Super Saturday

Started the day with a workout with Roberto at his gym with a small group of cyclists and triathletes. Now that KMA has started, we have moved our workout to Saturday mornings through February. Really going to do most of our work on glutes, hamstrings and core. This way we can still get a long ride in later without trashing out the quads before we even get on the bikes.

Roberto does a really good job of keeping things fresh with new exercises and keeping our bodies guessing. I have seen a definite improvement in my core strength since we started back in October. Today's workout was, as usual pretty tough, but very fun!

Warmup and Core:

• Jogging circle around gym mixing in jumping jacks, push ups, skips, tin soldiers, sprints
• Burpie's w/jump w/medicine ball
• Burpie's w/push up and jump w/medicine ball
• Standing circles w/med ball
• Back extention to forward bend w/med ball
• Abs: w/medicine ball
• V-Ups, Bicycles, med ball on shoulder and crunch to opposite knee
• Abs: no med ball
• Plank raise opp hand and foot
• Side plank with crunch to straight leg
• Rocking crunches: Lay back w/arms crossed in front and bring knees to chest. Now rock up to sitting position KEEPING YOUR KNEES TUCKED! rock back down. Dont' let feet or shoulders touch...Repeat for 60 seconds

Dumbbell/Kettleball Work:

• Front raises, two hands, squat with weight between feet, stand and raise weight overhead with straight arms
• Front raises, single arm, squat with weight between feet, and stand and raise overhead with arms straight
• Wood choppers
• Turkish Get Ups: lay on back dumbbell held straight up, sit up, opposite hand on floor and push to squat position, stand holding weight above hand, arms straight! OUCH!! Five per side
• Turkish Get-Ups into side plank: lay on back, dumbbell held straight up, roll onto side and into side plank position, same side foot off ground entire time! OUCH part two!! Five per side

Station work:

• 1 - Dumbbell chest press on swiss ball bridging onto elbow 2 x 10 reps
• 2 - Sledge Hammer on tire, 5 different hammer sizes, 10 reps per hammer
• 3 - Hamstring Curls on swiss ball, 5 two feet, 5 single foot (2 sets)
• 4 - Rope Climb and 10 pull ups
• 5 - Bag Kicks w/kinetic bands: outside cresent x 10, inside cresent x 10, bicycle kicks x 20, side kick x 20, per leg

Whew awesome workout, then off to the KMA Pain and Fitness Center for a couple hours of bike trainer time. Pretty good turn out of people, some making up for missed classes during last week and a few familiar faces from previous years that aren't doing the normal KMA class this year.

Coach Greg got us going with the normal warmup and then started some folks on their 20 minute time trial and others on their max heart rate tests. Man was I glad to already have had that done and just needing to get in about 2 hours of tempo riding. So while everyone else got ready for their sets, I settled into a nice steady cadence and once the heart rate was near tempo range (80%) I just put things on cruise control. This is probably my favorite type of riding, especially on the trainer, because it simulates pretty close to race pace for half and full Ironman racing. Spent about 25 minutes at this pace and then a short recovery.

Finished up the time alternating between low (70 rpm) and high cadence work (110+) varying the duration. But maintaining that tempo effort heart rate. By the end of the workout I wasn't feeling too bad, but did feel like a good morning of training had been done.

Ride Stats: 32 miles, 1:53:30, 141 average HR (69%)

KMA v 5.0

Kicking off the 2010 version of KMA (kick-my-aaaaanerobic) cycling class tonight. This year will be the 5th installment in the yearly winter time pain and suffer fest. But it's all good pain as coach Greg will have you believe. Big difference this year is we are in a new building. Bike Stop was getting a little tired of us having to move all their bikes around to fit us all in. Plus I'm sure the place was a mess the next day even with us trying our best to clean up when we left.

And it is true... I come out of this class every spring feeling strong and ready to rock and roll. Although no amount of indoor trainer riding can fully prepare you for what wind resistance and gravity will do to you once the warmer days roll around and you're out on the open road again.

But I digress... Tonight's class will feature a 20 minute time trial to set some training zones for future workouts. Should look something like this...

• 5 minute easy warmup
• 3 x 30 sec with 30 sec rest, high cadence
• 4 x 1 min w/30 sec rest, B23 100rpm, B21 95rmp, B19, B15 standing
• 5 min hard building to 85-90% max heart rate in the last minute
• 1 min easy
• 4 x 45 sec one leg drill, 30 sec on w/15 sec rest, S17 80rpm
• 3 x 1 min w/1 min rest, hard effort to get ready for TT
• 3 min easy
• 20 min TT, this will not feel good
• 4 min easy
• 3 x 20 sec fast pedal w/ 40 sec rest, 120 rpm
• 2 min easy
• Finish with some core and leg work, squats, lunges, etc.
• 5 min cool down spinning
• Stretch

Yep that sounds like about it. Should be fun!

ps - first swim at noon today after a week off with the holidays and man did I feel like crap. Like swimming in jello. Weak and slow! It'll will get better now with better consistency.

• 300 warmup
• 8 x 50 drills (finger tip, catch up, paddles & buoy)
• 12 x 100 on 1:50 (coming in about 1:34 today!?)
• 8 x 50 drills (same)
• 200 cool down

Killer Workout

Thursday nights gauntlet Roberto ran us through was a killer workout. I know upper body strength isn't really that big of deal for runners and triathletes, but the stuff we have been doing the last two months has my core feeling strong. Thursday is typically upper body stuff and this week was no different. My arms/shoulders were toast when done with all the stations. Had to take several seconds to recover each time I changed the channels on the radio driving home!

* Warmup- jumping jacks, squat/thrust/jump, mtn. climbers, run in place, skip in place, tin-soldiers in place, skip tin-soldiers in place, plank twist, side plank crunch, ring jumps and ring hops

* Stretch

*Station 1- Weighted pushups 30 reps, Jump pushups onto step 10 reps - 1 Set
*Station 2- Medicine Ball throws 10 face to face, 10 side to side (right and left) - 1 Set
*Station 3- Boxing- 100 punches against hand pads - 1 Set
*Station 4a- Bentover Lateral raises, chains attached to D-Rings 10 reps - 1 Set
*Station 4b- Keg throws 10 reps - 1 Set
*Station 5- Side Plank dumbbell raises 2 sets of 5 reps per side
*Station 6- Tornado Ball- 20 reps heavy ball; 80 reps lighter ball
*Station 7- Steering wheels w/barbbell +10 lbs 10 reps x 2 sets
*Station 8- Sandbag wood-choppers 5 per side, standing front rows 5 reps x 2 sets

*30 Seconds on Real Runner
*10 pull ups

*Stretch and go home

Swim and Strength

At first glance the swim workout on the plan for Thursday looked rather simple and easy. However once in the water and into the main set I was surprised at how difficult it felt. That just proves that no matter how confident we are in our fitness the work still needs to be done.

Swim Workout #4

• 300 warm up
• 8 x 50 drills
• 1 x 300 (30 sec rest)
• 3 x 200 (30 sec rest)
• 1 x 300 (30 sec rest)
• 8 x 50 drills
• 200 cool down

I'm really enjoying the Tuesday and Thursday night strength workouts and feel like I'm making good progress. The workouts are a blast and very challenging. Especially for an endurance athlete with little upper body strength like myself. Thursday is typically upper body day and when Roberto is stressing that you warm up your upper body with a specific warmup, you know it's going to be a hard workout!

Warmup:

• Jump Rope: single leg alternate 10 per leg; same backwards (60 sec)
• Medicine Ball: squat-thrust-jump; bicycle; v-ups; 10 pushups on ball
• Jump Rope: scissor jump forward and backward; side to side scissor forward and backward
• Medicine Ball: squat-thrust-pushup-jump; standing med ball circles

Stretch

Stations

• 1 - Over unders (35lb plate) down and back over & under hurdles - 1 set
• 2 - Tornado Ball - 20 w/heavy ball; 80 w/light ball
• 3 - Standing weight plate circles 5 per direction; 5 x 5 x 5 shoulder raises - 1 set
• 4 - Bicep curls and tricep ext. on swiss ball 1 x 10-15 each
• 5 - Praying mantis on barbell 1 x 10
• 6 - Partner pushups 2 x 10
• 7 - Pull ups 1 x 15
• 8 - Keg lifts 2 x 8

Boxing

• Left-right combination x 60 seconds
• 100 fast punches ("sounds" easy...)

Stretch

No Snow?!

I was really looking forward to running in the snow this morning, but only a cold mist was in the air as I headed out the door today. So just a boring cold run in the dark is all it turned out to be. There were a few slick spots on the roads and sidewalks, but other than that it was a pretty uneventful run.

Felt a bit tired today and my legs didn't have the same zip in them they had last week. It appears the last 3 weeks have taken a toll and I need to cut back this week and get recovered. So rather than the normal 6, I cut today's run short at 4 miles.

Working out tonight so save the legs a bit for that...

Run Stats: 4 miles, 33:56 (8:28/mi), avg HR 141

Noon Swim -
Felt good at the beginning but the first set of 25 yard sprints made the 1 x 400 seem harder than it should have. Second set of 25's didn't feel too bad though.

• 700 warmup
• 16 x 25 yards with 10 seconds rest (held these all under 20 seconds)
• 1 x 400 with 60 seconds rest
• 16 x 25 yards with 10 seconds rest (again all under 20 seconds)
• 600 cool down
• 2500 total in 48:00

Evening strength training workout at Roberto's -

• Warmup: jumping jacks, running in place, squat thrust jumps, mtn climbers, squat thrust high knee jumps, ice-skaters, spiderman, forward bent lunges, high knee jumps, skier jumps, stretching
• Station 1 - Tire push then sled push x 2 sets
• Station 2 - Dumbbell Romanian dead lift 3 x 8
• Station 3 - Glute hamstring raises 2 x 10 (30lb med ball, 40lb med ball)
• Station 4 - Lateral shuffles on box / speed skaters (30sec reps) Set 1 with bands, Set 2 without
• Station 5 - Side kicks / Speed skaters (20 reps per) Set 1 with bands, Set 2 without
• Station 6 - Heel raises / Dorsi flesions 2 x 20
• Station 7 - Real Runner machine 2 x 70 (Set 1 level 2, Set 2 level 3)
• Stretching

Indoor Brick

Up early today to get in an indoor brick. Company Christmas party tonight so won't be able to workout after work. So to the trainer we go...

Just a quick 30 minutes steady but it took about 5 minutes to get the legs awake after last nights strength training. I was pretty happy with how the heart rate responded and made it up to the middle of the aerobic zone. Got to around 144 or so and just tried to hold it steady at a 90 rpm cadence.

After 30 minutes on the bike, quick change of shoes, and hopped on the treadmill for 15 minutes. Again stayed aerobic and just cruised along watching the news on TV all the while sweating buckets. Amazing how good it feels to start the day with a good aerobic workout.

30 Weeks

This week marks the beginning of "official" Ironman training for Coeur d'Alene. Kicked it off with a good 6 mile run Tuesday morning. Andrea got up with me and did her 2 miles in the chilly darkness. I think all the strength training with Roberto and the gang is really helping because I have felt very strong the last couple runs.

Run Stats: 6 miles, 49:48 (8:15/mi), 150 avg HR

Next up was a noon swim. Swim workout number 1 from the book. No pain in the left rotator cuff this time!

Swim Workout:
- 300 swim warmup
- 8 x 50 drills
-12 x 100 with 20 sec rest (leaving on 1:50's)
- 8 x 50 drills
- 200 cool down
2500 total yards. 46:00

7:00pm workout with Roberto putting us through the paces again.
- warmup of running in place, squat thrusts, etc
- stretching
- Station #1: overhead squats 5 reps / hurdle and box jumps x 2 sets
- Station #2: Sled push & Tire push / 50 yard sprint x 2 sets
- Station #3: Hamstring Ext 10 reps / Single leg squat jump on bench 5 reps per leg x 2 sets
- Station #4: Single leg squats 8 reps / Single legs bounds into sprint x 2 sets
- Station #5: Lateral lunges 5 reps / Ice-skaters 10 reps
- Station #6: Tire Flip (picture big dump truck tire laying on its side, pick up one side and flip it over... and over... and over... about 25 yards) x 2 sets
- 100 yard run with dumbbell / 100 yard 75% sprint without dumbbell
- Stretch

Yeah, nice full day, and this was day one!