Just so everyone knows, I’m in for OH triathlon again. I just signed up this morning, now I just need to get a place to crash.

LJ

Man - It feels nice to be coming back here every day. Even if it is just me, LJ, and random viewers.

Anyway - I just had to take the bike out today, for two reasons - 1) I wanted to try the new computer and 2) we discovered a new bike trail close to our house, and I wanted to see where it went.

So - the trail was short, and I pedaled around some neighborhoods in the area. I feel like I kept a pretty good pace (around 14.4mph average) especially considering the number of times I had to stop to cross traffic, and stop to wonder, “where am I now?” So, after about 8 miles in the 95 degree heat, I ran out of places to explore, so I came home to change and go swim. I definately need to get some 20+ mile rides in soon.

On the swim, I toned down the workout a tad, since I was alone, sore, and my right hammy kept cramping. Here’s what I worked out on:

50m warmup
400m (10:13 - not bad. not good)
Update on the above time - my time 2 weeks before the race last year was 10:26. Pretty stoked about that.
4×50m with 20 sec rest
4×50m with 25 sec rest
4×25m with 15 sec rest
4×25m with 20 sec rest
200m (4:45 - much happier with that pace)

then, I hit the sauna to sweat a little. All in all, this was a great week for me. Right up there with the biggest weeks last year, only I’m already going farther and faster.

Thanks to the rare bout of rain we were having here in KC - I was forced to go to the gym instead of putting my miles in on the road. After yesterday’s intense swim workout, I committed myself to keep pushing what I’d done so far, and I’m pretty happy with the results.

Last year, even at race time, I still found 1.5 miles at a 5.5mph (around 11 min mile) pace hard to handle on the treadmill. Today, I was thrilled to throw down my first 1.5 mile effort on the treadmill with little to no strain on anything other than the usual ankle/knee aches that come with running on that contraption. Even those weren’t too bad. Then, I jumped over to the exercise bike for 40 minutes of hard pedaling - which was pretty much a breeze. My heart rate actually dropped from the time I started to the time I finished, probably as a result of all the miles I logged in the trainer this winter.

Then, I lucked into an open treadmill (the gym was really crowded by that time), and logged my next 1.5 miles at 5.5mph. I won’t say it was a breeze…in fact, about .6miles into it, my legs started to feel pretty dead. Instead of the usual (last summer, I’d have slowed down), I turned up Craig’s IPOD, and gutted it out.

I’m still not sure what’s going on, but I’m a lot stronger this summer than last.

Anyway - some random thoughts:
- have a training partner is great, even when they’re not working out with you. You don’t want to lose step, so you push yourself harder.
- I need to get an IPOD
- I’d like to get a road bike too, but that may be out of the question before the OHT
- I got a new computer for my bike, since my old one died, but the rain kept me from putting it through its paces tonight. Hopefully, I can take a little ride tommorrow.
- I plan on doing the swim workout again tommorrow - this time I’ll be on my own. I’m more than a little nervous about it, to be honest.

So - I lied. That swim workout. That wasn’t an ‘ease back into the pool’ workout. Looking back at it, I was an idiot to think that. It was, in fact, the most hellacious swim workout I’ve ever done. We figured that we ended up swimming about 1.25 miles, which is at least double anything we tried last summer. It was awesome though.

Why? After the second 100m rep, I was seriously ready to puke. I felt terrible. My training partner, Margaret (who, I recently learned, also used to be on her school’s swim team) just kept telling me, “You’re strong, you can push yourself a lot further than your brain is telling you that you can.” Absolute madness, right? I mean, this chick is out of her mind. I was done. Then, I swam another 100, then another 1oo, then the first set of 50’s. Then the other three. Then the 12 25’s. And, all the sudden, I was in the jacuzzi….letting my weary muscles take a break.

And, she was right. A lot of our limitations are in our head. I’m happy to have learned that.

I’m also happy to announce that we’ll both be coming in for the Old Hickory Tri again. I just couldn’t miss it.

So - yesterday was an off day, as I was pretty sore from the run Monday and the swim Tuesday. Tonight, I’m going to have to go to the gym, because it’s raining - so I think I’ll brick up the distances for the OHT, and do them on the treadmill and exercise bike. Should be a pretty good time.

Well, after a long weekend that gave me plenty of excuses to avoid training - we were back at it Monday evening. I headed over to Margaret’s around 8 to run the 3 mile loop close to her apartment complex. She tried to warn me that it was really hilly, but I was thinking, “Hey, it’s Kansas….it can’t be THAT hilly.”

Wrong.

The hills were brutal. There were three that were the size of some of the moderate hills at the Old Hickory Triathlon. I was pretty happy to only have to stop once - especially considering this weekend wasn’t the healthiest, and I didn’t eat that great Monday. I’m not exactly sure what changed from last summer, but I’m a lot stronger runner already. It’s crazy.

That really makes me want to do the Old Hickory Tri again. Which, I guess isn’t really completely out of the question. I could drive back on a Thursday night probably. We’ll have to think about that.

Anyway, we have a swim workout planned for tonight - I’ll just paste it here if anyone out there is interested in a good “get back into the pool” type of workout.

200 yards or meters warm up (work slowly, stretching out)

5 x 100 yards or meters

12 x 50 yards or meters:
-4 x 50 on 15 seconds rest after each
-4 x 50 on 20 seconds rest after each
-4 x 50 on 30 seconds rest after each

12 x 25 yards or meters
-4 x 25 on 5 sec rest
-4 x 25 on 10 sec rest
-4 x 25 on 15 sec rest

300 yards or meters cool down (work slowly, stretching out)

Okay, I survived and I’m going to copy 3 posts from another link where I posted my eventful weekend onto another site so that I don’t have to type all this again. It’s long, but very funny and eventful:

Message: Well my first Olympic down, and it wasn’t that bad! Now the swim…..sucked. I have got to get a wetsuit! I was one of only a handful that didn’t have it, and someone told me it would have probably cut down 8 or so minutes in the swim because of the conditions. I don’t know. Everything was right on target except the swim. I was expecting a 36 minute one, but I went to the wrong bouy for our first turn and had to cut back, probably cost me around 5 minutes…..and I did it again at the end but not as bad…probably cost me another minute or 2. Plus I hit some logs and weeds in this river (Ohio). It was nasty as crap….oh well. Mark it down as learning.

Now I will say I never got passed on the bike or run today and did a lot of passing. That was a first that I never got passed, but I think some of that was due to me being in the back after the swim. I’ll post more later about the whole experience, but it’s late and time for me to hit the sack. You can see my times below, and I put out to the side how I did out of the 158 in the international distance. They also had a sprint at the same time.

SWIM: 44:41 (136)
SWIM TO BIKE TRANSITION: 2:50 (66)
BIKE: 1:20:07 (89) 18.9 mph…should have been a little faster but the roads were really bumpy, my brake kept sticking, some headwind on the way back, and few unanticipated hills…oh well again.
BIKE TO RUN TRANSITION:1:21 (24)
RUN: 49:33 (63) 7:59 pace personal best….my 1/2 marathon pace was 8:13 previous personal this 7:59 was actually better than my sprint paces…go figure. I guess it takes me more than 3 miles for my legs to warm up.
FINISH 2:58:30 (100)

More swimming in the off season and wetsuit!

Message: Oh and probably one of the best parts was I got a random girl to add me on myspace that was from Louisville. I sent her a message and asked if I knew her and told her it was random because I was currently in Louisville. She replied back and said I know, and I hope you don’t get mad, but I’m the girl working the front desk at your hotel and thought you was amazingly handsome so I searched for you on myspace.

The funny thing was, I thought the same about her (beautiful not handsome) when I was walking to my room hitting myself on the forehead wondering why I didn’t say something to her besides thanks and the normal customer/worker talk.

Great weekend all around! haha

essage: Read if you want, but some folks wanted to hear the whole weekend:

Friday, got to Louisville and went out friends. Didn’t reallly sleep, just had fun since my event was on Sunday.

Saturday, got up took a short jog in a neighborhood to enjoy the weather. Checked into the hotel and this is where it all started to get crazy. I thought the hotel deskworker was cute, but I never say anything never have the confidence, eventhough Friday night was intersting and should have built up my confidence. Oh well, so I just checked in went to my room. She added me as a friend on a website that I’m apart of sorta like “myspace,” gave me some compliments and such, and I sent her a message back the next day when I was checking my race results giving her compliments and my number.

Sunday, got to downtown Louisville early to prepare. Hit the water, almost drown, got off course, kicked a log that was floating in the river, got tangled in some weeds in a shallow part, got the crap knocked out of me by a girl, got off course again, and eventually made it out anyhow. One of my friends surprised me by being there and yelled as I was running from the water to the bike. That gave me a 2nd boost and got me pumped. Headed out feeling good on the bike and then hit some decent hills, and that road was like riding off road. Took it kinda easy not wanting a blowout or anything worse. Made it through the bike, even after being almost hit by a car or better yet me almost hitting a car that passed me and then stopped as soon as they went around. Well run transition started, did well and came out with legs that felt pretty good. I just ran like Forrest enjoying the downtown and the stroll across the bridge. Never really felt bad on the run and was actually talking and pumping up others that were struggling and yelling at some others that I knew and saw coming back. I then finished. Like I said earlier my bike (besides the hills and rough road) felt good, and my run felt better than ever. I actually set a new PR for me in running by breaking an 8 minute pace.

Sunday after the race: My friend that I was staying with Sunday night wanted to go to Best Buy. We loaded up and headed down the street just to witness a head on collision where one car went off in a ditch. He looked at me and was like, “What do we do?” I said, “Drive over there to that ditch.” I got out ran towards the car just to see an elderly gentleman trying squeeze out of his door. He was yelling help me I’m stuck. So I got down beside his car and grabbed his hand was pulling the door open farther, and pulled him out. Well everyone was okay including him, and we had to stick around a little bit to tell the cops what we saw. The rest of the evening we just chilled, ate, and watched a movie.

Monday: I decided to run back by the hotel on my way out of town to either leave a note for “the girl,” or to actually see her and talk to her for a minute. I thought to myself, “Hey, let’s make her at least remember you when you leave.” I couldn’t find a flower shop, the roses at the gas station were dead, so I saw a greenhouse that said 50% off. Haha, so I bought her this like 4 foot plant/vine thing that had these pink flowers all over it, and went to the hotel. She was there and I gave it to her and we chit chatted and laughed about it and stuff. I headed out to come home, and I just got a message from her with her number and thanking me for the flower and how she was going to plant it and watch it grow, and that no one has ever done anything like that and the impression it made. haha So all in all this was good and I will see her again in the future, but nothing to get too pumped up about just yet with 3.5 hours between us.

The final of the story. I don’t know if you all heard about the snipers in Louisville, but you can research it if you want to know more about it. I was watching the news last night while I was up there and heard about it and how they said if you see anything suspicious at overpasses contact 911. On my way home, I was thinking about the weekend and driving, then I see a white car on a overpass just sitting there. I was like oh crap, what if this is a shooter. So I start swerving from lane to lane like a drunk man, creeping up and down in my seat (I know laugh, but hey what would you have done). I made it past the overpass without any shots, haha. So I called 911 and told them what I saw and said that it may be nothing more than an abandoned car, but I wasn’t taking any chances and thought they should know about it. So if you hear about a white car getting busted around mile marker 92 on the West Kentucky Parkway, then you have your crimedog solver right here. haha

What a weekend!

John

It has been a horrible week, and I hope it was due to the weather. 2 days ago I had a 5 mile run, so I headed out and had to stop 4 times on my run to get my breath and get the HR down because my watch was going crazy. Yesteday I had a brick session with a 21 mile bike and 3 mile run following it, and I had to stop 4 times on that run as well. I feel like a Puss this week, because 5 and 3 miles normally aren’t anything to me and this week they have been harder than the half marathon.

This was my taper week thank God, because I didn’t have to do long mileage rides and runs. I just pray that I am ready for that race this weekend. The nerves are getting to me. Can I complete the 1 mile swim without dying???? I have done the distance several times in the pool and then I did probably a .75 mile swim out at Wildcat Beach on Tuesday, and made that by swimming across a bay and back in 26 minutes which I estimated to be around 3/4 mile based on time. I just hope I don’t panic and freak out this weekend with all the other people in the water. I know I can complete the ride, but will I still have the legs and energy to do 6 miles on foot??? Is the course extremely hilly? Is the heat and humidity going to work with me? Will I have any bike trouble? Will I come in last? Man, all this stuff is running through my head right now and it started yesterday after poor 3 mile run and packing up for the event.

On a brighter note, I’m very happy to have this Garmin now for my training in the future. Yesterday I turned on the virtual trainer, and that was fun because I was actually racing him on my 21 mile bike based on my previous time doing the same course. Let’s just say I beat him by a mile, so kiss my butt little computer biker! Maybe I should take him along on the ride this weekend, and just push to beat him so I don’t come in last!

LJ

Well I just purchased the Garmin Forerunner and it is awesome. I used it on a ride yesterday and will use it for a run today. It comes with 2 programs to use to plot your run and everything. This thing tells you like 30 different things from HR, Pace, Miles, Location, has a virtual running partner….heck it even tells you the sunrise/sunset for your location. The only thing it doesn’t tell is the temperature outside, but one of the programs puts that information in for you once you upload your workout for the day. It has tons of different training programs to use that keeps you in a certain HR, different interval workouts, or even if you get out on a long run/ride it can get you back home if you get lost. I’m still learning.

Here is a link to my workout yesterday so you can go see it, and even play it in realtime or faster to see my exact pace, HR, etc.

Yesterday’s Workout.

See you at the finish line!

LJ

Hey, well I’m glad to see Scott is back at it. I wish one of you were doing Nashville, because I’ve done all of these events lately by myself…oh well.

I’m just going to sum up my training for the month of July by saying that I have put in the following miles since July 1st and I haven’t quit lifting either:

5 miles of swimming
160 miles of cycling
61 miles of runing

That’s not too bad in around 2 weeks time.

Yesterday I had a great brick workout. I had a 2 hour ride to do and then a 30 minute run right smack dab in the middle of the heat of the day. So at Noon I headed out, and got about 14 miles up 641 and had a blowout. Luckily I’ve been doing some bike upgrading this summer and had a spare tube and pump with me. So I fixed that in about 30 minutes, and I didn’t want to be a quitter so I continued my ride up 641 to the Parkway and then turned around and rode back for a 38 miler. Then I consumed some water before heading out on my 3.5 mile run. I have some bike maintenance to do tonight after I swim and lift, just to get the fine tuning down for my biggest event ever this weekend.

I’ll be heading to Louisville on Friday evening, and do some relaxing on Saturday….go check out the event expo, pick up my packet and stuff, and then probably go look at the race course for Sunday’s big day!

Have a good one!

Oh yeah, NBC will be airing the Life Time Fitness Triathlon this weekend. For more information go here http://www.triathletemag.com/story.cfm?story_id=12283&publicationID=92&pageID=1705 I’m so stoked to get to watch one on tv before doing my on Sunday.

LJ

As excited as I was after Friday’s run - this morning was a reality check. Actually, it was two reality checks.

Reality Check #1 - A 3/4 mile swim is 1207m. Not 750. Apparently I should spend some training time in Math Class.

Reality Check #2 - Taking a few months out of the pool makes a pretty big difference. In a bad way.

Now - I’m not going to make excuses. I will say that Craig and I went to the gym last night for an easy bike ride - and I didn’t eat afterwards, or before my swim this morning….so I was a little shaky. I still sucked pretty bad this morning. I only logged about 550m in 100m blocks (+ a 50m cool down). While I swam all of them in under 2:15 - I’m not happy with that at all. It’s 54 days before I jump in lake with 200 people to swim for 1200m. I better get after it.

Tonight - Margaret and I are going on a bike ride on some trails around here, and I fully intend to exact revenge on her for all the pain she’s put me through so far….of course, it’s highly likely she’s better than me at that too.