely over training and (b) screwed. Then I realized that maybe for the shorter races (Olympic, and Sprints), it might not be a big deal, but if I ever want to attempt some longer races, I might need to pay attention to my body's limits so I don't kill myself.

So to the point. I did not go buy a heart rate monitor. What I did, was force myself to run really slow (8:15 minute/miles to be precise). I ran for 50 minutes, in what felt like a crawl. I would notice my legs speeding up, and I slowed them down. I also brought my dog Ellie, who is getting old and fat. She was done at about 37 minutes, so I ended up dragging the poor old girl for the last thirteen or so minutes, which helped keep my pace in check. I took my pulse a couple times, but I need to learn how to do that correctly because I was unable to really understand what I was getting.

After I was done, I definitely felt like I didn't work very hard. I was much less sore than normal. I just felt easy, which for whatever reason, felt wrong. But, if I was to have had a HRM on, I'm sure it was close to what that little thing would have wanted me to do, as opposed to my normal, much faster "aerobic pace".

And if Mark Allen is correct, and I'm sure he is, the lower intensity training is what I need in order to become the aerobic machine that can run five minute miles with a low heart rate.

I think more research is in order.

Brick-out

I love brick workouts. They remind me how freaking hard triathlon is. Very humbling.

Today was a pretty simple number; 1:15 on the bike(comfortable, but not easy) then a 30 minute run (you guessed it! Comfortable, but not easy).

The computer on the bike said I did just over 28 miles and averaged 22.3 mph, although this was on a trainer, so what ever that's worth. In the real world, I'd say absolutely nothing.

The run felt pretty good. I tried to keep the pace reasonable, and I think I did a pretty good job. When I finished, I mapped the run. I did just over four miles in 30 minutes, which is about 7:20 minute miles. Not bad, but not nearly what I hope to be racing at.

Afterward, I enjoyed my favorite home brew recovery drink: 10 oz. of 2% milk with 5 tbs. of raw sugar. Shake until the sugar dissolves and enjoy. It's pretty good. Throw some chocolate in there and you've got chocolate milk. Mmmm, chocolate milk!

Intervals For Breakfast

Today was run day and I was a good boy and got out early before there were too many walkers or dogs or out-of-towners enjoying our fair city's fine running trails.

On the menu was the dreaded interval run. Today's went something like this: warm up at an easy pace then do 10x1:00 minute very hard, but controlled intervals (R.P.E. 9). After each interval, do one minute of active recovery at 4-5 R.P.E. 

Considering intervals past, I knew that I would go way too hard on my first couple and then die later down the road. Plus, these were one minute intervals, double what I've been doing lately (although, there were less of them).

So I tried to go out slower both in warm up and the first several intervals, so that by the time interval six, seven, eight, ..., rolled around I was able to finish the entire interval and run hard throughout.

Over all, it was a successful run. I felt strong in interval ten (strong != good) and the cool down run was a welcome break.

I want to go fast, mama!!

Sink or Swim

It started rough tonight. I was tired when I got to the pool. After a deep breath and stripping down to my skibbies, I jumped on in. I felt really slow and heavy. The strokes weren't getting me anywhere during the warm up and drills.

We did 4x100s for drills, the first 50 were fist drill and I might as well have been drowning. The second 50s were DPS and I started to wonder if I forgot how to swim or if they made the pool longer on Tuesday night.

Maybe it would just be a slow night? The workout starts at 7:30 pm, I could have just as well gone home and laid out on the couch.

But, I was there, in the pool, burping up the smoothie I drank at 5:00.

Tonight's main set was a "quality set" as Amy calls it. Basically we were going to swim 50 yard sprints. Luckily, the cobwebs seemed to clear a little as I started the first 50.

We did 12x50s, the odd 50s fast, and the evens were recovery pace. The fast 50s felt great, and I was able to hold 39 seconds on five of them and 38 seconds on the last one. Funny thing, the recovery swims felt crappy again. What gives?

Oh well, the important part felt good and the rest is just water under the bridge. I think I ended up swimming 1800 yards, counting the cool down.

Not bad, but I was glad to be done.

Training Log to Training Blog - Comfortable but not Easy

For some time I have kept a training log of all my workouts. I'd enter stuff like "Great run today!", or "Intervals suck!", or "Swimming in December is cold!". As my training progressed, I tried to be more descriptive than that, adding notes like "Drank all weekend, so Sunday long run hurt extra". Still not the most helpful, but I'm trying.

Now with TriAustin nearing release (it is, I promise), my lovely wife had a great idea. She saw me entering my latest entry this morning (that comes later) and pointed out that I should blog that and put it on the TriAustin site. Free content right?

So, here I am blogging about my training. I started this particular program last October/November-ish, so I won't be recreating all those notes. The summary is this: I'm attempting my first Olympic/Quarterman distance race in April at the Lonestar Triathlon in Galveston, TX. I've spent the winter months trying to build a solid base for the distance. So far so good, except that I've completely avoided strength training, which is horrible and something I've promised to change as soon as possible. Currently, I'm in the build phase, so I've started doing things like lactate intervals on the bike and run. They hurt, but make you faster, so yay.

Ok, so the post about training. I'll back up and talk briefly about Sunday's long run, Monday's swim with Amy's Triathlon Swimming group, and today's bike lactate intervals.

Sunday was a beautiful day. I tried really hard to maintain the "Comfortable, but not easy." pace that my current program dictates for the long runs. It went well, although after an hour of running, the notion of comfortable changes and easy kinda goes out the window. I think my pace stayed somewhere near the seven minute mile range (at least it was when I sampled near the mid-point of the run). This was somewhat worrisome because either (a) I'm doing the workout all wrong and going way to hard (pretty common for me, just ask my swim coach Amy) or (b) I'm just getting faster and seven minute miles are now comfortable, but not easy. Hopefully it's (b). Although, I do have a pain on the top of my left foot where the leg and foot meet, which might indicate I went too hard.

Monday's swim was great. Did about 1800 yards. The main set was something like three 200's, remember the last two times. Do some recovery stuff. Now do a 400 faster than the last two 200's combined. I did, finishing the 400 under my target of 7:17 at 7:08. That's about 1:47 per 100? Pretty good for me. That consistent 1:30 minute / 100 yard is still a pipe dream though. One can dream, can't they?

And now today. But first, yesterday. I bought a bicycle trainer off Craigslist. It's a Blackburn Magnetic something or other. Got a great deal thanks to Kelsey in North Austin. Thanks Kelsey! This morning I did my first ever indoor ride on a trainer. I wasn't too bad. It was nice not being in traffic. It was rainy so I didn't have to deal with possibly eating pavement everytime I turn a corner. I did a lactate threshold ride, 80 minutes total, with five three minute threshold intervals ( R.P.E 9) each followed immediately by three minutes of active recovery (R.P.E. 6-7). 

Intervals are hard but make you fast!

Wow. Longest post ever.