Indoor Cycling intervals...my legs burn!

Despite the sore ankle and contrary to what others have said, I have decided to try cycling indoors. I have a CycloOps Fluid 2 trainer which came with a Trainsmart Time Trial video. It was challenging. Chris Carmichael, former coach of Lance Armstrong leads the video. I really don't like training using a video but he was very motivating and was continuously encouraging the 6 participants in the video, so it felt like he was in the room. We did 3x 5min intervals at a super high cadence (110) followed by 3 sets of 2min at high cadence (95) and 2min at medium cadence (85).

I think it is a great workout but Carmichael suggest that this be completed 6 weeks prior to the race season so I may look for an alternative during my prebuilding phase.

Injury again

Since the last time I posted, I have been consistently running and have maintained the schedule that I described in a previous post. Last week (Saturday, February 16) trying to maintain the 6, 6, 8 mile schedule, I felt a pain in my left ankle. During the beginning of the run, it was a little sore but I ignored. nce I reached mile 5.5, it started to really hurt and I was trying to adjust my stride in order to alleviate the pain which resulted in pain in my right knee. Much to my dismay, I had to start walking. I completed 5.5 of the schedule 8 miles. I didn't twist my ankle or slip so I don't understand why it hurts.

Longhorn becomes Longhorn Ironman 70.3 Austin

Last year I competed in the Longhorn Triathlon in Austin Texas. It was a hot day and the rolling hills didn't help much. After participating in that race, I can say that this was one of the most well run and fun experiences for the partcipants. Just like in Ironmans, they call out your name at the end of the race. My sis and bro in law had some complaints as a spectator but for the most part it was a great race. Here is the link:

http://www.ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/longhorn70.3/new-event-slated-for-october-5-2008-in-austin-texas

Getting tough to train

Although I have been running consistently, the rest of the program has been difficult to start. I normally run Tues, Thursday and Saturday. Today, I had court and wasn't able to run. Tomorrow, we are getting 4-8 inches of snow. I am trying my best to avoid the treadmill. I hope to complete the runs this week. Last week, I was only able to Run1 and the long run.

I am back... and starting the journey

I have been gone from this blogging for awhile but now I am back and will document my daily routines and daily stories about training for this.

Since the last time time I made an entry I have started running again. Basically, that is all I have been doing...with an occasional swim here and there. Despite the fridgid 5 degree weather in Chicago, running has been a consistent routine for me. In fact, I dont' mind the 5 degree weather, it is quite refresing.

Here is my running routine: Run 3x per week with two regular distance and a long run. I do this for two weeks and then in the third week, I cut it significantly. The last couple of months my schedule has been as follows:

Week Run 1 Run 2 Long Run

1 1.5 1.5 3
2 1.5 1.5 3
3 .5 .5 1
4 2 2 4
5 2 2 4
6 1 1 2
7 1 1 2
8 3 3 5
9 3 3 5
10 2 2 3
11 4 4 6
12 4 4 6
13 2 2 3
14 5 5 7
15 5 5 7

I am now in week 16 and wil run the following:

16 3 3 4

In my next entry I will describe my running style change.