Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Taking a different approach

The frequency of my posts has waned recently. This is mostly because it's become too much of a hassle to update the blog on a daily base but also in part because the quality of my posts simply hasn't been there. I really admire people who can balance their time so well to manage full time working, full time training, home life, updating of the blogs and anything else that happens in life. It's really amazing and something I haven't been able to find a balance to achieve yet. But I continue working toward it.

As far as training, it's going very well. My swimming is getting much stronger and the biking, after some refitting, is feeling much better. Running is also going very well. I continue to refine my running gaite and focus on heart rate training. I can definitely see the pay off already so it's exciting to see where this is going to put me later in the year.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A Refreshing Return

Last week I was a mess. Training was going horribly (in fact I skipped the entire week) and I was crabby constantly. I even emailed my coach asking what I could do because I was really suffering emotionally and mentally with everything around me. He told me to shorten up the distances on the bike and swap things around if need be. He even suggested I take some time off to recoup.

It just so happened that weekend I was going to San Francisco with my girlfriend and it wound up being a great opportunity for a recharge. I did little to no training at all while we were there. The most difficult training I did involved muscling up Lombard St (approx 31% grade) twice. Needless to say, Devra hung tight making fun of me as I battled the hill.

Other than that she and I biked from Fisherman's Wharf to the Golden Gate Bridge, across it and finally over to Sausalito and back. Other than the hills it was a casual ride and nice to be out in the open air.

When I did finally manage to get back to Minneapolis I was fresh and ready to go. Stationary cycling still completely sucks. I don't think there's much to do with it. But getting a chance to get out of my element and be in a different environment really gave me the recharge I needed to jump forward.

So, with as much kicking and screaming I did about going to San Francisco, with all my griping about missing training, I have to publicly state to Devra: "You were right baby."

Something tells me I'm going to be saying that a lot for many years to come.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Week 5

Based on the way this week's been going there's no need to send out a summary of each day. This week I've been suffering severe burnout and motivation problems. Getting on the stationary cycle is almost sickening. I can hardly bare to look at it much less ride it. Because of the snow and cold I've also had no motivation to get out and run. It's all become monotonous. Meaningless. Soul less. What used to bring me so much joy and happiness, recently, has become a dry and barren desert. Void of life and purpose, training this week has really hit an all time low.

I really don't know what's going on or how long this is going to last but I know is my body and mind are both working together to tell me that right now getting rest is far more prudent than getting in a workout. This is hopefully the mid-winter blues and something I'll rebound from once the air outside becomes warm and the roads dry again.

In general I'm not concerned about this lack of motivation. It's happened before. Almost every year around this time for a while I lose all desire to do anything. But I do bounce back afterword and I usually bounce back stronger than ever. I'm assuming that's what will happen this time too.

And it's not just training either. Work is suffering along with every other area of my life. I hope today is the end of this because this weekend I'll be in San Francisco with my woman and this is not how I want to be feeling during the trip.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Day 29

Today was my longest swim this season: 2000 yards. It was as follows:

Warm up: 300 easy. 6x50 on 20 sec rest, 2 free, 1 stroke, 2 free, 1 stroke. 2x150 on 30 sec rest, 100 pull/50 kick. Main Set: 100,200,300,400 on base rest of 20 sec per 100. 2x50 kick on 20 sec rest.

The ladder was a big struggle. My form was failing near the end of each of the 300 and 400 but I managed to find my zone and hammer out the laps. This was a really exhausting workout but I'm really glad I got it done.

We've been getting a lot of snow up here recently and the walks to work have been very strenuous. That's probably why the swim was so hard. Today I got to work literally dripping in sweat. I think this upcoming weekend off will be more needed than I thought.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Day 27

First off, I need to send a shout out to my brother.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAN!!!

My brother has his birthday on Super Bowl Sunday. How cool is that?

Todays workout was crazy. It's my first BRICK of the season and much more than I anticipated: 3 hours on the bike, 5 minute transition, and 30 minute run. No land-speed records were set today but man were a lot of calories burned. I feel absolutely fantastic too! I just love that feeling of accomplishing something huge. According to the HRM I burned roughly 5000 calories. I'm not sure that's anywhere near accurate but I'll take it. That's an impressive number.

Day 26

Todays run was great. I needed to be around friends and that's exactly what I got. Interestingly enough the splits were negative but I didn't get any data about the per mile pace. I used to get that but not any more for some reason. Maybe it's time to get that Forerunner 310XT. If they ever go down in price that is.

I had a wonderful time with my friends. One of them even had cookies for me. :-D

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Day 24

I'm nearing the end of month one. Amazing. And I'm in such better shape than when I started it's hard to believe. Today's bike was a 1:50 indoor cycle in zone 3. What I find fascinating is how much a zone 3 bike takes out of you. Literally I was dead to the world all day today. In general I'm good with that because I burned more calories before most people wake up than they do in an entire day. But it definitely makes for a very long work day.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Day 23

This was a very nice run today. Felt light and smooth. My left leg around the IT band felt strange so I'm going to spend some time working on the hip flexors/extensors and foam rolling when I'm done with weight lifting this evening.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Day 22

I had a nice swim this morning. 1500 yds total. It was broken up by as follows:

Warm up: 200 moderate mixing up strokes, 3x50 on 15 sec rest. Main Set: 100,300,500, on base rest of 15 sec/100. 4x50 swim on 30 sec rest. Warm down: 50 easy.

The swim was great. I felt a bit sluggish on the 500 but the 4x50's afterword felt nice and smooth. I can definitely feel myself building back up to where I was but it's still going to take a while.

Todays bike was much better than the same bike last week. I had a Cliff Bar while riding so I was able to replenish some nutrients while still keep up a decent clip. No sugar crashing this time around.