Top of the Key

It’s finally sunk in, I’m trying to do too much, too soon.  I knew going to the pool today was going above and beyond what I should be doing, and the results reflected that.  Jess stopped in at the end of the lane when i was almost done, and she asked how it was going.  She knew right away.  Then she proceeded to shed some light on the whole thing, and bringing me back to reality.  I’m not in training right now…this is down time.  I should be doing what I said I was going to do…yoga, weights, sleep.  None of which has really happened.  Starting tomorrow, new plan.  Take it easy.  Slow down.  Because like Jess said, come next March when I’m training my ass off again, I’ll be thinking that I should have had a little more time off from the plan.  She’s right…as usual!

Run: 5.5 miles
Ran today, early on too, and didn’t quite realize how much ice was still on the roads.  It was a game of jumping from one patch of pavement to the next.  Ran with the goal of 45 min. total.  2 miles warm up, then 3 miles at ironman pace.  I’m feeling a little different these days on the run, not like I was 3 weeks ago.  It’s more an effort to keep going.  But that will come back around.  Just felt good to be outside and running again.

Jumped rope for a few minutes, alternating both legs, and then each leg individually.

Massage with Jess after that, and worked some well needed arms and lats.  Dedicating almost all my sessions to the legs during Ironman, i neglected the upper body.  Time to make up for that, and it’s gonna hurt!

Tuesday: 1 hour run
Ran in the foot of snow that fell here in Boulder to the South Boulder Rec Center in my  YakTrax, then on the treadmill for a bit.  Then back home.  Uneventful run, and getting eager to be back running soon on some sort of plan.

Wednesday: 2700 yd swim
Swam another plan from Chuckie V’s winter training schedule, this time main set was 4×400’s at 90% of your base pace.  Then some sprints to awaken the VO2 in you, and it did.  I was really out of breath, and wasn’t sure I would do all 10, but did.

Tomorrow has to be a run, I need to get outside and stretch the legs.

Swim: 3000 yds
Ok, so maybe I couldn’t deal with the lack of structure for more than 2 weeks.  That’s how long it’s been since IMAZ.  And today, I went to the pool with a plan.  I’ve been reading up on Chuckie V’s blog, and he posted a free training plan for the off-season months.  It’s pretty specific though, and if you don’t read his blog, you should.  It has a wealth of information on training.

So I used the Monday swim plan he posted.  Main set was 8×250’s with paddles, pull buoy and the band around the feet.  That’s something new for me.  But I can totally feel how it restricts movement and makes you focus on moving forward, reaching, and tightening your core to gain better position.  Because usually you rely on your feet, but with the band, no way.  The sink to the pool floor.  I’m sure I’ll be hurting tomorrow.  It’s just great to mix it up and try something new.

I plan to use this plan for the rest of December to stay in shape.  Let’s just say the training has slowed down…my appetite…not so much.

Jess graduates this weekend.  That means more time at home and a little break at night for her since she’s working on 12-15 clients a week as well as school.  I was thinking this morning at the pool, as the women in the next lane to me was swimming lap after lap, flip turn after flip turn, pregnant with her 3rd baby in 4 years (I know her from the pool, she offered up the info, as there was no way I could tell), that my wife is pretty tough too.  She’s had some obstacles in her path while training, and each time, she comes back stronger and stronger, and just doesn’t give up.  That’s pretty impressive.  Because to just sit back is not her style.  She’s one tough skirt!  She’s got the ‘go ahead’ to start running, which we plan to do come Jan. 1. Maybe we’ll do a marathon in 09, just found one in Kauai, first year they are having it…let’s see, no Ironman for either one of this year…yeah, we can probably swing it!

Today we woke up later than usual, and enjoyed the morning with a couple cups of coffee.  Headed off to run some errands so we wouldn’t have to leave the house again for the day.  Took Harry and Lhasa to the dog park, they love to run free.  Although this one dog wouldn’t leave Harry alone, kept trying to mount him…so we decided to leave.  Harry doesn’t need that.

Jess and I rode the trainer for an hour, watched a few episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I can tell that I haven’t been on the bike in a while.  I rode the PowerCranks for the hour, and getting back into form on these things will take a few weeks.  Slow is the way to go.

Friday: 2000 yd swim
Back to the pool for a solid workout.  Had Jess take some video, I look awful.  I hate the way my stroke looks.  Need lots of work there.

Saturday: 1 hour run
Met up at the SolePepper Saturday run that Tim leads.  Ended up running with Bob (met him a while back at one of Tim’s open track workouts), he’s an endurance runner, 50k/100k type races.  We tried to find the Monarch track where Jeff was performing a MAF test, but never could quite find it.  So we ran around Louisville for an hour.

I started to break down physically a bit as it’s the first real run since Ironman.  And this morning (Sunday), my ankles and feet are feeling it.

Wednesday:
Nothing.  No exercise whatsoever.  Work, meetings, too much to catch up on.  I’m trying to hold off on forcing myself to workout.  If it fits in, then I’m doing it.  But after months and months of pushing myself out the door, I need a break.  I did set a plan for 09, well, a tentative plan.  It could go one of two ways.  A. Race Timberman and Kansas and try and qualify for Clearwater OR B. Race local, no travel, and make 5430 Long Course my A race.  Still deciding.

Thursday:
Snowed a ton, last night, all day, and night.  It’s really cold too.  But the dogs are loving it!  I’ve taken some video which I’ll post shortly, but here’s a photo or two.  And one from the other night before the storm, the moon over the foothills.  And finally, a photo from pre-race day, in my SkirtChaser gear.

Once Jess got home last night, I went to the gym. I worked all day and was crawling the walls to get outside.  Or at least somewhere other than home for once. Ran 2 miles on the treadmill, 9min pace.  Felt pretty good actually.  Started with an easy full body weight workout.  I’ve done this so many times, and started way harder than you should, and been sore for weeks.  So I always underestimate my weight/reps to ease into the program.  Even though I was swimming, biking and running a ton, the muscles that don’t get used somehow always do get used with the weights, and you feel the soreness.  I find that I’m also prone to getting shoulder strains when I start lifting.  So taking it easy on those is crucial.  Some core work after that.  Got in about an hour’s worth of training.  Pretty good these days for this guy.

Tuesday: swim, run and lifting

Sounds like i’m doing alot, but not really.  Jess and I headed to the pool this morning, first time since IM.  So it took me a little over a week to swim and run..still haven’t biked yet.  I swam about 1200 yards, just to see how i felt…and I felt really good.  A little out of breath at points, but that could be the extra weight I’ve packed on over the past week.  5 lbs to be exact.  Tried swimming with paddles, a pull buoy and the rubber band around your feet.  Shows you where you are really weak, at least for me.

Ran 1 mile.  Had all the motivation to do more, but quit.  It was getting dark, didn’t want to slap on the headlamp and gear.  So returned home and jumped rope for 5 min., throwing a few one-legged sessions in there, only about 15 sec.  Starting out slow with these.

Short workout in my basement, where i have a fit ball, a medicine ball, 2 pairs of dumbells (10lbs and 20lbs) and that’s about it.  When we can’t make it to the gym, this gets us by just fine.  Worked the core after about a 30 min session of mixed upper/lower body stuff.

Also gearing up for 2010, Jess and I are planning to do CDA again.  And I think we’ve found our rental already!