New Year's Eve Double

We flew back from California yesterday. We took off at 7:40AM and didn't get home until nearly 6PM. Spending the entire day in the airplane is pretty beat, but we were fortunate to get upgraded and the flight was really easy. Elizabeth and I both slept for parts of the flight. Also, unlike the flight out there, Charlie slept just about the entire way. (The picture below is with my parents when they dropped us off at the airport.)

This morning, I got up early and took Charlie out for a walk. Then I went to the pool for my first workout of the day. I did the session and felt pretty strong, but it certainly wasn't my best swim of the month. My main set was 5x300, then 5x150, all of it at my T-pace. I didn't wear a watch in the pool, but based on the clock at the pool, unlike Thursday's swim in San Diego, my pace for all of the sets was closer to 1:44/100 than 1:35 or 1:40. It was also generally tougher than other recent swims. Hopefully, it was a combination of the cumulative effect from this week's training, dehydration and being tired from the travel. Regardless of that...

This afternoon, after Myles Gordon's first birthday party, I went for a run in the Park. Elizabeth and I met up with Emily at the Equinox on 63rd and Lex and jogged over to the Park. Once we were there, I split off from them at a pretty quick pace - I'm not sure what I was running, but I'm guessing it was a little faster than 7:00. About 10 or 12 minutes into the run, I did the first of my pick-ups. If my "normal" pace was 7:00, then during my pick-ups I was running much closer to 6:00. That pick-ups felt great. I ended up doing six of them, with "normal" pace running in between. I did a total of 10 minutes at the pick-up pace. With about a half-mile or so to go in my run, I caught up with one of the faster runners I saw out there. We started talking and he told me that he had just gotten off a flight from Johannesburg and was in town for New Years. We started talking marathons and he mentioned that "these days" he was running about 3:30, but his best was 2:36! That certainly caught my attention. I asked if he was training for anything these days and he told me his next race is Ironman New Zealand. I asked if he'd done other Ironman distance races, he responded affirmatively and said he'd done 20-25 of them, and had spent some time as a pro. He wished me luck at Placid. I didn't catch his name, but it was fun talking and running with him. (It was doubly nice because I was keeping up with him, and in fact, really slowed down to run with him. That's not to say that he couldn't have smoked me if he wanted to...)

Tomorrow's an off day, I'll pick it up again on either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on my recovery from tonight!



Swim - December 31
Distance: 3,250 yards
Time: 1:10

Run - December 31
Distance: 5.5 miles
Time: 42:43
Average heart rate: 153
Course: Central Park lower loop
Conditions: Clear, cold, low 40's, wind

Long run - end of vacation

Today was our last day of vacation, or at least our last day of vacation in California. Tomorrow, Saturday, we're spending the better part of the day flying home. Then Sunday is the 31st, Monday is New Year's Day and then, Tuesday, I guess, we have to go back to work. So, really, we still have three more full days away from work. It's been a really nice trip - even though, like usual, we had a fair number of family commitments and people to see, our days weren't as packed full as they normally are on this trip, which made it so much more relaxing. Instead of running around all day everyday, we slept, ate, read the paper, went on our runs, but didn't spend hours and hours shopping or driving around or seeing other people (including, unfortunately, any of our friends). Today was exactly like that - I got up pretty early and took Charlie for a walk, then I hung out for a while with my folks, read the paper and ate some breakfast, and even took Charlie for another walk. Once everyone else was up, we did the same for a while. Finally, around 2PM, Mom, Dad, Aaron, Elizabeth and I took Charlie to Dog Beach and watched him run around for a while. This was Charlie's second trip to Dog Beach. He really loved it there - running free, playing in the sand, playing with other dogs, sniffing seaweed, all off his leash. He was pretty good about staying near us, even if he did run a little close to the parking lot a couple times. It's definitely another reason why San Diego living is really nice. Days like today make it tough to go back to New York winters.

At around 2:30, Elizabeth and I went for our run. We ran on this path that starts at Dog Beach, follows the San Diego river and goes three miles back towards Mission Bay. It's not the prettiest of paths - on one side is the river (which is a little stagnant looking) and the other side is the end of Highway 8 West. On the other hand, it was a beautiful afternoon and the path was nice. It was also marked in 1/4 mile increments. I was supposed to run around 8:30's, but I really ran more like 7's or 7:15's. I felt good and kept a relatively constant pace the whole way. At the top of below this are pictures (of Charlie - of course, but with me as well - from our trip to Dog Beach.)



Tomorrow is an off-day for travel. Sunday, the 31st, I'll swim and run.

Run - December 29
Time: 1:10:29
Distance: 9.5 miles
Average heart rate: 153
Course: Ocean Beach bike path
Conditions: clear, sunny, warm, typically San Diego...

Oops... found some hills

I'm mixing up my training schedule for the next few days. I was going to do my one long run of the week today (which actually wasn't scheduled for today), but Elizabeth convinced me to do my long run with her tomorrow. So, today I decided to do a short, easy run. I left the house and was going to head towards Balboa Park, a course that I remembered being relatively flat. The beginning of the run was mostly flat, but then I took a turn somwhere and found hills. A nice long downhill, complemented by a long, long, steep uphill. Thus, keeping the run within zone 1 wasn't realistic. In fact, I normally can't keep my flat runs in zone 1 or even 2. I have a hard time keeping it slow. In addition to the I'm not sure exactly what the benefit of a zone 1 run is. I know that I'm supposed to be building base miles and during this phase, I can be doing low effort, long sessions. I emailed John the other day and am curious to learn more. I'm hoping that if I know and understand what its for, I'll make a better effort at doing it. Anyway, back to today: as boring as it sounds, it was another good run; nothing too exciting or special, though it was nice to run in shorts and t-shirt in December and it was obviously nice to run something different than the West Side Highway. I started off struggling just a bit, but once I warmed-up, I felt good. This probably explains why I didn't run even one step in zone 1.

I've been thinking a lot this trip about picking a charity to raise money for. I would like to start raising money soon after the first of the year. I've also started telling a few people about the blog. The other week I told a couple friends and I told Loren and Aaron about it this week. I haven't sent the url to anyone, but I'll start doing that soon too. Now that I know that I am going to keep up with the writing and the training, I'm going to start letting people read it. Also, I've been playing around online and have found some other people's training blogs. I'm beginning to think that it might be fun to make the blog public. I don't know if anyone will actually read it... In connection with the fundraising that I'm going to do, passing along the blog will be a nice addition.

Took another good one of Charlie today. Thank goodness I don't think this dog is cute or anything!



Run - December 28
Time: 31:42
Distance: 3.5 miles
Average heart rate: 142
Course: Mission Hills, San Diego
Conditions: Awesome night, high 50's, clear

San Diego swimming

It's a cool, windy day in San Diego. It rained a little this morning, but it's mostly sunny out today. I guess it's threatening to rain this afternoon, but I swam this morning and it's my only workout of the day. Elizabeth and her family are driving down here today, as are my grandparents. Elizabeth is hoping to get in a run this afternoon, so hopefully it will stay dry at least until after she runs.

I swam today at my parents' YMCA. The pool was pretty nice - 25 yards, 6 lanes, windows all around, huge skylights in the roof. It's so much nicer to swim in that environment than in the basements that I'm used to. The pool wasn't very crowded - a few swimmers, a kid swim lesson and a water exercise class. I was scheduled to swim 3,100 - the main set was sets of descending lengths - 400, 350, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100 with 50 yard kicks in between - at my new "T pace" from the other day, 1:44 per 100. During my 1,000 yard time trial the other day, I averaged about 1:44 per 100, so that has become my "T pace" for training purposes until my next time trial. However, since I haven't really worked much on pacing, I couldn't tell how much effort equaled my "T pace". Also, my watch that I like swimming with died the other week. I replaced the battery before my time trial and thankfully it worked for the time trial, but I guess I didn't get the seal on it all that great, because during my warm-up set today, it died again. (I'm not f-ing with the battery again, so I just threw it out.) I knew that 1:44 isn't anywhere close all out, I thought it was somewhere around 7 out of 10. I swam the first 400 and when I finished I looked at the clock and had done the 400 in a little over 6:00. At my "T pace", the 400 should have taken me nearly seven minutes. The pace I was swimming at felt pretty good, so I layed off just a little but kept my sets closer to 1:30 than 1:44. I didn't feel my best today - my shoulders were a little stiff and my head was just a little cloudy. Not enough to really limit me or to make any excuses, but just a little off. I don't think I've been drinking enough fluids since we've been out here. That is one benefit of sitting at a desk all day - my bottle of water is right there at my hand all day long and I drink from it the whole time. Not saying that I'd rather sit at my desk, but I guess that is a bit of silver lining... I've also been eating pretty poorly out here - and a lot of it; more sweets than I'm used to, more meat, more crappy carbs. All excellent food (barbeque, cookies, burritos, tons of crackers), and this is what you're supposed to do on holiday, especially holiday with family.

Tonight, we're having the Shaffers and my grandparents over for dinner. It should be another night of a lot of eating. Below is a picture of the kids with our grandparents.



Swim - December 27
Distance: 3,100 yards
Time: 1:10

Another Encino run

This morning I got up early, took Charlie for a short walk, read for a little bit and then went for my run. Loren and I were planning to drive down to San Diego this afternoon, and I knew that if I didn't run in the morning, it would be pretty tough to run later in the day. We've been going to sleep pretty early and I've been sleeping well, so I felt good in the morning. I was supposed to try to find some trails and hills to run, but looking for that in Encino wasn't going to be easy. Because I was going to be running on a flat course, I decided to run hard. It felt great. I only ran for 45 minutes, but it was my longest run in a couple weeks and my third run in a row. Tomorrow, I swim.

My HR monitor was acting a little screwy today. When I started it, it wouldn't pick up my heart rate signal, then it started showing a heart rate over 200bpm, which I knew was wrong. After a couple minutes, it was back in the 140's and 150's, which I think was right. It had a similar problem on Sunday.

We're having a great trip so far. The weather's been great, family hasn't been too overwhelming, we're getting good sleep, training as much as we want and eating tons. Unlike some of our past trips out here, we're not running around like crazy. Tonight, we split up. I wanted to come down to San Diego to see my family and Elizabeth and her family are spending a last night in LA. They're coming down to San Diego tomorrow and then three days later we're flying home.

Run - December 26
Time: 45:02
Distance: 6.25 miles
Average heart rate: 156
Course: Encino bus path to Balboa Park
Conditions: Cool, clear, nearly perfect running weather

Xmas Running

Today was another run. Actually, John warned me in advance that this would be a run heavy week. This makes sense, given that I don't have access to a bike and even swimming won't be that easy. Today's run was Strides and skipping, which I enjoy. It's fun to do the sprints and because I think that the skipping helps with ankle and leg strength and I believe it, I feel like I'm getting stronger when I do the skips. Also, because it's essentially a three part run - warm-up, Strides, cool-down, and the Strides part is broken into eight "sets", it's a fun time. Today was also nice because it was absolutely beautiful. I ran in a tanktop and felt great.

Above is a picture of Elizabeth and me with Charlie on Christmas Day at the Shaffers' party. Below is a picture of Charlie when Seth and I were teaching him how to ride a horse. He did a pretty good job!



Run - December 25
Time: 36:03
Distance: 3.5
Average heart rate: 133
Course: Encino bus path
Conditions: Sunny, warm, low 70's(?)

California!

We're here! We made it and survived the trip. Normally that wouldn't be anything to really write about, but travelling cross-country on a packed plane with a squealing puppy wasn't the most fun travel experience I've ever had! Anyway, we got here and it's beautiful and we're happy to be here and happy we brought Charlie. Yesterday, after we got here and had lunch, Mark, Seth and I took Charlie to Venice Beach (see pictures above and below). We had a great walk on the boardwalk and got some really nice pictures of him on the sand at sunset.

Today, we spent the day walking around Santa Monica, then Elizabeth and I went for a nice easy run back in Encino. I was supposed to take it even easier than I did and go shorter than I did, but I was having fun running with Elizabeth, so went a litttle longer than I needed to. With the way I've been eating the last two days, it probably wasn't a bad idea to burn a little extra of the crap out of my system.



Writing may be a little less regular while we're out here, but I'm going to try to keep up as best I can.

Run - December 24
Time: 45:23
Distance: 5 miles
Average heart rate: 122
Course: Bus path in Encino
Conditions: Beautiful, clear night, mid-60's

Swim time trial

Today, my last real workout of this week (tomorrow's off for travel and Sunday is a really easy run), was a 1,000 yard swim time trial. I was excited to do this for two reasons. First of all, many of my swim sessions refer to my "1,000 yard pace" and I had only vague ideas what that might be. And, second, I never swim sets that long, so this would be a good challenge for me. Recently, the longest I've gone is 700 or 800 yards in a set. I know that I can do 1,000, but when I'm doing those "long" sets, I psych myself out and begin to feel like I "can't" do the whole thing.

This morning, after warming up, I got started. I was wearing my watch and wanted to hit the lap button after each 100. I knew that doing that might slow me down a fraction of a second or so, but I figured it would be worth it to see how my pacing went. My goal was to average between 1:40 and 1:45 per 100. As this was my first 1,000 yard effort, I mostly just pulled that goal out of thin air. After 250, I was feeling great, 500, 700, 900, still great. I wasn't feeling tired or slowing down very much. I knew that I probably could have pushed it a little bit more even. For the last 100, I pushed it and in the end that was actually my second fastest 100 (see splits below). This tells me that I left a little too much in the tank, but I was still happy with my time and the way it felt. I cooled down with an easy 400. All in all, a good swim to close out the week with.

Last night, I got an email from Jon saying that my bike frame was in and they were working on putting it together. He said he didn't have the wheels yet. So, on my way home from work, I stopped by Jackrabbit to see how it came out. Christopher was there, so he brought me downstairs to check it out. Even though it was up on the rack, not complete and without wheels, I was instantly psyched. It's going to be awesome. I just hope the winter continues to give us nice (even if cold) cycling days so I can get out there on it soon!

Tomorrow we fly to LA to begin our whirlwind trip West. Charlie's coming, which is an extra challenge, but my family hasn't met him yet, so it will be worth it. We're out there until the 30th.

Total time for 1,000 yards: 17:21
Splits:
1: 1:37
2: 1:43
3: 1:45
4: 1:46
5: 1:47
6: 1:47
7: 1:46
8: 1:44
9: 1:43
10: 1:40

Swim - December 22
Distance: 2,000 yards
Time: 45 minutes

Double day

Man, this morning I woke up in a cloud. I was so tired. I'm still surprised I even got out of bed at all. I think it's partly that I don't want to get off my schedule, partly that I don't want to be skipping workouts just because I'm a little tired or lazy, party that I don't want John to think I'm getting lazy and partly because I'm still absolutely terrified of the Ironman (even though my rational side asks what difference missing a half hour on the trainer seven months in advance of the race will make... but then again, what if it does make the difference!). So, I did drag my butt out of bed, set up the trainer, turned on SportsCenter and got going. Then, thankfully I remembered that I hadn't finished watching the Kona coverage. When I'd stopped last time, Normann Stadler and Michellie Jones had each won, but NBC hadn't finished the human interest coverage. So, today, I rode through 25 minutes of the stories that I really hate to love. I know that some people complain about sappiness of the coverage, but I love it and haven't stopped thinking about the stories all day. I'm such a sucker for it - whether it's movies or real-life stories like this. It just puts everything in perspective for me: watching the 76 year old nun finish her 20-something'th Ironman with less than a minute to spare before the cut-off, watching Blazeman watch Brian Breen roll across the finish, David Rozelle finishing on his prosthetic leg. Amazing stories, watching what they can do after the challenges they face, I have no excuse not to get out of bed for a quick ride on my trainer! It's also driven me to start thinking again about what I'm going to do with my training and my race. Over the holidays I'm going to select a charity and start thinking about how I can raise the most money possible for this effort. I'll set a goal and see how quickly I (with the support of everyone I know) can surpass it!

As today wore on, little by little I woke up. I never felt fully alive, and when I got home after work and started thinking about going for a run, I considered just sitting down on the couch and calling it a night. Luckily, I had made plans to run with Elizabeth. She got home a little after I did and was motivated to get out and run. It was a beautiful night - cool and clear, with very little wind. So we went. I only had a half hour scheduled, while she and Emily were doing a longer run. Once we got to the West Side Highway, we split up and I did my short run (with some Strides) and came home long before them. As always, I'm very glad I went, and I feel better now (at 9:15PM) then I did all day. Not that I couldn't have guessed that would happen. In the three or so months that I've been training with John, I don't think I've skipped or even skimped on a run session. That's a pretty good streak not worth breaking because I was a little tired!

Bike - December 21
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: ?? (problems with HR monitor)

Run - December 21
Time: 32 minutes
Distance: 4.25
Average heart rate: 136
Course: West Side Highway
Conditions: Great night, cool, crisp, clear

Swim day

My easy week continues, with another single training session day. Today was a 2,800 yard swim, a long swim by old standards, but pretty standard right now and I have a feeling that soon 2,800 yards will seem like an easy day! It was a good swim and I'm now definitely at the point where 2,800 is work, but not too tough. I didn't really get bored or tired until near the end of today's training. Part of that was because I was doing intervals and each of last intervals of the main set got shorter (400-300-200-100) and I let it mostly all out for my final 100, which was fun.

Swim - December 20
Time: 1:00
Distance: 2,800 yards

Time trial

This morning I did a time trial exercise in Central Park. My intstructions were to warm up (on the ride up there), then do two laps as fast as possible, leaving nothing in the tank, then cool down on the way home. It was cold this morning, so I put on all the cold-weather gear and got to it. On the ride up there, I could already tell that I didn't feel like I did on Sunday. My legs felt heavy, and I was struggling to get my speed or cadence up. I think the wind was a factor, maybe I was still feeling the weekend's workouts and also I didn't sleep all that well last night. Regardless, I was out there to give it my best shot. I got to the Park, and started out. I was feeling better, but still could feel that I wasn't cruising like I did on Saturday. Thankfully, the Park was considerably less crowded and even though cars are allowed in the Park on weekdays, there weren't that many in there today, so I was able to keep my speed up without too much looking over my shoulder to make so I wasn't going to get killed by a crazy taxi. I did the first loop in 17:15, which was better than 20mph, but I know I could have done better under different conditions. The second lap was slightly slower, 17:40, but still over 20mph. That speed is definitely respectable, given the hilly course. You do get some good downhills, but I think the uphills more than compensate! When I finished, I was done. I could have kept riding, but certainly not very fast. My cooldown ride home was nice.

My winter gear was perfect. It was probably in the low, low 40's when I was out there and windy. Except a little cold in the toes and fingertips, I didn't really feel it at all. My torso and legs were totally fine. I only wore a baselayer under my jacket, so if I do ride in colder conditions, I can layer there. I made good purchases.

Bike - December 18
Time: 1:23:01
Distance: 21.6
Average heart rate: 133
Course: West Side Highway to Central Park, 2 loops
Conditions: Cold, windy, clear

An extra day off!

Last night I logged on to my training schedule and had a nice surprise. Today, instead of doing my normal long swim, I had a day off. Totally unexpected, but 100% welcome. In fact, I had to double check a couple times to make sure that I was looking at the right schedule and that I'd read it correctly. After a pretty hard weekend - the 10 mile race in which I went nearly all-out and a 40 mile ride that I pushed much harder than I was supposed to - I was tired and more sore than I'm used to. This way, instead of getting up at the crack of dawn and dragging myself to the pool, I was able to sleep in a little, take Charlie for a walk and have breakfast in front of Sportscenter. I still got to work late, but that's a whole separate issue!

Also, my scheduled training time this week is a paltry 4:45! Coming off a week where I was scheduled for 11:40 and actually did 11 hours, this week is nothing! In addition to today, I have Saturday off (we're flying to LA that day), and only Thursday is a double workout day. It all works out well, between the travel and a couple nights with plans, I'm grateful for it and will be even more grateful for the extra sleep I'll be able to get. John warned me that next week, while we're in California, because I won't have access to a bike it will be a big running week. Fine by me.

Last week I wrote about how I now welcome (cherish) my scheduled days off and don't get so antsy about not working out. Today has been a little different - I guess the fact that it's a "scheduled" off day is somewhat off-set by the fact that it was still an unexpected one. I'm happy for the off-day, but feeling a bit anxious, etc. I just have to keep in mind that my body thanks me for this more than my head will ever realize.

Strong Finish to the Weekend

Today my schedule called for my longest ride in at least a few months - 2 1/2 hours - and I was committed to get at least most of it in. The weather forecast called for high 50's or even low 60's. Pretty amazing conditions for New York in mid-December; I had no excuse not to get out there and make the most of it.

After a chill morning with Elizabeth and Charlie, I went out for the ride at about 1:30. In years past, that was prime football-watching time. Especially at this point in the season, with both real- and fantasy- football playoffs on the line. This year, though, I'm finding that I just don't care as much. I'm still into it, especially since the Chargers are looking really good this season, but I'm not so interested in watching football just for the sake of watching it. I imagine the training has something to do with that, as there are just so many hours in a Sunday, and something has to go. Also, both of my fantasy teams are absolutely horrible this year, so that's not helping either. Anyway, I left for my ride around 1:30. It was sunny and relatively warm, though certainly not anywhere near the high 50's, let alone low 60's. I didn't know what to wear. I did know that I didn't need my new jacket and didn't need the balaclava, my heavy gloves or shoes covers. I dressed somewhere in between, erring on the side of under-dressing. In the end, my toes were a little cold as were my ears and fingers, but in general, I nailed the clothing question.

I rode up to the Park and starting going. On the first lap, I passed this guy on a pretty nice Trek tri-bike. After a bit I turned around and was right there with me. We spent the next lap and a half or so trading off cutting the wind. I definitely spent more time up front, but mostly by my choice - I'm not super comfortable drafting off someone yet, especially in the crowded Park, with all the tourists, pedicabs, rollerbladers, horses, etc. During our ride, two other guys joined. It was really fun riding with something of a group - it definitely made me ride harder than I had planned on (or, according to my schedule, I should have). I spent a fair bit of time in zones 3 and 4, and was riding in the low-20'smph. After the first guy peeled off, I rode with the other two for about another lap, but at this point, we slowed to a more leisurely pace (though still around 18-19mph). I ended up doing two more laps, for a total of five, or about 30 miles. I kept the fourth and fifth laps at closer to the 18-19mph range. It felt great - I could have kept going, if not for the boredom and the fact that that it was starting to get dark (damn winter!). There is no question that the training has already paid off. That was a better ride than just about any I did in the Park this summer. Unfortunately, that's probably my last outdoor ride of the year - I doubt I'll do any this week, and then we're in California the next two weekends. I'm sure that the weather won't be so nice next time I'm out there!

Bike - December 17
Time: 2:23
Distance: 40 miles
Average heart rate: 124
Course: West Side to Central Park - 5 loops
Conditions: Clear, some sun, some wind low 50's

NYRR Hot Chocolate 10 Mile

This morning was another NYRR race in Central Park. It was my longest race (and run) since the marathon, which I guess was only about six weeks ago at this point. I've been running great recently - a PR in the 5 mile race, nearly a PR in the 10K, and now, what amounts to a PR in a distance I haven't officially raced before. I ran a 1:08:39, which is a 6:51/mile pace. I'm especially happy with the time because I felt comfortable the entire way - I couldn't have gone much faster, but I wouldn't have had too much trouble keeping up that pace for at least a few more miles. Had I been able to maintain that pace for another 3.1 (which I think I could have done) or even if I had slowed a bit, that would have pretty easily been a half-marathon PR. Another encouraging thing is that two of the ten miles were pretty far off pace. The start was pretty packed and my first mile took 7:31. Then, I had to stop and pee during mile four, which cost me 45+ seconds and that mile took me 7:37. All my splits are below, but since those two miles were relatively slow, my pace for the other eight averaged around 6:40 or 6:45. Either way, it felt really comfortable, which is the main thing.

That's the last race for a few weeks, I think. With the holidays coming up, I won't be racing again until after New Years. There's at least one half marathon and a few other shorter races in January and February, which I'm sure we'll do. Elizabeth and Emily are gearing up for LA and will certainly want to do as many of their long runs to coincide with races as possible.

Run - December 16
Time: 1:08:39
Distance: 10 mile
Average heart rate: 161
Course: Central Park
Conditions: mid/high 40's, clear, sunny

Splits:
mile 1: 7:31.2
2: 6:43.5
3: 6:48.2
4: 7:37.6
5: 6:37.1
6: 6:52.2
7: 6:40.7
8: 6:40.9
9: 6:48.0
10: 6:26.4

Day 1, again

Yesterday was a great day off. Before I started working with John, I used to feel like days off were a waste - I frankly didn't know what to do with myself and didn't feel like I could afford to take a day off without sacrificing a workout. Now, however, I'd be jelly without the day off each week. By the time Thursday comes around, I'm tired all over and just plain depleted. I used to be happy if I got two workouts in once or twice a week, now I'm doing two sessions at least four or five days each week. Yesterday, I was starving all day - insatiably hungry. I ate and ate and ate all day long, and still felt I could eat more. Maybe this means that I'm not getting enough calories in general, but I'm guessing it also has to do with the fact that my brain realizes that my body is getting something of a short break and wants to fuel up for the coming six days.

This morning I got up and swam. 2,000 yards in drills, some 50's and some long sets. I am also scheduled for strength training today, but since I'm running in a 10 mile NYRR race tomorrow morning, I just did a real quick lifting session right after I got out of the pool. I'll try to supplement with push-ups and sit-ups after work. I'm trying to avoid the fatigue I felt in last weeks 10K. I'll have to see how I feel in the morning, but John suggested going all out for the 10 miles. My guess is that "all out" would be somewhere around 67-68 minutes (6:45's or so). I would be pretty psyched to run that - my guess is that 70-72 minutes is more realistic. We'll see!

Swim - December 15
Time: 45 minutes
Distance: 2,000 yards

Strength Training - December 15
Time: 20 minutes + push-up/sit-ups

A triple

Today was another 3 training session day. It's really a killer - not so much the training, as my total workout time is scheduled for 2:15, which isn't that bad, but because it's three workouts, there's all the travel time to the gym and preparation and then showering, which adds up quickly. Today was swim, strength, bike, so John suggested that I do the cycling on a spin bike immediately after the lifting. That schedule worked much better than doing it in three separate sessions. I still ran out of time and had to cut the ride 10 minutes short. In the grand scheme of things, though, I'm not so worried about those ten minutes on a spin bike.

Swim - December 13
Time: 45 minutes
Distance: 2,350 yards

Strength Training - December 13
Time: 45 minutes

Bike - December 13
Time: 35 minutes
Average heart rate: 118

Another bike and run day

This morning I got up to do some isolated leg training on the trainer. It was not easy to get myself out of bed, but once I did I felt pretty good and the training went smoothly and passed quickly. A big part of the reason it passed quickly was the fact that I watched a big chunck of NBC's coverage of Kona, which aired just last Saturday. As usual, I started out watching Sportscenter, but these days about 75% of Sportscenter is hockey and basketball. I guess that makes sense, seeing as how there's no baseball (other than some trades or signings), college football is in a holding pattern until the bowl games and Tuesday Sportscenter has Monday Night Football, but they're really waiting until later in the week to cover football. After a few minutes, fortunately I remembered that I'd tivo'd Kona. The coverage was great. It obviously focused on the 3 top men (Stadler, McCormack and Al-Sultan) and the top women (Jones and Ficker), but the stories were great and the race itself was really exciting. Only about a minute separated Stadler and McCormack at the end of the marathon. Stadler finished in 8:11:56, amazing! McCormack averaged faster than 6:25/mile in the marathon. The human interest stories were also compelling, as always - a 70-something year old nun, Team Hoyt (who failed to finish the swim before the cut-off), an Iraq vet missing half his leg, a guy running in honor of Blazeman, the guy with ALS who finished Kona last year. Elizabeth asked me if it was inspiring. It was, I guess, but not in the way I might have expected. I certainly won't have it like the pros and don't have the extra challenges that the special interest people have, instead I'll just be pushing through it. The coverage didn't really express just how long it is or how terrible it can be for people. It did help me remember what I'm doing all this training for. It will all be about crossing that finish line and knowing I did it. Later, I realized that I also have Lake Placid and the NY Marathon on Tivo. I'll save those for special workouts.

This evening, I came home, walked Charlie and then went out for a run. I did my normal route to the West Side Highway and South to the Battery. It was fine. A little colder than I expected and by the end my fingers and arms were feeling a little numb, but otherwise totally unremarkable. I am pretty happy with the fact that I can go out and run for an hour without really thinking too much about it before or after the run. I remember a couple years ago in the Hamptons when I was just getting back into running and I ran for an hour. It was a big deal. I guess it still is, but not such a big deal. I'll just be proud of myself and leave it at that. During the run I was thinking about choosing a charity to raise money for in connection with the Ironman. Unfortunately, I don't really have a connection to anything. I have a few causes in mind, and they're all meaningful. As Elizabeth suggested I should do some research and see what the best fit is. It's likely that I'll be able to raise a fair amount of money. I've donated to just about anyone who's ever asked and haven't ever done this myself. It's not that people owe me, but hopefully they'll be happy to return the support. It'll certainly be a good cause, too. I've been hesitant to start raising money just in case I don't follow through, but at this point, I'm as good as started the race. Barring a disaster, I'm doing the race!

Bike - December 12
Time: 1:15:28
Average heart rate: 115
Indoor ride

Run - December 12
Time: 1:00
Distance: 7.5 miles
Average heart rate: 145
Course: West Side Highway
Conditions: Clear, cold

3600!

The last two weeks I was pretty proud of myself, thinking that swimming 3,000 yards in one session was some kind of big accomplishment. This morning when I checked my scheduled training session and saw that it was different, I scrolled through it to see the total: 3,600 yards. Wow. It wasn't that the extra 600 yards were a huge deal, it was that I was piling an extra 20% onto what I already considered a tough workout. I was also remembering the days when I thought that swimming 1,800 was a big day.

3,600 yards is a little over two miles. And this workout wasn't an "easy" 3,600 with lots of kicking or drills. The main set was 9 x 300, broken up with a couple 50 yard kicks. But I did it. And did it pretty strong. By the end of the session, I was certainly feeling it, and probably not swimming very straight, but I felt pretty good the entire time. It also wasn't that long ago that a 300 yard set was a pretty big deal for me. Today, I did nine of them. And recently I've done 600-800 yard sets without too much trouble. Slowly but surely, I'm getting there.

Tonight I went back to the gym for strength training. The gym was an absolute zoo and doing a circuit isn't really that easy in such a crowded gym. I improvised and still managed to get in a good workout. It's a strange feeling to get back into weight training. Just a few years ago, that was pretty much all I did. And I loved it - I liked the specific way it made me sore, I liked being "bigger" and I liked being strong (at one point in law school I was convinced that I could get up to benching a couple reps of 300 lbs. - that never happened, but there have been times when 250 was possible). During my first season of triathlon training, I still lifted a fair amount, but began to have trouble squeezing it in. That season I was barely doing any bike training and swimming no more than twice a week. I was also running a lot indoors and rarely running more than 5 or 6 miles. All that combined meant that I still had time to lift. Last season, as I trained for Timberman and the marathon and increased my cycling and running and swimming, strength training pretty much got left behind. I can't say I really missed it! I do enjoy getting back into it - I've always felt that strength training helps prevent injuries and can only help my body withstand longer aerobic training sessions. The training that I'm doing these days is very focused on big muscles - legs, back, chest. As long as I'm training for triathlons, I know that I'll never have enough time to do the strength training that I used to do, and I'll never be as "big" or as "strong" as I used to be, but this is better. Triathlon training gets me outside and it's training towards a goal.

Swim - December 11
Distance: 3,600 yards
Time: 1:15

Strength training - December 11
Time: 45 minutes

10K

This morning was another NYRR race, a 10K. Again, like last Saturday, I had given serious consideration to taking it easy and just going for a fun run. Then, as I started thinking about it more, I decided, once again to go for it. I actually did have a reason besides just competitiveness and not-knowing-how-to-take-it-easy-ness. The registration for the 2007 Cherry Blossom 10-miler in Washington, DC open tomorrow and, in reading through the materials, I noticed that they place runners in starting bins based on projected times. It indicated that recent 10 mile or 10K races are acceptable proof of anticipated time. I have some strong 5 mile races, half-marathons and the marathon, of course, but no 10K's. I'm sure I could use one of the other races, but I decided that I may as well take advantage of the schedule and the nice weather and try get a good time today. What I didn't anticipate was just how tired my legs would be from yesterday's workouts. As I described to Ron after the race, sometimes when I'm running it feels like I'm just gliding along, then there are runs like today when my feet and legs are heavy and every step feels like an effort. My time was still great (sub-7 minute pace), but there was a lot more willpower in there than normal. My pace was almost 20 seconds per mile slower than last week's five mile race. The extra 1.2 makes some difference, and this race was really crowded at the start, so my first mile was pretty slow (approximate splits are below), but those factors don't account for 20 seconds per mile. Understandably, that's what happens when you do two pretty hard workouts the day before a race - and why most people don't do stupid stuff like that!

Run - December 10
Distance: 10K
Time: 42:56
Average heart rate: 163
Course: Central Park - 1 loop
Conditions: Sunny, cold, some wind
Splits:
Mile 1: 7:30
2: 6:52
3: 6:43
4: 6:55
5: 6:45
6: 6:51
Total: 42:56

Another and a first

Today being Saturday, and a Saturday without any real plans until the evening, I had all day to train.

Yesterday was freezing cold and windy - probably the coldest day of the winter so far, so I was happy not to have to do any outside workouts. Today was supposed to be a little warmer, but still cold and a little windy. I slept in a little, and went out for a run. The morning was beautfiul - clear and sunny, but, as forecasted, cold and windy. I think it was in the high 30's, but with the wind, it definitely didn't feel that "warm". As it turned out, I still over-dressed. I wore a short-sleeve baselayer, a long sleeve shirt and a medium weight windstopper. Writing it now, it's obvious that that was too much. But given the weather yesterday, I figured it would feel colder than it did. It was fine, but I could have done with at least one less layer on top. I did my "Strides" workout, and it felt great. These days I'm only running three days a week, and my only other run this week was Tuesday, so by today my legs were pretty fresh.

Then, after playing with the dog and relaxing around the apartment, later this afternoon, I did my first cold-weather outdoors ride. It also went really well. I've been acquiring the gear and had just about everything right. I don't have booties yet - I probably should have gotten some before I went out but I figured "how cold will my feet actually get?" The answer, unfortunately, was "pretty damn cold!" My hands were a little cold in the gloves, and my face felt the wind, but my toes were frozen solid after less than hour out there. Tomorrow I'm getting booties. I just did two loops in the Park. It felt good to be riding outside after all that time on the trainer.

I replaced the battery in my HR transmitter, but I'm still not sure if it's working. During my run, sometimes it stopped getting a signal and other times it showed a heart rate near or over 200. I wasn't able to check it during my ride, but based on the max and average for the ride, I think it might have worked, or been closer at least. The numbers below should be viewed with some caution.

Tomorrow's a NYRR 10K. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to go for it or take it easy. I should take it easy, but we'll see what happens once the race starts!

Run - December 9
Time: 1:00
Distance: 7 miles
Average heart rate: 153
Course: West Side Highway
Conditions: Sunny, clear, cold

Bike - December 9
Time: 1:30
Distance: 22.9 miles
Average heart rate: 123
Course: West Side Highway to Central Park, 2 loops
Conditions: Sunny, clear, cold, windy

Day 1 again

Even though its Friday, and the work-week is over, this morning I realized that this is really Day 1 for me. Right now, as long as Thursdays are my off day, Friday is Day 1. I better be feeling rested and loose today, otherwise I'm in trouble for the week ahead! Fortunately, I do feel good today. I was a little tired this morning and it took me a little extra time to get out of bed, but luckily the weekend CAN cure that. I still did get up and get to the pool. I swam around 2,100 yards - a mix of drills, some fast intervals and long, easy sets. It was a nice, comfortable swim. After work, I picked Charlie up from daycare, dropped him off and went to the gym for my strength training. I did my three sets today, but I really burned through them. I'm sure that I would get more out of it if I took it a little easier, but something is always better than nothing. Three hard sessions ahead of me this weekend, including hopefully my first cold weather ride. It's supposed to be pretty cold out there (low 40's with some wind), but I've got pretty much all the gear I think I need, so let's hope it goes well.

Swim - December 8
Distance: 2,100 yards
Time: 45 minutes

Strength Training - December 8
Time: 40 minutes

Just getting to my off day...

Charlie kept both of us up last night - Elizabeth barely slept and I was up pretty regularly from 2:30 on. That certainly didn't help the body exhaustion I wrote about yesterday! Today, I'm tired in just about every way possible! Thankfully, tomorrow is the off-day. I wonder if I'll this obsessed with my off-day every week for the next 8 months? Probably.

Anyway, this morning I got up to swim and lift. The swim went well. Today was my long set day and I swam for the 45 minutes in five sets (I think: 600, 550, 450, 400, 300) with only small breaks (20-40 seconds) between sets. It felt good. After swimming, I ate half a Clif Bar, had some Gatorade and did two circuits of my strentgh training. I was supposed to do 3-4 circuits today, but given the fact that this is a new, additional strength training session and that I'm trying to get three workouts in today, I didn't feel badly skipping 1 or 2 circuits.

Tonight I had a going away dinner for a friend from Clifford Chance. I haven't been going out very often on work nights, but I wanted to go to this dinner to congratulate her in person and see her off. The problem was that it didn't leave me with a whole lot of time to get in my evening workout. I left work a little early and came home for a quick ride on the trainer. I was supposed to ride for 45 minutes, but only got 32 in. I feel like I don't have a good excuse for skipping workouts, but on the other hand, I don't miss them very often and I do have 8 months until the big day. I can't let that be a habit, but every once in a while I can cut myself a little slack.

Swim - December 6
Time: 45 minutes
Distance: 2300 yards

Strength Training - December 6
Time: 30 minutes

Bike - December 6
Time: 32 minutes

Tired

I'm feeling tired today. Really tired. Tired down to the bone. Not like sleepy tired, although I am ready to get into bed. My body's just exhausted. At first I couldn't figure out why. It's only Tuesday. I haven't been sleeping great and haven't been sleeping for more than 7 or so hours a night (including the weekend). Then I realized that my day off was Friday and I've been going really hard since then. That's only four days (including today) of workouts, but it is 8 workouts, about 8 hours of exercise since Saturday morning. I deserve to be tired. Three scheduled workouts tomorrow and then, Thursday's off. Phew.

This morning, I got up and rode for an hour on the trainer. I probably could have rode outside, though it is pretty cold this week, but I was doing single-leg drills, which I just couldn't do outside. Also, I'm convinced that the trainer is much more efficient than riding outside. That's a bummer, especially because it's true. By the time I go through the city and get to the West Side or, even worse, the Park, I've spent a while at stoplights or coasting - just not pedaling. I do need to get outside on the bike whenever I can though. I know that. Hopefully Saturday I'll ride outside.

This evening, after work, I ran for 50 minutes. It was a nice easy run and a beautiful night. I could have run forever in those conditions. If all winter was like that...

My heart rate monitor is on the fritz. I think the battery in the transmitter is dying. I was supposed to go get a new battery today, but forgot. Tomorrow.

Bike - December 5
Time: 1 hour

Run - December 5
Time: 50 minutes
Distance: ~6.5 miles
Course: West Side Highway
Conditions: Cold, dark, clear skies, excellent

Back-to-back swims

Last week, my schedule (as messed up by Thanksgiving) called for back-to-back swims on Sunday and Monday. I was worried about doing that, and pretty exhausted from the weekend, so I re-arranged my whole schedule and made sure to get a day break between swims. Because I moved things around, and because I wanted to do that race on Saturday, it ended up that I had scheduled swims on Sunday and Monday again. This time, I was no chicken! I thought about it and realized that I run and bike on consecutive days sometimes, so there shouldn't be any reason why I can't do it swimming as well. Also, yesterday's swim was mostly drills anyway and I've been feeling really good in the pool recently. So, this morning, I got to the pool bright and early and swam my 3,000 yards. It was tough, physically tougher even than last week, but thankfully it didn't feel as long as last week. What I mean is that I struggled at times to keep my pace up, I took breaks between sets that were slightly longer than scheduled and my arms and legs were burning more than last week, but unlike last time I didn't feel like I may as well have been swimming across the Atlantic. I guess that's a positive outcome. The other nice thing was that the pool wasn't really crowded. At times there were two people in my lane, but never 3 and rarely were there three in any lane.

I went back later today and lifted. Any strength work is good to do, even if my heart's not really in it, and I'm rushing through.

Saturday and yesterday I had a little "twinge" in my right achilles. Given my history of injury there, I was a little concerned. But I stretched and have had a couple days without running. It feels fine today. I'll just be careful on tomorrow's run.

Swim - December 4
Distance: 3,000 yards
Time: 1:10

Strength Training - December 4
Time: 40 minutes

Sunday

Today, after what felt like a really long week of workouts (I feel like a broken record, and I imgaine this will be a theme of my blog for some months to come), I finally finished my 9 hours. I actually trained 9:43. I swam about 7250 yards, ran about 18 miles, rode for 3 hours (all of it indoors) and did 75 minutes of strength training. That means that I swam nearly twice the Ironman distance, but ran less than three-quarters and spent about half the amount of time on my bike... in a week.

Today's workouts were good. I got up early and swam. The pool was crowded and the lanes were all mixed up and the other two people in my lane were pretty slow, so keeping a rhythm for the warm-up and cool-down was a bit of a challenge. The rest of it was fine - I just did my breaks between sets to coincide with positioning myself compared to the other swimmers in my lane. I spent the day playing around - dog run with Charlie, some errands with Elizabeth, and watching football. Then, this evening, I spent 45 minutes on the trainer, in front of more football.

This week, I'm scheduled for 11 hours. Adding time to some cycling and running workouts and adding another strength training session. Wednesday, I'm supposed to do a swim, bike and strength training. We'll see how that plan goes! Three workouts in one day will be really tough, especially on weekdays. I'll do my best.

Swim - December 3
Time: 45 minutes
Distance: 2000 yards

Bike - December 3
Time: 45 minutes
Average heart rate: 113

Recovered already

The week felt pretty tough and I was tired on Thursday from the week's workouts. Taking Friday off worked wonders. It was good psychologically because it made me feel like I had a couple extra hours in the day and definitely good physically as my legs were able to recover. Working out 9 hours this week has been tough - like I've said my muscles and joints were exhausted, but also just the time committment is tough, I feel like this week I worked, worked out, slept (just barely enough), ate and spent a little time with the wife and dog. And there are going to be some weeks where I'm doing more than twice that amount (thankfully not many of those weeks). I take some comfort from the fact that the difference between 9 hours and say 13 hours isn't all that much in terms of actual time. This week, I did 11 workouts, which meant two workouts five days, one workout on one day and one day off. If I add just 20 minutes to each workout, that brings me to almost 13 hours. Adding 20 minutes to a workout is tough on the muscles, but not so bad on the time commitment because it's still the same time setting up or walking to the gym or stretching after, etc. Even when I start doing 15 or 17 hours, hopefully those extra hours will be long workouts either one day during the week or on the weekends. It's going to be tough, but at least that gives me some hope!

This morning Elizabeth and I did a five mile NYRR run in the Park. My plan was to take the run easy. Right. I started off at a nice, but not too fast, clip and did the first mile in about 7:15. Then, instead of maintaining that pace or slowing down, I got into the race and took off. I ended up doing the five miles in 33:04 (averaging about 6:30 miles). That was just about my fastest 5 miles ever. My run the weekend before the marathon was right about there, but I think that run was a few seconds slower. It felt great, and I didn't even push it as hard as I could. The conditions were just about perfect and I felt great. After that, in order to get my scheduled 40 minutes, I did a slow, easy seven minutes on some trails in the Park. It worked out well, because I finished, put on warm clothes and just about then, Elizabeth and Emily were done. After the run, we went over to Assaf and Robyn's for brunch with them and Myles.

We spent the afternoon screwing around, including a trip to JackRabbit for Elizabeth to buy new running shoes and a trip to the dog park for Charlie. Then, I rode 90 minutes on the trainer while watching college football. The first 20-30 minutes on the trainer were tough - boring and my legs weren't moving that easily. But, I guess I warmed up and got into a groove and then I was 80 minutes in. I almost quit at that point, just because I was bored, but did finish the 90 minutes.

Run - December 2
Time: 40 minutes
Distance: ~6 miles
Average heart rate: 159
Course: Central Park loop, minus north hill
Conditions: low 40's, sunny, some wind

Bike - December 2
Time: 1:30
Average heart rate" 117
Indoor ride