Increased Run

I am behind on my run...mainly because of injury caused by a change in my running style. I will have to dedicate a couple of posts to running styles because it has really affected my training this year.

Despite the race on Saturday, I completed a 7 mile run last yesterday in order to jumpstart my run training.

I decided to start slow and and pace myself. For the last couple of months I have stopped using an iPod and my heart rate monitor. Yesterday, I brought back the heart rate monitor. I was running a 12 minute mile and even though I was in pain from the day before, I completed it with no problem.

The last .50 mile, I started to get a little delirious. I think it was from hunger because all I thought was pizza and ice cream.

Terre Haute - Thunder in the Valley - First Race of the Season

Last Saturday I completed the first race of the season ...Terre Haute, Indiana....Thunder in the Valley. I had high hopes for the first one of the season but I came away not feeling so hot....
Last year, I arrived in Indy at about midnight, then after picking up my friend and fellow racer, Rob, we made to what we thought was Terre Haute at 2:30am. When we checked in we realized that it was another 20 minutes away. After 3 hours of sleep, I raced it...better yet...I completed it.

This year I left early..3pm from Chicago. When I got to Rob's, he still had to pack and when we finally started our trek to TH, it started to rain and I mean rain...I think we drove through a tornado. Even when we were stopped, the rain came down sideways and we couldn't see. The next day we saw the aftermath and it wasn't a tornado but the damage to several apartment complexes tells a different story.

The water was warm this time and it was a nice swim...in theory. For whatever reason, nerves fatigue...I wasn't feeling the swim. All those hours in the pool, all those times, I practiced the stroke went out the window when the announcer screamed GO! I was afraid to put my head completely in the water and my form completely disintegrated.

The bike...I have never had that many people pass me. I am a strong rider and I don't get passed that often...it was disappointing.

The run...two words...brick workouts. It was a 5m/8k run but I walked 25% of the way...

The first one is on the record books or on the bottom of a bird cage to use as liner....

....There's always the next one.

Here is the website to the triathlon: http://www.thtriathlon.com/

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.