Weekend Report

Ok so good weekend of training put in this week. I had a SQL training class Wednesday thru Friday so pushed back my Friday run until after class. And it was cool because we got out early so I was able to get out while it was still sunny and warm (shhh don't tell the boss...) Felt decent but struggled to find my form in the first couple miles and I felt like my heart rate was a bit high although my pace was good (8:10 ish). Matter of fact, A was on her way to a pedacure and waved but I was already deep in thought wondering what the heck was wrong with me and I didn't even notice until she was already past. After about 3 miles I slowed it down and started to feel better and ran smooth from there on in.

Run Stats: 8 miles, 1:06:51 (8:21), 149 avg HR

Saturday morning I met Jared and Brian at Buffalo Wild Wings and we were off for a 4 hour ride followed by a 30 minute transition run. It was a great morning with the sun coming up and light southwest winds. Along the way we met up with Dave and Eric and started south. Somewhere around Raintree Lake we dropped Eric and Dave went back to pick him up. We never saw them again. They joked earlier that they knew the way back and I didn't think we'd lose anyone, but we did.

We'd planned to ride out to Harrisonville if possible but it took us a bit longer than normal to get out of Lee's Summit so we made our turn around in Raymore at a Casey's. Refueled with a Coke and a PowerBar for me, Dr. Pepper for Jared and a pizza slice for Brian. I actually just stuck the Coke in my jersey pocket for later... So anyway, short break and we were back on the road. With a nice tailwind pushing us along, we made really good time coming back. We had to add on to our route in order to get the 4 hours we were seeking.

Once we got back to BWW parking lot, we made a quick change into running shorts and shoes and headed over to the little blue trace for a 30 minute trail run. Even though I didn't feel terrible last week, I felt a bit better this time. Didn't have any pain in my glute/hamstring and energy wise I felt good. Really tried to stick to my nutrition and hydration plan and it's amazing how much that can effect how you feel.

Brick Stats: Bike: 75.44 miles, 4:05:14 - Run: 3.56 miles, 30:01

Sunday we slept in a bit and decided to head to the trace again for a long run. Andrea wanted to do a short run and was going to drive seperate, but we had the idea to bring her mtn bike and she'd ride out to pick me up on the trail after her run. We got going a bit after 9am and I felt really good and I had my iPod playing and just cruised along. Made my turn around at the hwy 78 bridge and headed back... Oh now I know why it was so easy! I had the wind to my back the whole time. So now I got to run 6 miles back into the wind. Nice!

Actually it wasn't all that bad and I felt decent. Ran into Andrea near the 4 mile mark and she rode easy along side keeping me company the last 4 miles. She got in some good work running about 2-1/2 miles then riding nearly 8. I think she's well on her way to completing her first half marathon!

Run Stats: 12 miles, 1:42:27 (8:32/mi), 146 avg HR

Today's Post is Brought to You...

... by the letter W

W for wind... The last couple weeks have been crazy windy. Of course that's typical for spring in Kansas City so it's not that big a shock. But that doesn't make it any easier to deal with! Tuesday nights track workout was great going north, but brutal going south. Twenty mile an hour SE winds whipped across the track. Still managed a decent workout...

2 mile warmup, 2 x 1 mile repeats with a 200 jog recovery and a 2 mile cool down. I didn't push the repeats too hard since this was the first interval workout and I didn't want to tear anything up. Two years ago I pushed too hard too soon and injured my right calf/achilles and lost the entire month of June. Ran the first repeat at 6:41 pace and the second at 6:36. Didn't really worry about the heart rate and just tried to hold a strong steady pace. Felt pretty good and I think without such high winds I could have done these sub 6:30. Maybe next week.

Tonight, Wednesday night, is brick night. 14 mile ride (45 minutes) and 4 mile run (30 minutes). Once again the wind was crazy. From the NNW at 24 mph and COLD! Just tried to ride steady... and stay upright! The run felt great. First mile being with the wind, I just cruised along. Even after turning back into the wind I felt good. Not sure I'm quite ready for longer endurance stuff just yet but I think I'm making progress.

Just Keep Swimming...

Had a decent swim this morning inspite of my usual Monday night crap sleep. I don't know what it is but the last several weeks I've had at least one night were I just lay awake until 1:30am or so and then finally fall asleep. Seems like most weeks, Monday is the night. Last night being Monday, it was another rough night for sleep. Crazy thing is that when the alarm went off at 4:50 this morning I felt almost... good? Must be getting used to the lack of Z's.

A quick cup of coffee, a Pop-Tart (yeah a Pop-Tart) a kiss on the cheek of the sleeping wife (not sure she even knew!), and I'm out the door and off to the YMCA to meet with the masters class. Been doing this class for a couple months now and it seems to be making me faster.

Today's swim:

• 500 warm up
• 6 x 75 - 25 kick, 25 drill, 25 swim
• 4 x 200 on 20s RI (held these right at 3:05 then the 20s RI)
• 8 x 100 on 15s RI (held these at 1:25)
• 4 x 50 strong 10s RI
• 250 cool down
• 3000 total 57:54

Looks like a tough workout tonight on tap for cycling class complete with a double Freeland at the end. Joked with Brian this morning that maybe I'd skip going to class. But the abuse I'd get for not being there to suffer through a set named after me would be unbelievable. So I better show up!

A double Freeland??? Is a 5 minute, 20 seconds on 10 seconds off, high intensity interval training set (HIIT) done twice with a 2 minute recovery between sets. I've been given credit based on the fact that I forgot to do a single HIIT at the beginning of a workout while training at home where it's suppose to be done, and added it in at the end where it hurts more.

Should be fun... and make for a good night sleep tonight... Cross your fingers.

Six and Sevens

Today's workout is straight from the Runner's World website. Needing a little change in routine to battle the cold and snowy winter we've had here in KC, I scanned over the video section of the site and stumbled across this workout and decided to give it a try today at the gym.

Although the sun was shining bright today, for the first time in I can't remember how long, it was still cold enough to require winter running stuff. I just didn't feel like messing with all that crap so I just tossed in the bare essentials for a treadmill run in my bag.

The workout breaks out like this...

15 minute warm up at an easy pace (8:34 or 7 mph was my setting at 1.0 incline)

Then 4 cycles of...

• 90 seconds, 6% grade at marathon pace (8:00 pace or 7.5 mph)
• 1 minute recovery at warm up pace
• 60 seconds, 7% grade at marathon pace
• 2 minutes recovery at warm up pace
• Repeat

10 minute cool down at 8:34 pace same as warm up

The intervals were more difficult then I thought they would be. Ninety seconds is plenty at that grade and pace. Didn't have my heart rate monitor but I'm pretty sure I was close to threshold during the last couple of reps. Really pretty close to a hill sprint workout on the road.

Ended up at 5.25 miles at the end of the 45 minute run.

Per the Runner's World video, the goal is to build up to doing 10 cycles. Now that would be a tough workout!

*Two things to remember next time: heart rate monitor and WATER!

Slacker? I Think Not!

So I was alerted to the fact that due to a lack of blog posting, that it must mean I'm not working very hard in my training... Oh how far from the truth that really is... Perhaps I'm just keeping all of this training I'm doing a secret? Or maybe I am being a slacker and skipping workouts? Oh please, you all know me better then that... don't you?!

Ok so I'll catch things up...

Yeah still doing the KMA cycling class at Coach Greg's school of pain and suffering twice a week as well as Roberto's a pound of pain equals a pound of muscle strength training every Saturday morning. Once Roberto is done with us we head over to the KMA Pain and Fitness center for a two hour trainer ride workout.

So safe to say training is progressing although scheduling has been a bit weird with all the other stuff. Hard to believe this is week 8 already!

Last night's KMA class was heavy on the off the bike leg work with several rounds of single leg speed squats rolling right into iso squats. On the bike time consisted mostly of the big gear grind it out stuff. A set of Leg Cranks was thrown in just for good measure.

• 5 min ez spin warmup
• 3 x 30 sec w/30 sec rest high cadence S17-15
• 4 x 1 min w/30 sec RI, B23, B21, B19, B15 standing
• 1 x 5 min hard build to 85-90% max
• 1 min ez
• 3 x 45 sec single leg w/15 sec RI
• Off Bike: 4 x 1 min single leg, 30 sec speed squat, 30 sec iso squat w/15 sec RI
• 1 x 5 min B12 seated 60 rpm
• 1 min ez
• Off Bike: 3 x 90 sec: 60 sec speed squat, 30 sec iso squat w/30 sec RI
• 1 min ez
• 5 x 1 min w/1 min RI: B12, stand 15 sec seated 45 sec
• Off Bike: 4 x 1 min single leg, 30 sec speed squat, 30 sec iso squat w/15 sec RI
• 2 min ez
• 5 x 30 sec w/1 min RI: B12 standing sprint
• 2 min ez
• 1 x Leg Crank series
• Stretch and Done

Good stuff and legs toasted. Still, managed to make it out for an hour run in the dark mist this morning. And surprisingly I felt pretty good. Managed to hold a decent pace and still keep my heart rate down.

Run Stats: 7 miles, 58:24 (8:21/mi), 144 avg HR (67%)

Whew, okay pretty much caught up on the last couple of days... Still left out the super secret training though. ;)

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