Week 4 Summary

My training plan specified adding a run day this week for a total of 6 days of running. On Monday I usually do not run and just do my P90X upper body workout. This past Monday I decided to stick to the letter of the law and I completed my 4/1 workout. A 4/1 workout is 4 miles total with the last mile run at race pace. Of course my race pace has not really been concretely defined yet although I am starting to gather enough data to determine what my race pace goal should be. Below is a summary of my Monday run. Additional information about the run can be found by clicking View Details below the table which will take you to the Garmin Connect website and show you all the other data if you are interested.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	00:35:53	4.04	08:53
1	00:27:44	3.00	09:14
2	00:07:25	1.00	07:24
3	00:00:43	0.04	18:49

For this particular run, my "race pace" ended up being 7.24. If I was able to maintain that pace for the entire 10K, I would end up running about 46.11 which would be a good time for me but would not beat my best time of 46.01. So while 7.24 is a decent pace, I am going to declare that is slower than my goal "race pace."

After my run, I did my P90X Back and Biceps workout and Ab Ripper X. I still enjoy these once or twice a week P90X workouts. Strength training and core work is an important component to training for running and triathlon.

On Tuesday after work, I did 30 minutes on the bike trainer. I opted to do the sprint/power workout again because I feel like I get a lot out of it. After my ride on the trainer, I went out for my 50 minute Tempo Run. This time I used the lap button on my Garmin so I could see what my pace was for the 30 minutes of running at "pace." As a reminder, my tempo runs always consist of a 10 minute warm up and a 10 minute cool down. The warm up and cool down bookend the faster running which is supposed to be run just under 10K pace. Below is a summary of my workout. You will see that for this run, my tempo pace was 7:19. This pace is just under my race pace that I clocked on Monday which is precisely the goal of this particular workout. To be honest, while I am happy with all of this, I am hoping that with continued training, I can get my race pace down just a little bit more so I can at the very least beat my PR and if I am able to bring it down significantly, perhaps I can compete with the likes of the great young runner Chad who will be starting 2 waves in front of me at the Monument Avenue 10K.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	00:50:01	6.32	07:54
1	00:10:01	1.08	09:14
2	00:30:00	4.10	07:19
3	00:09:59	1.14	08:46

On Wednesday, Melissa and I both did our Pro K morning swim workout. I was a tough workout. We did lots of drills including swimming with tennis balls in our hands and kick drills. I was a bit burned out on the kick drills which is something I need to work on. Undoubtedly, the Tuesday night workout impacted my Wednesday morning swim.

On Wednesday we had unseasonably warm weather. After work, I ran with Melissa. Both our training plans call for an easy 3 miles on this day. Typically I find it hard to run slow and easy on these easy run days. Melissa runs slightly slower than me so running with her was a great way to force myself to take it easy. The bonus is we get to workout together and talk about this and that.

Thursday night's workout consisted of speed work at the track. Melissa and I both went to the track to do our repeats. My plan called for 4X800 followed by 2X400. The summary of my workout is below along with the link to more details. I ran pretty consistent 800s with a 400 rest interval. Again, when I rest, I am still running but at a much slower pace. I think knowing that I only had to do 2 400s at the end, I ran them pretty fast.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	00:45:49	5.42	08:27
1	00:11:43	1.13	10:24
2	00:03:21	0.51	06:33
3	00:02:30	0.25	09:51
4	00:03:25	0.51	06:44
5	00:02:31	0.26	09:49
6	00:03:21	0.51	06:34
7	00:02:28	0.25	09:45
8	00:03:26	0.50	06:51
9	00:02:29	0.25	09:51
10	00:01:30	0.25	05:59
11	00:01:16	0.13	10:01
12	00:01:34	0.25	06:11
13	00:06:08	0.61	10:06
14	00:00:01	0.00	30:00

Friday was our rest day. Also Friday I had my physical. My plan is to write about the results of my physical in the next blog entry so that this one is not too long. Without spoiling it too much, the last thing the doctor said to me was, "Whatever you are doing, keep doing it."

Workout Weekend

This weekend was a workout weekend. Actually most of my weekends are but I managed to get in an extra workout this weekend and really did not get much else done. Here is the recap.

Saturday morning we ran with our training team. Melissa ran 6.2 and I ended up just shy of 8 miles. The pace seemed pretty quick for me and if you look at the data, you will see I was mostly in zone 3. Most everything I have read says to train in zones 1 to 2 or 4 to 5 but not in 3. I definitely need to get on top of my zones. Also I think I will run with slightly slower runners next Saturday and see how that goes. After our run which is posted below, we went to the pool for a 1 hour swim. I was pretty tired so I took it easy although still ended up with at least a 1000 yards of swimming drills. Afterwards, we went to Whole Foods to shop and eat lunch. I had a huge lunch of greens, salad, some vegetable rice, and a few bites of Indian Food. We spent the rest of the afternoon running errands and doing some shopping before retiring to the homestead for the rest of the evening.

On Sunday we got up and did 90 minutes of Yoga X before going to church. After church, we went straight to the pool for another 1 hour swim. I was able to push it a little harder in the pool and managed to do a lot of drills with less rest than the day before. After our swim, I went on a bike ride for about an hour. It was very windy so that really slowed me down and made me work extra hard. I felt like I was pushing it hard the whole time. Considering all that I had already done that day plus the wind, I felt pretty good about my time and pace on the bike. It is still early in the season and I still have time to get stronger on the bike. The details of the bike workout are below.

After the bike ride I did my 3 mile run. Again, I probably went too fast although my training plan does not really specify "easy run." But again, I ended up mostly in zone 3 for most of the run. Then again, sometimes it is nice to know how fast I can go after a hard bike and lots of swimming. Granted I get more time in between disciplines than I would during a race, however, I think my numbers show that with more than a month of training left, I have a chance to perform well in my age group.

Perhaps next year, as I continue to train and improve, I may even get close to the podium in my age group for some of these local races. Placing in my age group would actually be a pretty spectacular accomplishment and I am not sure it is even realistic. However, if I continue to work hard and avoid injury, there is a possibility. Also since I plan to do this well into old age, I figure eventually I will place once I am old enough. After all, I just watched the Ford Ironman 2010 World Championship in a replay on the computer and saw an 80 year old man finish. WOW! That could be me someday if I play my cards right.

Here are the numbers and map from my 3 miler from today.

That about wraps it up for now. It is not too enthralling, I know. But it is nice to share with you all and it is nice to keep a training journal in this manner. This next week, we add another day of running to our schedules. It is time to step it up once more. Adding another workout will be tough because I still want to continue with P90X but as long as I get enough rest, I should be able to do it. Thanks for reading.

Reflections on Week 3

As I wind down the third week of my official, structured training, I would like to summarize how I feel that I am doing and give you my personal evaluation. Before that, let me recap my latest workouts since my last post.

For now, Mondays are a day of rest from running or biking. This past Monday I did my P90X workout-"Chest, Shoulders, and Arms" and "Ab Ripper X." I always like the way these upper body P90X workouts make me feel. I continue to notice muscle development as I stick with these workouts. These workouts will ultimately pay off during races like Xterra where I have to carry my bike up the stairs many times and during the SM100 when I have to push and carry my bike a lot.

As I increase my mileage and the amount of time I spend training, I have less time for other things. Since I pack a lot of miles into my weekend, I am often quite tired by Monday. Sometimes this tiredness carries over to Tuesday. Also I have been spending more time in the mornings preparing my food for the day so I can have a healthy meal at lunch. The extra tiredness and the extra time spent in the morning preparing food means I sometimes need a few extra winks and then don't have time to workout before work. This past Tuesday was one of those days. I slept in until 6:30 and therefore did not have time for my Tuesday morning cycle on the trainer.

As Tuesday wore on, I decided that I would go ahead and do my cycle after work and then do my tempo run. That would be a big workout but I was pretty pumped up about the idea and made sure to fuel properly during the day so I could pull it off. After work, I got right to it and did my 30 minute Spinervals and then did my 50 minute tempo run. For my tempo run, I started the run off relatively slow-about a 9:15 to 9:30 minute per mile pace and ran this pace for 10 minutes. Then at the 10 minute mark, I increased my pace and ran for 30 minutes at a much faster pace-right around a 7 to 7:15 minute per mile pace. After my 30 minutes at a fast pace, I slowed down for the last 10 minutes to cool down. You can see the details below by clicking on either "Untitled" or "View Details" on the map below. Just click the Back button on your browser to come back to my blog or wait until the end of the blog to review the maps. You can always click the Back button to come back.

I felt pretty good about this run. Considering this is only my third week of training and I still have a long way to go until the 10K, I am pretty confident I can PR (beat 46.01) and I may even give my nephew Chad a run for his money. His time in last years 10K was super fast but he is in college now and I am hoping that the ice cream will slow him down a bit so I can beat him. Honestly it does not really matter but I make up goals just to motivate me. I actually hope he has a great race and does very well. I wish that for everyone!

On Wednesday we had our Pro K swim in the morning. I was a little tired from the Tuesday night workouts but I felt like I had a great practice. We did a lot of sprinting which is always a challenge. It is hard to go fast and not have my stroke fall apart. I am still the slowest one in the class. After work on Wednesday, I ran my easy 4 miler.

My training schedule calls for speed work on Thursdays. Melissa and I went to the track so we could get our speed work in. She did her tempo run and I did my 8X400s. This is the first time I have done speed work with my Garmin. Technically, I probably included too many extra seconds of rest in between my 400s. Resting refers to slowing down to a jog between 400s. It does not mean that I stop running. My resting laps were slightly longer than my repeats and I slowed down with each resting lap. You can see the details below. After you click "View Details" on the map below, you can click "View Splits" to see the details of my laps. Again, you click click the Back button in your browser to come back to this page or wait until the end of the blog to check out the stats. After our speed work, we did Ab Ripper X.

Overall I feel really good about my training. I have two more weeks of building before I do a recovery week where some of my mileage will go down and I will try to get some extra rest. I also have my doctors appointment next Friday afternoon so I will get off work early for that and that will be like a little half day off. I am looking forward to that.

I think the swimming is really paying off. My body is learning to work harder with less oxygen and as I adapt, it seems to be making me able to run faster. This weekend, I plan to get an extra day of cycling in. The weather is supposed to be really nice. I may try for a long ride on Sunday-longer than the 20 milers I have been doing. We'll see. I also have yard work to do so I am just not sure yet. I still have issues with my knee but stretching and strength training as well as the cycling and swimming seem to be helping.

Anyway, thanks for reading. You are now up to date.

A Little Rain, A Little Sun, and a New Toy

On Friday I received a new toy in the mail. I have been meaning to get one of these for a while. I used to have one until I wore it out. The Garmin Forerunner 305 is yet another tool to assist me with my training. Using the Forerunner, I can keep track of all my running and biking stats and make sure I am training in the proper zone. The device uses GPS to keep track of time, distance, pace, heart rate, calories, and has many other useful features. I am especially interested in the heart rate data and calories burned features in addition to the traditional time, pace, and distance measurements. Training in the proper heart rate zone is all the rage and is supposed to lead to better performance. The watch calculates your zones based on your maximum heart rate which is determined with a formula based on age and some other variables. I would like to figure out what my actual maximum heart rate is but I have not figured out exactly how I am going to do that yet. I think if I had access to a treadmill, I could get an accurate calculation. For now, I will use the preset formula.

On Saturday morning, we woke up to cold rain. There was even a little bit of ice on the windshield of the car. But being that we are training with a team, we got our cold weather running gear on and headed out for the church. For some reason, the schedule had been adjusted and my team ran 6 miles. Well, actually now that I have the Garmin, I can tell you that it was really 6.35 miles. I have posted a link to my run below. Once you have finished reading, you can always come back and click "View Details" to get even more data.

Saturday Run

After our run, we went to the pool for our post-run swim workout. Unfortunately, I got some calf cramps about 30 minutes into the swim. This happened to me once before after running and I am working on the issue. Melissa continued her swim so she could get her full hour of swimming in.

After our swim we drove to Hampton Roads to watch our niece play in a huge volleyball tournament. It was quite a scene with 18 courts set up inside the Hampton Roads Coliseum. This is the first time I have ever watched competitive volleyball up close and also the first time we have seen Devon play. Boy was she good. Right away she made some really great plays. I am not sure how she gets down so low to keep the volley alive or how she jumps so high to spike the ball. I was impressed with her ability as well as the overall athleticism of all the girls playing. It was quite a fun experience.

On Sunday, we did a 1-hour swim. I was able to go the whole workout without any cramps although I did not do any kick drills this time around. I was holding back slightly since I knew I would be doing a big bike ride later.

After our swim, I did a 20+ mile loop on my bike. I forgot to hook up the cadence sensor that I bought with my Garmin 305 but I still was able to log some useful data. I had the watch set to run, however, so the calorie count is not accurate for this ride. Below is the map and data from the ride. I felt pretty good during the ride although I was still slightly cold throughout the ride. Also I find it more difficult to breath well when it is cold. Although it was sunny and supposedly around 50, the air still felt cold to me and my feet were definitely cold by the end of the ride.

Sunday Bike

After my bike ride, I did a 3-mile run. I am supposed to run 3 easy miles on Sundays according to my 10K training plan. But as you can see from the map and data below, I ended up with a pretty fast 3 miles when compared to my previous race times. Easy is supposed to be just that-easy, and while I did not feel like I was pushing it real hard, it looks as if the heart rate data indicates I was probably in zone 3 too much. Easy runs should be in zone 2 and not zone 3. I am not too worried about it. I still have to dial in my zones so they are specific to me and not just my age.

Sunday Run

After my run, we got cleaned up and went to Whole Foods. Since it was Superbowl Sunday and we got to the store around kickoff, there was no one there. It was quite a nice treat to shop with no lines, and no competition for the goods. We don't have TV so we did not watch any of the game. I don't feel like I missed anything.

My knees felt pretty good after my ride and run. The swimming and the biking really help. Also I spent about 30 minutes on Friday night doing my foam roller which really helps for some reason. I have not figured that one out yet but whatever helps is good. I do plan to ask my doctor about it when I go for my physical.

That about wraps it up. Thanks for reading and enjoy my Garmin data.

Midweek Report

Despite the fairly abundant amount of working out I did over the weekend, I was still up a little too late on Sunday night. We had a nice chat with Melissa's sister Vicki and got caught up on the goings on in their neck of the woods. Afterwards, we still needed some chill time so we ended up staying up a tad too late. Rather than push my luck, I decided I would sleep in a little on Monday. After all, every good workout plan has to have rest built in. Everything I read about fitness stresses the importance of quality sleep.

Monday after work, I did P90X "Shoulders & Arms" and "Ab Ripper X." Afterwards, we had an early dinner. Well to be honest, it was not that early but it was early for us. I had to finish eating and drinking everything by 8PM as I had to do a 12 hour fast for my Tuesday morning blood work. I think I ended up with my last swig of post meal apple juice at about 7:55.

I had done some research about the potential consequences of working out before having blood taken. Most of what I read said to not exercise before the blood work because it could elevate levels of this and that. The Livestrong web site said working out before was ok but recommended a full hour of cool down before getting blood taken. Some web sites recommended skipping the workout entirely. Interestingly enough, the person who answered the phone at my doctors office said, "sure go ahead and work out." I thought that was interesting. Of course some people have different notions about what it means to workout. I decided to not workout and again to sleep a little later than normal. I figured the later I got up, the less time I would have to feel hungry. Actually I want to talk more about being hungry in a moment.

The blood test (I did not study) was a breeze. I got an A. Seriously though, the people at Labcorp were very pleasant and efficient and the technician who took my blood was a real pro. I was in the chair for under a minute I think and there was virtually no pain. I was impressed. Because no matter who you are, needles piercing into your veins is not a pleasant experience. But they made it easy. My actual physical is not until the 18th. I will find out the results of the blood work then. Unless they find something life threatening of course. Then they would call me. I would hope anyway.

Tuesday night after work, I decided I would go ahead and do the 30 minute cycle I had originally planned for Tuesday morning. I did the sprint/power Spinervals workout and then changed into my running shoes and did my 40 minute tempo run. I felt pretty good during the run but my left knee started bothering me a bit. After my run I took some Motrin and iced. My pesky knee has been acting up lately. Probably because of the increased mileage.

Back to the hunger. Ever since I ramped up my training, I have been more hungry. It seems like I eat all the time. I don't eat high calorie foods but it seems like I am always eating. I used to eat a banana, a yogurt, and a Luna Bar for breakfast. I quit dairy a while back so no more yogurt. Instead I am having a banana, an orange, a Luna Bar, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then later I will have some nuts and sometimes another banana. In addition, a few times a week, I also have a piece of toast with peanut butter before I even leave the house.

This morning I logged all my calories with a the Calorie Counter app that I have on my iPhone. I came up with 572 calories for breakfast. I mostly have salad for lunch but I don't know how many calories are in my salads or in my dinners for that matter. I have decided I am going to try to do an accurate count of just how many calories I have for an entire day. I won't do it all the time but maybe 2 or 3 times every now and then. It should be fairly simple to figure out. We have a special scale that measure calories, fat, carbs, etc in just about any food. So we can put a piece of fish on there, punch in the code, and it will tell us all the nutrition information. I will have to plan some things out but I should be able to figure out a good average for how much many calories I am taking in.

Mostly I want to do this to make sure I am getting enough calories for the long swims, bike rides, and runs I will be doing. You have to fuel the machine! Learning how many calories I need and logging what I eat and how I feel will help me dial in my nutrition and increase the efficacy of my training.

On Wednesday, I went to early morning Pro K swim practice. We had another great workout. I was pretty gassed throughout most of the workout. We did lots of sprinting and we did some other drills that we had not done before. I think she is ramping us up for race season.

Wednesday night, I did my easy 3 miles followed by a serious of strength training including some hip and glute work. I also did some PT exercises that I learned during my post knee surgery physical therapy. I know I worked my glutes pretty hard because I could feel it today.

Thursday morning, I did not work out but after work, I did my Thursday night speed work at the track. The schedule called for 3X800 and I ended up doing the 800s in about 3:15 which is about a 6:30 minute mile pace. Between 800s, I jogged for 3:00 before doing the next repeat. I warmed up and cooled down of course. It was a good workout. Melissa also went with me to the track and did her easy 3 miler. After we got home from the track, we did Ab Ripper X. It is nice to have someone to workout with. It makes it all that much more fun. The fact that my workout partner is my wife is a double bonus!

Tomorrow is a rest day. Also I am supposed to be receiving a new purchase in the mail. I am excited about it! I will leave that for the big surprise for tomorrow. I will give you a hint. It has to do with working out. Well, of course, right?