A staple of the triathlon diet is the BRICK workout. Anecdotally described as "bike, run, ick," it's the workout that trains the body to get off of the bike and start running -- something easier said than done, frankly, considering many of the muscles used in running have spent hours atrophying while on the bike.
For me, the brick workout is not part of the current plan. In fact, my body is quite enjoying not doing any running at all at the moment as I prepare for a swim/bike ironman length event this year before the full ironman in 2010. Nonetheless, it is important for me to tackle the getting out of the water and onto a bike dynamic, which is why I took Saturday off this week and scheduled a swim/bike dual workout for Sunday morning.
Sunday
It started with a pool swim of 1500 yards -- not coincidentally, the distances I was going to cover (1500 yd swim/25 mi bike) are the swim and bike distances for the Olympic level triathlon, a race significantly shorter than the Ironman but still long enough to test yourself six weeks into a 24-week program.
I felt good in the pool -- pacing myself in a steady, almost methodical fashion, I was pleased with my pace. Coming out of the pool in around 35 minutes (a time any real swimmer or triathlete would scoff at) was, for me, a sign that the training had been going well. At approximately seven minutes for every 3:00, that puts me at about a 1:40 pace for the 4224 yard ironman length swim. When put in the context of the 2:30 that one is required to complete it in, I give myself lots of time to spare. To be fair, that is what the swim is about for me -- get in, get out, have something left in my legs and endure the coming several hours on the bike.
With that bit of confidence in tow, I jogged into the locker room and put on my bike gear. This particular bike was going to be done inside due to the questionable spring weather outside (rainy in the 50's, which actually served me quite well in the pool). And so it went... you may recall that a few weeks ago I swam and biked and found myself unable to muster real quality minutes on the bike due to complete and utter leg fatigue. On this day, my better pacing in the pool and my intentional overreliance on my arm pulls saved me something in my legs. Whereas I had budgeted 1:40 for the bike, which would be slow, I beat that by a full seven minutes, accomplishing the 25 mile equivalent in 93 minutes. Yes, it was on a stationary bike and didn't have the elemental factors that a ride outside would, but it was a serious improvement on just a few weeks prior.
The best part was how I felt afterward. All the soreness was the kind of good soreness I spoke about earlier -- there was no "pain" to speak of and I felt duly fatigued as if I had accomplished something.... and accomplished something I had. While the conditions were pristine compared to what exists swimming out and back on the Russian River and cycling through Sonoma wine country, I had finished at a pace that would bring me home in 8:25, WELL clear of the 10:30 deadline. We'll see if I can hold the same pace for 112 miles, but having two hours of time to play with can only bring a smile to your face.
Monday
I felt so good, in fact, that it was with a huge smile on my face that I walked into my chiropractic appointment on Monday morning. With a half-hour massage focused primarily on my tight lower back and lactic acid drowned hamstrings (I told her I had cycled hard!) followed by some ultrasound treatment on my shoulder that had been giving me trouble in the swim but didn't bother me on Sunday, I was ready to hit the gym for my standard Monday workout of hills on the bike. On this day, the plan was for 1:15 with a series of ten short hills -- with the equipment available at the gym, I decided to push myself and try to do three loops of a seven mile stretch full of rolling hills. 21 miles in 1:15 is generally a bit ambitious (16.8mph), but I wanted to give it a shot.
As I closed in on one loop finished, I was in good shape... crossing the finish line at 24:38, I had averaged 16.9mph and had a 22 second cushion to work with. Then I hit the sweet spot. If you have never cycled, you may not know the phenomenon I am referring to, but suffice to say that it is a good thing. Scientists and physiologists have described it as some release of hormones or pheremones which are released in repetetive motion exercises such as cycling or running which permit you to continue to "hammer" forward and increase your rate, all the while feeling wonderful from a mental standpoint. Needless to say, my pace quickened, I added a gear or two, literally and figuratively, and I was closing in on a 23 minute(!) seven mile cycle on the second leg. I just missed it, coming in a 47:59, but still I had averaged well over 17mph for the section and was a full two minutes up on the required pace.
Now I was motivated. My legs were starting to feel it, albeit more fatigue from the 40+ miles over two days rather than anything more sinister, but my heart and brain were most definitely in it. I pushed, pushed, and pushed some more and managed a 17.9mph final leg, coming in nearly four full minutes ahead of schedule. I was absolutely drenched with sweat, had consumed about a quart of water, but man, oh man, did I feel good.
How good? Well, I'm glad you asked. So good that when the Princess and the Pea refused to nap later that afternoon, I decided to hit the pool for one of the fartlek workouts I would probably miss due to a business trip scheduled for Thursday through Sunday. 1150 yards later, having accomplished my second double workout in as many days and at a high intensity all throughout, I was well and truly feeling my oats -- the race is some 18 or 19 weeks off, but I am really up for it now... time to keep it going.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Week Six: Splitting Hairs on Pain
One week on and it's fair to say that all is indeed on when it comes to high volume training. Since last we spoke, I have had three strong swim workouts, three bike workouts of varying difficulties, and a day off once again rung in with bizarre waves of soreness which don't seem to translate to any particular swim or bike overuse.
With that in mind, though, I think it's important to discuss this issue of pain. Twice this week, I have had to cut workouts short due to pain issues -- this is quite normal in a high volume training regimen, and, in fact, the results of pulling off of the reins just a smidge seem to have had immediate results.
For those who have trained as part of a regular routine, whether on a team or individually, you'll likely understand exactly what I mean when I compare pain to soreness. Soreness is expected and, frankly, you live with it through the entirety of the process. If I'm being 100% honest, soreness is also quite nice -- sure the actual discomfort and inflammation can have negative results, but usually an Ibuprofen or four will take care of them each night before you hit the hay. On balance, soreness is like fatigue -- you know you feel it, but you also know you've done something to "earn" it, for better or for worse. When it comes to doing a workout burning anywhere from 600-1200 calories, generally I like to think of that as better.
The flipside of the coin, however, is pain. Certain things happen when you swim 7000 yards and bike five hours in a week -- first of all, your ironman coach (which I don't have, save for the book) will tell you that you need to "pick it up a notch." In seriousness, though, certain muscles are being worked more than others and the potential for balance inequities are significant. In addition, there are simple issues of overworking from time to time. Throw in the effects on some cross-training, which in my case means the odd run-out for a softball, soccer, or basketball game... or maybe a hike... and you can experience real acute pain.
For the experts, experiencing pain is not something that should shut you down altogether, but rather something that you smartly manage. Look, you're not going to tax your body to this degree for 24+ weeks and not tweak something. As an example, I give you my left knee. In the hill workout I did late last week, I clearly left my bike in two high of a gear and left the ligaments in my left knee a bit out of whack. When I hopped on the bike on Saturday for a long ride, intending it to be 2:45, the pain began to grow and grow and grow until with about 1:30 under my belt I decided to call it quits.
The reasoning for this is as simple as the cause for the pain -- if you take a part of your body that is under duress, as opposed to experience soreness, and you continue to push it, you are only extending the recovery time. The 1:15 on the bike at the gym will NOT make or break your Ironman effort. The six weeks off recovering from a ligament strain most surely will.
The same thing happened later in the week during a high-effort swim workout, one in which I was supposed to do "sprints," defined as literally swimming as hard as one can, for 600 yards. About 200 yards into it, I realized that my anterior deltoid muscle and surrounding tendons, which I have had treated recently, were screaming out with something more than general soreness. It wasn't until I had hit the showers afterwards that I gleefully recalled throwing a runner out at home plate from deep center field the night before, but clearly that is why I was having a sore shoulder day -- swimming the rest of my set at a slow, building pace rather than chopping down on the water like a weightlifter was exactly what the doctor ordered. With a brick workout combining the disciplines right around the corner (Sunday), I hardly think that reducing the intensity of a swim for less than 1000 yards will have anything more than a nominal impact on my training.
Which is not to say it was a week where I was constantly pulling out of the tough assignments -- far from it. In fact, my swim on Sunday was my longest swim set since I was in college -- 2600 yards, or a little over a mile and three-quarters. I accomplished a few things on that day -- first and foremost, I managed to get it in under one hour. Considering it's nearly 2/3 of my race day total and I've always said I'd be happy to be on my bike within two hours of the race gun, that's a great thing for my confidence. Okay, it's in a pool and not in a mass start in the Russian river, but still, I left myself a good 20-minute cushion there at worst. I also managed to continue to stretch my mental preparedness for the marathon 2.4 mile swim that awaits on the day of the race. Every time I burst through a new distance hurdle, it's amazing to me that it's not THAT much more difficult than the previous high, which was generally a couple hundred yards shorter. In getting out of the pool on Sunday -- and don't get me wrong, I FELT it -- I was convinced I could have swam the remainder of the Ironman length right then and there. Could I have ridden 112 miles afterwards? Hmm... are there rabid dogs behind me? But, I'm getting there.
The final thing it taught me is that this training is working. Both parts of it are paying off when it comes to the swim. First, the long weekend swims and overall volume of swimming are making me more and more comfortable in the pool for long stretches of time. It's boring, to be honest, and mental acuity improves with every long swim. Second, the sprints and fartlek workouts do make a standard race-speed swim feel relatively easy.
As for the bike, it was another week of building endurance. It's slower than with the swim, but that's probably because while I'm looking at a 90-120 minute swim during the race, the bike will be my home for upwards of seven hours. It's awful hard to do a seven hour training swim with a wife and two kids -- it can only happen on the weekend and, even then, to do a ride that long takes more recovery time than one has. So, the long rides tend to max out at about three to four hours and the weekday workouts need to be intense -- which they have been. I am a virtual fountain of sweat when I hit the bike for my weekday workouts, keeping the wattage needle pinned at 180-220 watts of output. That's high, much higher than I can keep on my bike outside, but it all drives towards the goal of endurance on raceday. With the knee issue reminding me that volume should be done a comfortable gear level that allows for spinning rather than "pushing," it's easy to get into a rhythm as well -- and I have of late, feeling good, strong, if not a little tired after each ride. On Sunday it's 1750 in the pool and 25miles on my bike if time and weather permits. I'll let you know how that goes as it will be a good measure of how things are going. I'm confident it will go well and the recovery week next week (which is moved up a week because of my travel to the UK next weekend) will let it all soak in.
Until then...
With that in mind, though, I think it's important to discuss this issue of pain. Twice this week, I have had to cut workouts short due to pain issues -- this is quite normal in a high volume training regimen, and, in fact, the results of pulling off of the reins just a smidge seem to have had immediate results.
For those who have trained as part of a regular routine, whether on a team or individually, you'll likely understand exactly what I mean when I compare pain to soreness. Soreness is expected and, frankly, you live with it through the entirety of the process. If I'm being 100% honest, soreness is also quite nice -- sure the actual discomfort and inflammation can have negative results, but usually an Ibuprofen or four will take care of them each night before you hit the hay. On balance, soreness is like fatigue -- you know you feel it, but you also know you've done something to "earn" it, for better or for worse. When it comes to doing a workout burning anywhere from 600-1200 calories, generally I like to think of that as better.
The flipside of the coin, however, is pain. Certain things happen when you swim 7000 yards and bike five hours in a week -- first of all, your ironman coach (which I don't have, save for the book) will tell you that you need to "pick it up a notch." In seriousness, though, certain muscles are being worked more than others and the potential for balance inequities are significant. In addition, there are simple issues of overworking from time to time. Throw in the effects on some cross-training, which in my case means the odd run-out for a softball, soccer, or basketball game... or maybe a hike... and you can experience real acute pain.
For the experts, experiencing pain is not something that should shut you down altogether, but rather something that you smartly manage. Look, you're not going to tax your body to this degree for 24+ weeks and not tweak something. As an example, I give you my left knee. In the hill workout I did late last week, I clearly left my bike in two high of a gear and left the ligaments in my left knee a bit out of whack. When I hopped on the bike on Saturday for a long ride, intending it to be 2:45, the pain began to grow and grow and grow until with about 1:30 under my belt I decided to call it quits.
The reasoning for this is as simple as the cause for the pain -- if you take a part of your body that is under duress, as opposed to experience soreness, and you continue to push it, you are only extending the recovery time. The 1:15 on the bike at the gym will NOT make or break your Ironman effort. The six weeks off recovering from a ligament strain most surely will.
The same thing happened later in the week during a high-effort swim workout, one in which I was supposed to do "sprints," defined as literally swimming as hard as one can, for 600 yards. About 200 yards into it, I realized that my anterior deltoid muscle and surrounding tendons, which I have had treated recently, were screaming out with something more than general soreness. It wasn't until I had hit the showers afterwards that I gleefully recalled throwing a runner out at home plate from deep center field the night before, but clearly that is why I was having a sore shoulder day -- swimming the rest of my set at a slow, building pace rather than chopping down on the water like a weightlifter was exactly what the doctor ordered. With a brick workout combining the disciplines right around the corner (Sunday), I hardly think that reducing the intensity of a swim for less than 1000 yards will have anything more than a nominal impact on my training.
Which is not to say it was a week where I was constantly pulling out of the tough assignments -- far from it. In fact, my swim on Sunday was my longest swim set since I was in college -- 2600 yards, or a little over a mile and three-quarters. I accomplished a few things on that day -- first and foremost, I managed to get it in under one hour. Considering it's nearly 2/3 of my race day total and I've always said I'd be happy to be on my bike within two hours of the race gun, that's a great thing for my confidence. Okay, it's in a pool and not in a mass start in the Russian river, but still, I left myself a good 20-minute cushion there at worst. I also managed to continue to stretch my mental preparedness for the marathon 2.4 mile swim that awaits on the day of the race. Every time I burst through a new distance hurdle, it's amazing to me that it's not THAT much more difficult than the previous high, which was generally a couple hundred yards shorter. In getting out of the pool on Sunday -- and don't get me wrong, I FELT it -- I was convinced I could have swam the remainder of the Ironman length right then and there. Could I have ridden 112 miles afterwards? Hmm... are there rabid dogs behind me? But, I'm getting there.
The final thing it taught me is that this training is working. Both parts of it are paying off when it comes to the swim. First, the long weekend swims and overall volume of swimming are making me more and more comfortable in the pool for long stretches of time. It's boring, to be honest, and mental acuity improves with every long swim. Second, the sprints and fartlek workouts do make a standard race-speed swim feel relatively easy.
As for the bike, it was another week of building endurance. It's slower than with the swim, but that's probably because while I'm looking at a 90-120 minute swim during the race, the bike will be my home for upwards of seven hours. It's awful hard to do a seven hour training swim with a wife and two kids -- it can only happen on the weekend and, even then, to do a ride that long takes more recovery time than one has. So, the long rides tend to max out at about three to four hours and the weekday workouts need to be intense -- which they have been. I am a virtual fountain of sweat when I hit the bike for my weekday workouts, keeping the wattage needle pinned at 180-220 watts of output. That's high, much higher than I can keep on my bike outside, but it all drives towards the goal of endurance on raceday. With the knee issue reminding me that volume should be done a comfortable gear level that allows for spinning rather than "pushing," it's easy to get into a rhythm as well -- and I have of late, feeling good, strong, if not a little tired after each ride. On Sunday it's 1750 in the pool and 25miles on my bike if time and weather permits. I'll let you know how that goes as it will be a good measure of how things are going. I'm confident it will go well and the recovery week next week (which is moved up a week because of my travel to the UK next weekend) will let it all soak in.
Until then...
Friday, March 13, 2009
Sore For No Apparent Reason
It's time for me to be honest -- due to a million factors ranging from the Princess' preschool schedule to the Pea's ear infection, to wanting to catch my beloved Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Big Ten tournament, week five has been a spotty one. As it turns out, all three of those reasons reared their ugly head on Thursday, which meant I was heading into Friday still not having ridden a good workout in about a week.
On Friday, with the Princess at preschool for a three hour block, I hit the bike...
75 min Hill Interval Ride
The specific guidance from the training guide told me to do eight hill intervals of one minute in length. The specific ability of the bike I rode on (admittedly, the one that was in front of the college hoops) was slightly different, but, after choosing the "Alpine Pass" program and inputting 75 minutes, I was challenged nonetheless.
The crazy thing about the workout today was how sore I had woken up. Not having worked out yesterday, having had a very nice massage and a non-impact swim in the days prior, why was I sore from my hamstrings to my ribs to my shoulders. It really made no sense whatsoever -- let's just say that nothing I did outside of the gym on Thursday would have done that. It's one of life's great mysteries, but one you come to expect when training for a distance race. So, I hurt, it hurt to ride the bike, but when all was said and done I had kept my wattage up and, at least according to the bike I was on, had covered a good 22 miles in my 75-80 minutes. To be honest, I remain skeptical of that figure, but I was well pleased with how I pushed myself on the hills and kept up the pace ahead of a long (2:45) bike ride on Sunday and a long swim (2000ish) tomorrow. The Gophers on the other hand? They laid an egg and left everything in the hands of the NCAA Selection Committee -- NEVER a good idea.
On Friday, with the Princess at preschool for a three hour block, I hit the bike...
75 min Hill Interval Ride
The specific guidance from the training guide told me to do eight hill intervals of one minute in length. The specific ability of the bike I rode on (admittedly, the one that was in front of the college hoops) was slightly different, but, after choosing the "Alpine Pass" program and inputting 75 minutes, I was challenged nonetheless.
The crazy thing about the workout today was how sore I had woken up. Not having worked out yesterday, having had a very nice massage and a non-impact swim in the days prior, why was I sore from my hamstrings to my ribs to my shoulders. It really made no sense whatsoever -- let's just say that nothing I did outside of the gym on Thursday would have done that. It's one of life's great mysteries, but one you come to expect when training for a distance race. So, I hurt, it hurt to ride the bike, but when all was said and done I had kept my wattage up and, at least according to the bike I was on, had covered a good 22 miles in my 75-80 minutes. To be honest, I remain skeptical of that figure, but I was well pleased with how I pushed myself on the hills and kept up the pace ahead of a long (2:45) bike ride on Sunday and a long swim (2000ish) tomorrow. The Gophers on the other hand? They laid an egg and left everything in the hands of the NCAA Selection Committee -- NEVER a good idea.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Too Strong (and Too Much Information)
1200yd Base and Sprint Swim
If you were anywhere around my family these past few days, you would likely assume that this post would have everything to do with the Princess and her "little problem." Specifically, her newfound love of peeing anywhere but in the potty despite having been toilet trained some four or five months ago.
Nonetheless, with a challenging swim set on the menu for Tuesday, I decided to trust her and the Pea to the gym daycare for a bit and take to the pool. I made sure to have her use the potty, which she did, and also brought spare clothes -- I was set!
Upon entering the pool area, I realized it was not only her being prone to accidents that would rush me on Tuesday, it was the fact that I was suddenly out of sunscreen! Suddenly, what was supposed to be a 1650 yard set, complete with 800 yards of base swim and five 50 yard sprint intervals was going to be those and only a 100 yard warm up and cool down. At 10am in March, the sun was already too strong in San Diego and a vicious sunburn was going to result if I went even a few moments too long. As it is, I am writing this with a bit too much pink on my shoulders and back, thankful that I got out when I did.
I did complete the base swim, however, although I experienced a bizarre physical phenomenon of feeling "too strong," or, more accurately, "too bound by muscle." To be sure, I had swum more yards in the last week than I had prior, and this set was one in which I intended, and did, really push myself, but it felt as if my shoulder muscles were not allowing me to extend. I brought this up with my chiropractor on Wednesday and he confirmed the problem was too many "internal pushing exercises" and not enough of the reverse, pulling style motions. It's true, over the course of these first few weeks, my ability to lay my arms flat with palms up was being challenged. I noticed this especially on my loooong (14+ hours) plane flights, when I couldn't just lay my arms on my side to sleep -- the result is that my arms are rotating inward due to the overuse of the muscles used for internal rotation. There are, apparently, a couple of muscles in the shoulder (primarily) used for external rotation which are inherently underused and my swim sets, without proper correction, was making it even worse. The prescription? A week of doing the backstroke as my primary swim stroke AND a good regimen of external rotation exercises using resistance tubing. I was used to that from rehabbing my rotator cuff in college, so I had the stuff I needed and am happy to oblige.
Needless to say, the "short-arming" didn't help my times any, but as I finished the base set and headed to the sprints, it became less about form (unfortunately) and more about aerobic capacity and lactic threshold. I did complete the five sets, but recovered with deep, gulping breaths after each. It feels good to really push yourself, but not so good to feel how much work is left to come -- but that's why I'm out there!
The coup de grace for the day? As I literally swam my last few strokes, the child care helper was there and asked if I had extra clothes for the Princess. Assuming she had gone potty in her pants again, I sighed and asked for more details -- no "pee," it turns out... no way. She had instead dropped trow and... well, you know. Ahh, parenting combined with an Ironman -- brilliant stuff... ;-)
If you were anywhere around my family these past few days, you would likely assume that this post would have everything to do with the Princess and her "little problem." Specifically, her newfound love of peeing anywhere but in the potty despite having been toilet trained some four or five months ago.
Nonetheless, with a challenging swim set on the menu for Tuesday, I decided to trust her and the Pea to the gym daycare for a bit and take to the pool. I made sure to have her use the potty, which she did, and also brought spare clothes -- I was set!
Upon entering the pool area, I realized it was not only her being prone to accidents that would rush me on Tuesday, it was the fact that I was suddenly out of sunscreen! Suddenly, what was supposed to be a 1650 yard set, complete with 800 yards of base swim and five 50 yard sprint intervals was going to be those and only a 100 yard warm up and cool down. At 10am in March, the sun was already too strong in San Diego and a vicious sunburn was going to result if I went even a few moments too long. As it is, I am writing this with a bit too much pink on my shoulders and back, thankful that I got out when I did.
I did complete the base swim, however, although I experienced a bizarre physical phenomenon of feeling "too strong," or, more accurately, "too bound by muscle." To be sure, I had swum more yards in the last week than I had prior, and this set was one in which I intended, and did, really push myself, but it felt as if my shoulder muscles were not allowing me to extend. I brought this up with my chiropractor on Wednesday and he confirmed the problem was too many "internal pushing exercises" and not enough of the reverse, pulling style motions. It's true, over the course of these first few weeks, my ability to lay my arms flat with palms up was being challenged. I noticed this especially on my loooong (14+ hours) plane flights, when I couldn't just lay my arms on my side to sleep -- the result is that my arms are rotating inward due to the overuse of the muscles used for internal rotation. There are, apparently, a couple of muscles in the shoulder (primarily) used for external rotation which are inherently underused and my swim sets, without proper correction, was making it even worse. The prescription? A week of doing the backstroke as my primary swim stroke AND a good regimen of external rotation exercises using resistance tubing. I was used to that from rehabbing my rotator cuff in college, so I had the stuff I needed and am happy to oblige.
Needless to say, the "short-arming" didn't help my times any, but as I finished the base set and headed to the sprints, it became less about form (unfortunately) and more about aerobic capacity and lactic threshold. I did complete the five sets, but recovered with deep, gulping breaths after each. It feels good to really push yourself, but not so good to feel how much work is left to come -- but that's why I'm out there!
The coup de grace for the day? As I literally swam my last few strokes, the child care helper was there and asked if I had extra clothes for the Princess. Assuming she had gone potty in her pants again, I sighed and asked for more details -- no "pee," it turns out... no way. She had instead dropped trow and... well, you know. Ahh, parenting combined with an Ironman -- brilliant stuff... ;-)
Sunday, March 8, 2009
One Night in Bangkok
I'll have to ask you to excuse the intermittent posting of the last week -- just as I'll have to ask myself to excuse the odd workouts missed. You see, as I mentioned previously, work took me to Thailand this past week. Amazing, really, as in a span of four days I went from San Diego and back again. Thankfully, my cousin has a condo in Bangkok, so in addition to a "posh" place to stay in a city which, despite all of the wonderful culture, can overwhelm you with its "grit," I also had a beautiful pool in which I was able to complete a good workout. There was a workout room as well that had a stationary bike, but I decided to let my body rest from and for two 24-hour travel stints and just focus on a nice, long, partly recuperative (from the 90+ degree heat anyway) swim.
2000yd Base Swim
Stepping out onto the sixth floor pool deck from my cousin's Bangkok condo was inspirational enough. A very modern city these days (as opposed to 20 years ago), the skyline sat on the horizon. Plus, it was one of those "horizon" pools where you look across water level and it just "falls off" into infinity. A little unnerving, understanding how high I was, but there's no real risk of floating off into the abyss.
What there is in one of those pools, interesting enough, is a bit of a current. You see the pool is fed from a gorgeous fountain on the left side, and the water travels across to the right, where it runs over the edge onto a filter which pumps it (presumably) back to the fountain. The water traveling left to right actually created a bit of a surface current and complementary undercurrent. Nothing a moderate swimmer like me couldn't swim through, but a bit of an added challenge for a long set nonetheless.
I also needed to keep in touch with the outside world during this swim. I had traveled to Bangkok for a US Embassy appointment, but due to extreme heat and a problem with the Embassy's air conditioning, attorneys were told to stay out and only permitted to discuss matters post-interview. So, I had to keep my phone (and internet) close by. This resulted in a 5x400 yard swim, checking my phone quickly after every 200 yards and the phone and internet after every 400. I did get a few messages, and even a text from the Lovely Wife who was home enduring a deposition at the time, but thankfully the client matter didn't need me until after the swim.
All that being taken into account, the swim was fairly uneventful. The pool was only 20 yards long (as opposed to the typical 25yd pool in America), so I had to turn more often, but that was basically immaterial. The short rbreaks every 400 yards left me feeling refreshed as I started every new set, and the current forced me to pull hard through the pool while at the same time focusing on technique so that I could keep my pace for two kilometers. One solid sunburn and a soak in the air conditioned internet room next door for a few hours and my mission of getting a workout in before my 24hour flight back home was accomplished.
90min Foundation Bike
Despite every intention of working out the day after I returned home, life got in the way. Not fatigue or jet lag so much -- in fact, I was blessed with what amounted to basically no jet lag on my return -- but more crap that needed to be done that had been put off for two weeks of travel to Asia and Europe.
On Saturday, however, an opening appeared for me to get in the "long ride" of this, week four. Thankfully, every fourth week is a recovery week, so that ride was only 90 minutes long. An easy ride to accomplish on the bike at the gym -- when done on a Saturday afternoon, there's also plenty on the attached television to take your mind off of the slogging.
And slog I did. Finishing the ride fairly strong, averaging approximately 16mph (23+ miles completed) and 155 watts (not great, but not bad considering I was off of the bike for a week), I was happy to have completed the ride. At least a dozen times my mind tried to convince me to go less than the full 90 but, frankly, knowing I'd have to admit my transgression to the poor souls who read my blog kept me plugging. Plus, the USA/Canada baseball game was a pretty good one, even though Justin Morneau stranded the winning run on second base to essentially end the game for Canada. As the USA celebrated its victory, the clock struck 90 and I headed home feeling as if I was ready to get back on the horse for week five.
1800yd Base Swim
Having accomplished the long ride of recovery week four, now I needed to focus and try and accomplish the 1800 yard weekend base swim. The Lovely Wife provided good motivation on that front as she wanted to swim as well. The kids seemed to be over their colds, which had ravaged the whole two weeks I was traveling, so the gym day care would suffice.
For a little over 40 minutes, I reintroduced myself to the gym pool, the sun of San Diego (as intense, but significantly less hot than that in Bangkok), and the muscles which had been beaten up first by a 24-hour flight, and then by a 90 minute plod on the bike the day before. To be honest, the damage was minimal. I had a little wrist pain partway through (the result of my vigorous 90 minute muscle massage in Thailand?), but all in all, the 1800 yards felt significant but hardly insurmountable. In fact, I commented to my wife that I think I could comfortably swim it again, closing in on the 2.4 miles needed in August for the race. Now riding a bike 112 miles afterwards? That's presently a different matter, but God knows there's plenty of time.
See you next week for a new twist on the baseline work, now that the recovery week is concluded. The bikes will incorporate more hills and the swims more sprint work. Both have the effect of making me gulp for air, but then that's a good thing, right? See you soon... ;-)
2000yd Base Swim
Stepping out onto the sixth floor pool deck from my cousin's Bangkok condo was inspirational enough. A very modern city these days (as opposed to 20 years ago), the skyline sat on the horizon. Plus, it was one of those "horizon" pools where you look across water level and it just "falls off" into infinity. A little unnerving, understanding how high I was, but there's no real risk of floating off into the abyss.
What there is in one of those pools, interesting enough, is a bit of a current. You see the pool is fed from a gorgeous fountain on the left side, and the water travels across to the right, where it runs over the edge onto a filter which pumps it (presumably) back to the fountain. The water traveling left to right actually created a bit of a surface current and complementary undercurrent. Nothing a moderate swimmer like me couldn't swim through, but a bit of an added challenge for a long set nonetheless.
I also needed to keep in touch with the outside world during this swim. I had traveled to Bangkok for a US Embassy appointment, but due to extreme heat and a problem with the Embassy's air conditioning, attorneys were told to stay out and only permitted to discuss matters post-interview. So, I had to keep my phone (and internet) close by. This resulted in a 5x400 yard swim, checking my phone quickly after every 200 yards and the phone and internet after every 400. I did get a few messages, and even a text from the Lovely Wife who was home enduring a deposition at the time, but thankfully the client matter didn't need me until after the swim.
All that being taken into account, the swim was fairly uneventful. The pool was only 20 yards long (as opposed to the typical 25yd pool in America), so I had to turn more often, but that was basically immaterial. The short rbreaks every 400 yards left me feeling refreshed as I started every new set, and the current forced me to pull hard through the pool while at the same time focusing on technique so that I could keep my pace for two kilometers. One solid sunburn and a soak in the air conditioned internet room next door for a few hours and my mission of getting a workout in before my 24hour flight back home was accomplished.
90min Foundation Bike
Despite every intention of working out the day after I returned home, life got in the way. Not fatigue or jet lag so much -- in fact, I was blessed with what amounted to basically no jet lag on my return -- but more crap that needed to be done that had been put off for two weeks of travel to Asia and Europe.
On Saturday, however, an opening appeared for me to get in the "long ride" of this, week four. Thankfully, every fourth week is a recovery week, so that ride was only 90 minutes long. An easy ride to accomplish on the bike at the gym -- when done on a Saturday afternoon, there's also plenty on the attached television to take your mind off of the slogging.
And slog I did. Finishing the ride fairly strong, averaging approximately 16mph (23+ miles completed) and 155 watts (not great, but not bad considering I was off of the bike for a week), I was happy to have completed the ride. At least a dozen times my mind tried to convince me to go less than the full 90 but, frankly, knowing I'd have to admit my transgression to the poor souls who read my blog kept me plugging. Plus, the USA/Canada baseball game was a pretty good one, even though Justin Morneau stranded the winning run on second base to essentially end the game for Canada. As the USA celebrated its victory, the clock struck 90 and I headed home feeling as if I was ready to get back on the horse for week five.
1800yd Base Swim
Having accomplished the long ride of recovery week four, now I needed to focus and try and accomplish the 1800 yard weekend base swim. The Lovely Wife provided good motivation on that front as she wanted to swim as well. The kids seemed to be over their colds, which had ravaged the whole two weeks I was traveling, so the gym day care would suffice.
For a little over 40 minutes, I reintroduced myself to the gym pool, the sun of San Diego (as intense, but significantly less hot than that in Bangkok), and the muscles which had been beaten up first by a 24-hour flight, and then by a 90 minute plod on the bike the day before. To be honest, the damage was minimal. I had a little wrist pain partway through (the result of my vigorous 90 minute muscle massage in Thailand?), but all in all, the 1800 yards felt significant but hardly insurmountable. In fact, I commented to my wife that I think I could comfortably swim it again, closing in on the 2.4 miles needed in August for the race. Now riding a bike 112 miles afterwards? That's presently a different matter, but God knows there's plenty of time.
See you next week for a new twist on the baseline work, now that the recovery week is concluded. The bikes will incorporate more hills and the swims more sprint work. Both have the effect of making me gulp for air, but then that's a good thing, right? See you soon... ;-)
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