Coming together

My training seems to be coming together somewhat in that I am feeling a bit stronger and faster n the various disciplines. Wednesday afterwork I did a run that included a 30 minute time trial and I enjoyed it by the end of it. At first, it took me a while to get used to going all out but after 15 minutes or so I started to feel better. I had my heart rate monitor on for a change (which I should use more) and my heart rate went up from 120 something to 145 when I started the time trial and got up to about 150 at the peak. That is fairly high for me as I have trained a lot at a slow or moderate pace where my heart rate is in the 120's.

Thursday, I was in Halifax for work and took the day off. I did a bunch of gardening in New Glasgow which helps me deal with the guilt of spending so much time training. This morning I forgot my swimsuit again and had to go back to my place in town for another one. I managed to swim 2700 m and the main set was doing 10-100m progressively faster and then doing 5-100m all out. I felt quite strong. Afterwork today, I am going to run and I am supposed to do 5 minute intervals all out followed by 3 minute recovery period. Tomorrow, I am planning a 90 k bike ride followed by a short run and then a long run on Sunday.

time trial week

This seems to be time trial week on my ironman training program. There was a swim time trial of 1000m and yesterday's bike ride included a 30 minute time trial. I did that out in Pownal. Today, the run includes a 30 minute time trial. I am going to do that after work (and before teaching at UPEI) Right now, between teaching at UPEI two nights per week, training, working and trying to do yard work out in New Glasgow, I have very little spare time. This morning we had our swim class. The thing I really noticed today is how high my heart rate goes when I start to do the strokes that I am not as good at. (back stroke and butterfly) I can sprint full out doing the frontcrawl and my heart rate is not as high as when I do backstroke at a moderate pace. Its because your body adapts to what it does alot. Tomorrow I think I will run some hills out in New Glasgow for a change and as a bit of practice for Mooseman. The run in that half ironman is very challenging. There are several steep hills that you have to do a couple of times. It is very much like running out in New Glasgow. Friday, I am going to do a long swim and then Saturday- another long bike ride followed by a short run. Sunday, I am going to do a long run. I am noticing that I am loosing weight. I am not sure that that is entirely a good thing because it is early in my ironman training to be loosing weight.

Week 3

I am now in the third week of my Ironman training program. Yesterday, I swam 2000 m which included a 1000m time trial. This is to give you an idea of a sort of base time for future swim workouts. My time was about 17 and a half minutes for 1000m which I thought was not too bad. I was not going full out. I was also supposed to do 40 minutes of running drills yesterday but it started to rain before I got that done. I am going to try to do that at lunch today if it stops raining. After work today, I am supposed to do a short bike ride. (1hour 15 minutes) that includes a half hour time trial.. The rest of the workouts this week are not particularly long and I will probably do more biking and running than the program calls for because of the Mooseman triathlon which I am doing in 3 weeks.

Bike issues

Yesterday, I headed out biking around 8:30 am after having gotten a bike tune up and new tubular tires installed. The tension on the chain wasn't quite right and it wasn't shifting property. Fancy tri bikes are like fancy cars- they are great when they work perfectly and not so great when they are not. I did about 3 hours or a bit more of cycling out to New Glasgow, Cavendish and back to town. I followed that up with a half hour run. I felt pretty good on the run which is always the indication of how my fitness is going. I was on a tight schedule as usual as I was heading to Halifax for the night. I need to have a look at my ironman program and plan the coming week.

Slight confidence boost

I ran for about 2 hours after work yesterday. That's the longest I have run in a while. I think when I was in New york in March I maybe ran about 2 hours one day around Central Park. I am not sure how far I ran last night but in was in excess of 20 k for sure. I have been a little uptight about my upcoming half ironman because i haven't really run any half marathons since the fall. Sometimes, I have a hard time mentally with getting geared up to go running. I don't really look forward to it. Then when I do it, I have no problems physically and usually feel great. I don't really understand why I don't look forward to it. Last night was like that. Once I got going I enjoyed it and I enjoyed it more as it went along. I let my mind wander and I often think about how I would feel if I were racing at that particular time. I didn't run particularly fast but I felt like I had lots of "gas in the tank" and could have run faster had it been a triathlon. I would like to run 1:45 or less in my upcoming half ironman. The last time I did the Mooseman my half marathon time was 1:45. I am a little stiff this morning from the run last night.

Now my swim this morning was not a confidence boost. I was aiming to swim 3000 m and complete one the ironman swims that I am supposed to do this week. I didn't have enough time this morning and only got through about 2500 of it. And, I didn't feel super strong in the water. I felt a bit heavy and didn't have a lot of energy. I am was pretty much alone at the pool this morning and sometimes that has an effect as well. When there are more people around, my competative instinct kicks in and I tend to have more energy. My plan for tomorrow is to bike for about 3 hours and 30 minutes. I am going to add going to Stanley Bridge onto my normal Charlottetown to Cavendish, New Glasgow back to Cahrlottetown route.I will follow that up with a half hour run.

New road bike

Yesterday, I rushed from work around 4:30 to try and get 2 hours of cycling in. I was heading toward the Hillsborough Bridge when I heard a little "poof" and my rear tire went flat. I have tubular tires on my tri bike and that is the first flat I have ever had. I think the tires are just worn out as they have never been changed. They are actually on the wheels from my previous tri bike. So, I had just purchased a new road bike at Smooth Cycle that I hadn't picked up so I rushed over there to trade bikes. My new road bike is a "Kuota Kebel" and it looks very much like my tri bike which is a "Kuota Kalipur." Same colour and both carbon. I managed to get in about an hour and 15 minutes of cycling. The road bike feels good; a little "stiffer" than my previous bike.

This morning we had our weekly swim lesson. We used fins a bit to work on flutter kicking and butterfly kick. We then did some butterfly with the fins and then without the fins. My butterfly stroke is improving a bit but it is still difficult. Today, I am getting a massage and am not supposed to work out after that. Tomorrow I am hoping to do a long run. I am a little uptight about the fact that I haven't done many 20 k runs lately but in less than a month I am doing a race that has a half marathon after biking 90 k. Although, I try to tell myself that 20 k is not a long run for me and I don't need to worry.

Training for Ironman Canada

I am in week 2 of a 17 week training program for ironman canada which is the end of August. I am also now teaching 2 nights a week at UPEI until the end of June as well as working full time. Luckily, I don't have to punch a time clock at my day job but I do try to keep regular hours. I am thinking, though, of leaving work around 4:30 pm because that extra half hour will make a surprising difference in getting training done by a reasonable time.

I am not as meticulous as some of my friends in exactly following my training program to the letter. I simply can't with everything else I have to do. What I do is scan the week's workouts and then decide how I can fit them in my schedule. I leave the long workouts for the weekend. For example, this week calls for 2 three hour plus bike rides. I did one this past Saturday (which I am counting toward this week) and will do another one this weekend. I don't have much difficulty fitting the swims in because they are usually only an hour or a little more and I can do that before work. Today, I am planning a 2 hour bike ride which is really more than the program calls for.

Yesterday, after work I did some running drills which is a new thing for me. I really enjoyed it because it was different. I ran for about 10 minutes from my place in town to Victoria Park. I found a fairly quiet stretch of roadway and spent about 20 minutes running fast in one direction and then doing various drills on the way back (high kicks, knees up, skipping etc...) Then I ran for about 15 minutes after that making it about a 45 minute workout. The program calls for this workout every week or two. It is a nice change from just straight running. This program that I am doing has very detailed instructions and a lot of variation in intensity. Hopefully, it will improve my ironman time. I would like to finish in around 11 hours or less. Last year my time was a little over 11 and a half hours and I didn't feel like I gave it everything I had.