Weekend Update

Had a good weekend of training. On Friday night, I did a brick of a 31 mile ride followed by a 3 mile run. The conditions were less than ideal, there was a light spitting rain with a 20+mph wind. I rode DIRECTLY into the wind on the way out....it was tough...during some of the gusts, I looked at my computer and saw 17.5 mph. It was pretty rough and I dropped a few "f-bombs." The good news was when I turned around, I was flying....I saw 25.5 on the flat which is fast for me. All in all, I averaged 19.5. On the 3 mile run, I ran 7:42, 7:46, and 7:56 (hill) with an average heart rate of 141. My thighs felt a bit heavy but was happy with the pace/heart rate.

On Saturday, the Mrs and I went to the pool where I did a a 2000 meter swim....just straight, no sets of anything. I either did it in 35:20 ...or 37:05...I lost count of where I was at and did an extra 50 (maybe) just to make sure. I was hitting my 500's in 9 minutes and tried to pick it up for the last 500...but question if I picked iut up by 40 seconds.... The swim felt good, it is nice to just go for a swim...and not do any sets....just swim... I tried to keep in mind that this was a recovery swim and did not try to push the pace. I wanted to keep the form locked in and I concentrated on being long in the water. I realize these swim times are pretty slow but it is a big improvement from where I was last year.

Today (Sunday) was beautiful here in Cleveland. I did a 13 mile run at an 8:45 pace and a 142 avg heart rate. Last weekend I pushed out a 12 miler at 7:35 pace so this weekend I wanted a nice long slow run. It felt nice to be out and do just a nice steady run. I really kept focus to make sure I did not slowly speed up. I had 1 goo and 2 fuel belt bottles of gaterade. I felt like I could run all day as it was so nice and I was keeping the pace in control. This evening I do not even feel like I went for a run....it was a good 'recovery run.'

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

I’ve been in hiding!

Ok, I have been really lame about posting anything new on the blog lately. For some reason, I just haven’t been feeling it lately….but am getting back in the groove.

As for training, my hopes of Cleveland Marathon have gone out the window. On a 20 mile training run, I stepped of a sidewalk and tweaked my ankle. It was swollen and sore at the end of the run. Over the next 2 weeks, I tried to power through and get my runs in, but was barely able to walk by the time I finished my runs. I decided to take time to let it heal up…which took about another 2 weeks. So I had about a month of very little running during which should have been my highest mileage weeks. I invested a lot of time into it and was already hitting the 20 mile runs….so it was a bit depressing to write it off. Oh well….it happens

….but the good news is that I am now focusing my full attention on doing my first half Ironman in June. I feel like my swimming is good to go, and my running is ready so I just need to get more work in on the bike. The weather here in Cleveland has not been cooperating with this! I have been forced to do most of my riding on the trainer which I REALLY do not like.

For this week, I did a 12 mile run on Sunday at 7:35 pace (152 BPM) which felt really good, swam a 2400 with the Masters group on Monday, did a speed work out at the track on Tuesday (1 mile warm up, 400, 600, 800, 1200, 800, 600, 400 with 400 meter jog rest interval), and rode the trainer for 45 minutes this AM and plan on doing the master swim group this evening…I will post the work out later.

Happy training ever one…as I have been lurking on everyone’s blog…

As for the swim tonight:
Warm up: 1X300 Swim, 6X50 Kick, 4X25 form
First set: 8x75 on 1:15 (this was killer for me)
Second set: 5x200 (pull on the odds, form swim on the evens)
Third set: 6X50 on 1:05 (easy, 80%, all out...repeat)
Cool down: 100 easy

My arms are tired today.