Top of the Key

Great brick workout this morning. Woke up at 4:40, on the trainer by 5:30, and rode 26 miles, 17 of which was ironman race pace. Felt good, legs are bouncing back nicely. It was pretty cold out today, so when i jumped off the bike and headed out on the run, i underdressed, as usual. Jess calls me ‘appropriately dressed challenged’, and alot of the time, she’s right. I ran onto the south boulder creek trail again, i’m digging that route. It’s been easier on my knees, and i need to save them. So I ran 2 miles in z3, and felt a little bit of a struggle, either because of the cold or because i just wasn’t feeling it. I ended up with 7 min/miles, which is perfect for me, so not quite sure what’s going on.

Got back home and stretched, and did a little bit of core. I was supposed to hit the gym for a workout, but ended up going to core power yoga again tonight. It’s was not a difficult as last week, but still lost alot of sweat. Keep going once a week i tell myself. It will pay off. It shows just how unbalanced my body is, my posture blows and i don’t have the strength in areas i should.

Always something to work on.

Took Sunday totally off from training. As the day wore on, I’m glad I did because my legs started to feel the mountain biking efforts from the previous day. So I needed to rest up. We moved Jessica’s office from our home to the office building about 1/2 a mile up the street. And I got a massage in the new place, pretty cool. I needed it bad, especially on the IT bands and hamstrings. I felt so good after it.

Today I ran 6 miles on the South Boulder Creek Trail, easy z2 pace, average heart rate was 155, which is perfectly right in the middle of z2. Jumped on my bike and rode to the gym for a 1350 yard swim. Finished the morning off with some stretching and core work. All finished before 9am…pretty good day so far!

Just to catch up on yesterday, I swam 1750 yards with a set of 600 yards – Fartleks they’re called. You do the first 25 in z4, and then settle in the for the remaining 75 in z3, and then keep it going for the full set. I liked this set, because for me, the first 25 in z4 is a race start simulation, trying to break out of crowd and find some space.

Today, Saturday, I got up early for a mountain bike ride in Evergreen with my friend Brian. Haven’t ridden the mountain bike in a few months, except to commute back and forth to the gym, and haven’t ridden any trails in Evergreen. But this was a good ride. Started about 7:30am, and rode two loops. The first was pretty quick, not that difficult, took about 40 min. Then we took the larger circle, and that was longer, more technical, and was challenging for sure. Started to get a bit sloppy and lazy, which means the legs are feeling the workload. So took it easy after that, to ensure i don’t crash either.

Finished the day with a quick 1 mile run around the block, and in z2, i ran it in 7:51, first time ever under 8 min. So something’s clicking, i’m stoked!

Pretty easy day today on the workout front. Rode the cranks for 18 miles first thing this morning. I always like to ride early, and do the second workout later in the day if i can. There’s something about jumping on the bike when it’s dark, and riding till it’s bright outside.

I worked most of the day today, getting some big projects cleared out. But I was joined in the office today by my best friend, Harry. This photo is pretty typical of how he’s been lately. Harry’s always been a chill dog, but sometimes he’s really just so mellow we worry if his heart is beating. But once you get a ball in his face, things change. You can see his ‘man’ under his head, using it as a pillow. He’s the best!!!

Got out for a run about 2 hours ago, and it was dark before I finished a mile. So I had to strap on the reflective gear, there’s some crazy drivers out there. Got back home and rushed out to grab dinner. First time i bought Sushi all on my own, big step because if you don’t know me, I never liked fish before. But i’ve been experimenting, and really love the spicy tuna rolls with wasabi and ginger…mmmmm….good stuff. What took me so long?

This morning I had my first swim TT (Time Trial), and will continue to do these throughout the season. This first one was 250 yards all out, so a really hard effort. I only had a total of 1300 yards to do, so i was pretty fresh for this, or at least that’s what I thought. After about 150 yards into it, my legs started to hurt. Felt like i just climbed up Lefthand on my bike for a few hours. Must have been the previous night’s core power yoga. I finished the TT in 3:48, so not the most impressive, but ok for this time of year. Craig has a spreadsheet detailing swim paces for ironman based on TT’s like this. So it would be a 1:04 ironman swim…that would be incredible for me, so keeping it in perspective.

I really started to get achy today too, must be all the stretching and poses in core power yoga. Hoping to go on Friday too.

Got up early today to do a small brick workout. These are really not small in the grand scheme of things, but when you get to the peak phase of ironman training, a 14 mile bike to a 4 mile run is nothing. I loved it today though. Up early on the cranks at 6am, and off on the run immediately after that. Legs felt good, and ran the z3 mileage at my normal pace, so on target there.

I was feeling good all day, and decided to go to a core power yoga session at 5. I haven’t been in a while, like 2 months or so. And in the training for last year’s ironman, i was going at least once a week. And after this yoga class, I was tired. I was able to do the poses, most of the them, almost passed out twice, and left there a few pounds under what I started at…it’s all sweat. I’m about to hit the sack, and I’m tired. Big day for me. I’m eager for tomorrows workout, a 1300 yard swim with a 250 TT in the pool. And that will be it for tomorrow, rest up the remainder of the day.

Started off stabalizer week really well today. I got up early and went to the pool. Got in a good 1000 yards, and mostly did flip turns, which is big for me. But worked on the one arm drill, sculling and the kicking drill. I have a different approach to swimming lately, more of efficiency versus attacking. I figure if i can conserve energy and swim a 1:45 100 easy, but really put an effort in to swim a 1:35, then 10 seconds can wait, for now at least. But mentally, coming off today’s swim i was feeling really high.

Got out on a quick run when i returned from the pool. Planned to do 4 miles, my routine run down to the stop sign and back on Marshall/Mesa. A really flat portion of it is a mile long, so I usually do my z4 runs on it. My stride is feeling good too. Trying to keep a quicker cadence to be more efficient. Been reading about how elite runners can run the same cadence no matter what speed, they’ve just trained their muscles to do it.

Today was my rest day, and actually was planning to run the 5k turkey trot at the Boulder Res, but decided against it. I ended up running later in the afternoon, 5 miles or so on the trails behind our house. I figure i need to get a few more miles to make my week a 30 miler. So it may not sound like much, but for me, running this often and this much early in the season is pretty big. I do feel the benefit already though. I don’t hurt as much after my runs, my body is getting used to the load.

I also received an unbelieveable massage from my wife. There’s no one better. And I benefit so much from it. I’ve got lots of little things going on now, but after a session with Jess, I feel 110% ready to tackle the week. So I can’t thank her enough.

We took a long walk with the dogs this morning. It was too nice a day to just let it pass without getting some time on the trails with the pups. Harry was loving the freedom of being off leash, and we walked his old stomping grounds where we used to live. Lhasa just barely made it, she’s not built for distance, but she does all right.

I’m heading into stabalizer week, but will probably run a little extra to keep the feel going.