Tucson

My trip here got off to a rough start. My bike was 2 days late getting here and that was very frustrating. The second day was especially frustrating as my bike was in Tucson but the delivery company just failed to deliver it. Calling the United Airlines baggage line just increased my frustration as I could never get an sort of concrete answer as to when it would be delivered. Anyway, it came late monday night and I had 4 days left so I went cycling everyday since. The first day (Tuesday) I did part of Mt Lemmon which is a famous route here. The whole ride is quite long with a lot of climbing and I didn't think doing the whole ride would be a great idea on day one.

The second day, I went to my coaches house for lactate threshold testing. We did the bike testing first which involved testing my blood after cycling at different intensities. The results were that my cycling is quite strong and my lactate threshold is somewhat high; I should have quit there. I did the running test right after biking (and after biking 5 hours the day before) My heart rate was quite high at relatively slow speed and my running lactate threshold is low. I think if I had just doneI the running test and been fresher, it would have been better. Nevertheless, running is what I need to work on. I did improve my running times last summer, doing around 44 minute ten ks in triathlons and running some individual ten k races in around 43 mins which is not bad for me. On Thursday and Friday I cycled about 4 hours each day and by today (friday) I was feeling pretty good. I am glad I did this trip and it was pretty much what I wanted to do. (get in a week or so of cycling in the winter) a couple of extra days would have been better but it has been pretty good.

Heading to Arizona

The weather the past couple of weeks has been challenging for training. I have completed my third week of my coached training program. It was been going well and I am enjoying the bike trainor workouts in particular. I am heading to Tucson this weekend for a week of cycling and looking forward to it. I have heard that the weather there has been good. I am meeting up with my coach for some testing which should be interesting. This week I have done 2 and one half hours of spinning on the trainor; one run on the treadmill and one run outside; two swims and two hot yoga. I am swimming in the morning and doing yoga after work. I bailed on spinning today and packed. work has been a bit slower which i am enjoying.

week 2 of my new plan

A couple of weeks ago I hired a triathlon coach, Torsten Abel, to provide me with daily workouts geared to ward the upcoming year. I am in week 2 and it is going well so far. Torsten is a pro triathlete and finished 26th at Kona lat year and coaches his wife, Leanda Cave, who is also a pro. They live in Tucson, Arizona. This has given me some renewed enthusiasm and a focus to my workouts. I am still doing the UPEI Swim club swims plus biking and running as directed by Torsten. Lsat week, I did about 3 runs; two spinning sessions, 3 swims, 3 or 4 yoga. so far this week, I have done two and half hours of spinning, 2 runs and i am doing another one today (2 runs in one day); 2 swims and i am swimming again tomorrow and i am sure there will be lots to do on the weekend.

I leave next Saturday, feb 19th to go to Tucson, Arizona for a "training/vacation". I hope to get in some good base miles for cycling and meet Torsten and Leanda. He is also going to so some lactate threshold testing on me which will be interesting.

My reach exceeds my grasp

I never seem to get in as many workouts as I aim for. Today, for example i was going to do a 90 minute yoga class and run. I didn't get the run in. I just ran out of time. This week, I ran twice outside (about 45 mins each time) and once indoors on the UPEI track. I keep saying on here that I am not running enough but I am not doing too bad given that it is winter. I did three good swim workouts last week, one spin class, one at home trainor session of about 45 mins and 4 hot yoga classes. Thats about 12 workouts during the week. I have hired a triathlon coach for the coming year and am supposed to start training this week with him. He will give me weekly workouts and we will interact online. He lives in Tucson and we will meet when I go there in February. It will be interesting to see how that goes. It is only about 3 weeks until I go to Arizona to go cycling and I am looking forward to that.

Gearing up for spring

After Christmas every year, i seem to get a bit more enthusiastic about training. I am also getting excited about my upcoming trip to Tucson, Az. in February. The prospect of that has motivated me to get on my bike trainor. I have been doing some spinning at home on the weekends. Last week, I did 4 hot yoga classes, three swims, two runs, a spin class at the gym and a spin session at home. Bill, the swim coach, says my swimming is getting stronger and he is going to do a more specific triathlon plan for me when it gets closer to racing season. My friend, Bryon Howard from Calgary has introduced me to a triathlon coach in Tucson, who I am going to meet with when I am there and do some fitness testing. I have also agreed to hire him on a monthly basis for some programs and training advice.

week ending jan 8th, 2011

Last week, I did 3 good swims with the UPEI swim club. I am still really enjoying that program and am working alot harder than I would work on my own. I think it will pay off a bit come triathlon season. I ran outside 2 or 3 times, about 8 k. each time. I still haven't down much long running beyond an hour in quite a while but I guess I don' t really need to be doing that right now. I did 3 hot yoga classes last week. I have been doing yoga for over a year now and am starting to see real improvements in my flexibility. I think it is especially beneficial to my running. I did a spin class on saturday morning followed by some weights. That would be about 10 hours of exercise last week. I finally got my bike/trainonr set up yesterday and am hoping to do at least one bike/trainor session per week between now and the third week of february when I am going to Arizona for a week of cycling.

Christmas 2010

I went for a run on Christmas day around New Glasgow; on boxing day went to hot yoga class and also ran in Charlottetown. I went to the gym and did another run on the treadmill and some weights. Did another hot yoga class on Wednesday. On thursday, went to Montreal for New Years. In Montreal I went for a fairly long run (1 hour and 15 minutes) up Mount Royal and back. It is now New Years day and I may go to another yoga class in Montreal.