Grey Hairs & Popping Joints

I’m not going to worry about uploading my workouts from last week. I managed to do some but not all. I did go on a bachelor party trip Thursday thru Sunday which kinda leads us to this post. Getting older sucks. I know I know…there are good things too, but this past weekend definitely made me realize that I am definitely not capable of throwing down as I was back at Auburn. Was it really that long ago? Sure doesn’t seem like 7 years. We went pretty solid all 3 nights we were gone. The drive home was ridiculously long. The bad part is that I’m more exhausted today than I was yesterday. Oh well, guess I’ll keep this little experiment in the back of my head.
There are only 19 days until my next race…crap. I really need to get a move on with my training. I haven’t been as consistent as I hoped I would be by now. Starting today (with the exception of swimming this morning b/c I pretty much threw that idea out the window when we were on the road yesterday) I’m going to make it to all of my scheduled training.
I feel pretty good about the biking leg of the race, but the running legs have me a little worried. I was going pretty solid with my training a month out from the Mercedes race. I haven’t really run since I crossed the finish line. The distance isn’t bad at all when you look at them individually (3.1 mile run/12 mile bike/ 1 mile run), but I get a little worried that my legs aren’t going to be ready for the transitions. I’m going to have to start running a little after my bike rides. I want to be able to average an 8 or 9 minute mile. Not positive if I can do that right now, I’ll have to jump on the treadmill and see just how fast I can run 3.1 miles. An 8 min mile is a pretty good clip for me right now. My end goal is to hammer out one mile in under 6 minutes (haven’t done that since high school soccer) and be able to keep that pace up for a 5k.
I’ll be sure to be better about posting.

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “You know son, I thought I was wrong once. It turns out I was wrong about that” ~ Dad

Catching everyone up...

Sorry I'm not more consistent with updating the blog. Here is what's been happening since we last talked...


Wed 3/11 PM Bike

Good News….no bruises or cuts. Could it be that I have finally gotten the hang of clipping in and out of my pedals? I sure do hope so. I’d hate to be the one that causes a pile up entering the transition area during a race. The ride was about the same as Monday except I added a climb every couple of laps. I went for 40mins and logged 9.4 miles (avg speed 14.1mph). I’d like to try and get my avg up to around 16-18 mph. Thursday is a rest day…hooray!!!

Friday 3/13 AM Swim

The plan on Friday’s is to only swim for ½ the time b/c my biggest run and bike days are on the weekend.
WU: 300m
Drills: 200m (single arm l/r, over rotate, fist)
Kicks: 8x50 on 1:20
Main Set
4x100 on 2:20 rest til bottom

total 1300m

Saturday 3/14
Rained all day. I also had to fix some food for an engagement party

Sunday 3/15
lazy morning + Wedding in the afternoon = no training. (I’m good at finding excuses huh?)

Monday 3/16
AM Swim

WU: 400m
Kicks: 300m (hard/easy on Coach)
Main Set:
200 on 4:15
250 on 5:45
300 on 7:15
Rest to top
Pull 250 on 5:45
Pull 200 on 4:15
Pull 100 on 2:45
6x50 rest :10 between

Swimmers Golf: 200m (scores: 89, 82, 83, 85)
CD: 100m

Total: 2600m


PM Bike

The rain didn’t stop in time for it to dry up at all. I put the bike on my trainer and was able to ride for about 53 minutes (only 8.5 miles). Riding on a trainer is not fun. Sure you can watch TV while you do it, but the bike doesn’t give at all like it does on the road so you get a little sorer in “fun” places. It is extremely monotonous. I kind of lack focus when I’m on the trainer. They do have these DVD’s called spinervals that I’ll have to try sometime.


Tuesday 3/17
Happy St. Patty’s Day!!

Wednesday 3/18
AM Swim

I cut today a little short so I could leave work a little earlier. This way I can get my ride in earlier and have a little down time for my birthday.

WU: 300
Drills: 200 (50 ea. fingertip, over rotate, single arm l/r)
Kicks: 6x50 (rest :10 b/t)
Main Set: 6x200 (dropped to 150’s after 1st 2 intervals)
1&4 on 4:35 (rest to top b/t 3 & 4)
2&5 on 4:25
3&6 on 4:15

Total: 1800m


PM Bike
No injuries today either…2 for 2! Could it be that I’m finally getting the hang of the clipless pedals? Sure do hope so. Yesterday afternoon was perfect outside. I rode for 70 minutes and logged 15.8 miles. Still not the speed I’m looking for, but it is a little difficult to keep up a good speed when you have to turn so much. The courses for the Magic City Duathlon are finally up on the race website. It doesn’t look too bad. It should be real flat and fast. One weekend before the race, I’ll go out and ride the course.

Back in January three other guys and myself entered the “scale back Alabama” campaign through our work. The goal is to each lose 10lbs in 10 weeks. I was doubtful that I was going to hit my mark at the official weigh out today, but turns out that over the past 10 weeks I’ve dropped 14lbs! I’m a little psyched.

Eric’s Quote of the day:

“I sure don’t know why they call this stuff Hamburger Helper, it does just fine by itself” ~Cousin Eddy, National Lampoon’s Vacation

So far so good...

This week has been fairly productive in regards to training. I swam Monday morning and rode my bike that evening (Heck yeah daylight savings). I ran/walked Tuesday afternoon but didn’t fit in my strength training. The only bad move was not getting up in time for swimming this morning.

The training plan that I’m following right now focuses on time rather than distances. This being my first year, the main thing I need to do is build a solid base. As the season progresses, I’ll focus more on intensities. During my runs, I’m using a heart rate monitor to help me with my “pace.” The goal is to keep your heart rate in a certain zone, Zone 2, while you are running. It gets to be difficult keeping my HR in Zone 2 when I run outside. I took Tucker with me yesterday, and if you have ever met my dog, you can understand how that probably added to an increased HR.

Here is how the week has played out…

Monday AM Swimming
WU- 300m
Drills- 8x25 (2 ea. fingertip, catch up, fist, over-rotate)
Pulls- 4x200 (build by 50)
Kicks- 6x75 (fly down/free back)
Main Set- 2x300 (on 7:20 & 7:15)
CD- 100m

Total: 2350m

Monday PM Biking (48 mins)
Rode loops around the Hoover Freshman Center. Over the 48 mins I covered 10.7 miles which gave me an average speed of 13.38mph. It was a pretty good “easy ride.” I’m still trying to get comfortable on the bike. I focused a lot on cornering and turning. I have the clipless pedals that your shoes attach to. It gives you a lot more power, especially climbing hills. These bad boys have taken a lot of getting used to. On one of my first rides, I fell over b/c I couldn’t get the other foot clipped into the pedal when I pushed off to start riding. The other night when my 48 minutes was up, I started coasting back to my car. I was a little psyched about having a good ride. I unclipped my left foot and started to slow down. As I was almost to a complete stop, I thought to myself, “Wow, I didn’t even fall over today..” then gravity started to take its all too familiar effect. I started teetering to the right…the side that still had my foot clipped in…I struggled to free myself, but the effort was futile. There I lay halfway on my side and my left leg wrapped under my bike. I got up and just kinda give a wave to anyone that happened to be watching. Now all I need to do is lay the bike down in the middle of a ride to accomplish the “bust-trifecta.”

Tuesday PM Run (24 mins)
OK, So it was really more of a walk. I took Tucker around the neighborhood. This will probably be the only time that he tags along with me.

Wednesday AM Swimming

DNF

Wednesday PM Biking (64 mins)

Hopefully the rain will hold off so I can go back to the Freshman Center and ride tonight.

Eric’s quote of the day…“Do you know what’s so bad about real life? There’s no danger music.”