A 4 Day Recap

Let's start with this past Saturday.  Saturday was our first team Brick.  A Brick in this case being a bike followed by a run.  My morning started at about 5:15 with breakfast.  A peanut butter granola bar, an orange, some coconut water and a little bit of coca cola for some caffeine.  We were meeting in the park at 7 and I wasn't sure how long it would take me to ride up there.  It's about 5 miles to the park from my place so I left about 6:20, making it up there with plenty of time to spare.  The team assembled for some instruction from Ramon.  The ironman part of the team had a 25 to 30 mile bike followed by  a 6 mile run.  The ride was supposed to be an easy one.  I set off on my way with Bernie, we did our 6 mile loops at a pretty easy pace.  We logged our miles, changed out of our bike gear, had some nutrition, laced up our sneaks and headed out for our run.  Part of the definition of Brick is how your legs feel after riding and then trying to run.  I shoot off the heaviness of the ride and had a pretty good run.  We assembled again as a team, chatted a bit, it was interesting to hear all the marathoners on my team that hadn't ridden then run before, describe how slow they felt.  That gave me some satisfaction since most of them dust me on the team runs.  Ramon appeared again and completed a pretty comprehensive overview of a bike.  He explained all the components, did a tire change demo and worked on his trainer to show form and body position.  It was a good first Brick and only made better by the great preview of spring that was happening in NYC.  

Sunday morning seemed earlier than it should, but the day light savings time made the morning come sooner than I wanted.  I was joining a few of my teammates for an endurance run in NJ with Ramon.  All of my teammates that were out that morning were training for marathons and doing there long runs.  I had expectations of trying to run 20 miles but Ramon quickly squashed that goal telling me I didn't need to go that far and I was risking injury if I did.  I took his advice and only did a 15 miler.  The run was an out and back format on a great trail near the Rutger's campus.  Most of the run had a canal on one side and a stream on the other.  It was nice, no ipod, no traffic, just me with my thoughts, moving water and some birds chirping.  The first 10 miles were pretty good, I felt great and was moving at a good pace for me.  The last 5 I basically bonked.  I didn't have enough calories that morning and fell apart. I slowed down considerable, but made it back.  I'm writing it off as a learning experience.  Ramon gave me a nutrition lesson when he returned; specifically about the number of calories burned yesterday compounded by my run this morning and really needing to ingest a fair amount of energy to power these workouts.  

Monday night was another group workout.  Lucky for me after my weekends workouts, I only had a recovery workout which was a nice and easy run.  After the run we did some great stretches as a group and worked our core.  I'm happy to say my core is getting stronger and that will pay off on race day.  

This morning I had intentions of getting up and riding my trainer before work, but that was quickly dashed when i stumbled out of bed with a really sore ankle/foot.  Instead of riding, I opted for an ice bath for my foot.  I loaded up on Advil and opted for my compression socks to wear to work.  This evening I went to the pool for a non impact workout.  It was an endurance swim and i logged a couple thousand yards.  I worked a variety of speeds and distances and felt pretty good.  There were a couple of negatives to tonight's swim.  The pool was really crowded, there were four of us circling swimming in my lane.  That was compounded by two of the guys being not the best swimmers.  Not only were they not great swimmers, but they did that froggy kind kick out to the side, which left me dodging them when we passed as we swam.  One more thing, one of the guys smelled.  Not only did he smell, he stunk!  I could smell this guy as he swam past me.  Keep in mind this is in a super chlorinated public pool.  I ran into him again in the locker room, he appeared to be post shower and he still smelled.  This kid was like Pigpen, there was just a cloud around him.  I don't think he was homeless, he had a blackberry, but he didn't seem to have clean clothes or soap.  

I think this weekend's workouts were a good indication of what's to come.  I'm happy to say I've dropped about 10 lbs since I've started training, and weekends like this, I'm sure the next 10 will come off pretty quick.  

A Busy Few Days

The honeymoon is over.  I like writing this blog, i find it almost therapeutic, the problem is, most nights I'm to tired to write.  After my post work, workout I'm more interested in eating and sleeping than writing.  Don't you feel sorry for me....  Anyway, on to the workouts. 

Tuesday evening I headed off to the pool for a technique workout.  I'm going to blame my poor performance on the fact that I was still not 100% from my previous days sickness.  It was all technique.  I did a series of drills with a low light of using a kickboard.  I'm fairly certain my 5 year old niece would be fast down the lane using a kickboard than me.  I also dusted off the pool buoy and used it as well.  The pool was pretty crowded and I never really got into a good rhythm.  

Yesterday I woke up early and rode before work.  It was a series of pick ups and recoveries which left me dripping.  I had to do a little mop up work after my ride.  After work I headed back to the pool for an endurance swim.  I wasn't in the greatest mood, so getting to the pool to work out my bad mood was much needed.  I had set out to swim at least 2000 yards.  I was using the buoy again and was feeling really good.  I think I had a minor epiphany with my swim stroke.  For as bad as I was Tuesday night, I was the opposite last night.  I ended up swimming 6, 500 yard sets finishing with a 200 yard set, giving me a total of 3200 yards or two miles.  Much like my 17 mile run a few weeks ago, this was a big confidence builder for me.  I'm fairly intimated by the 2.4 miles I'll be swimming for the Ironman, but this went a long way for my confidence.  

This morning was another trainer ride.  I'm thinking it's probably best for me just to get up every morning and ride.  Only waking up early a few days a week probably does more harm than good.  I did a real easy ride this morning, just got my legs moving and watched some ESPN.  This evening I ran with the Nike running group.  Nike sponsors runs a few days a week in NYC, you meet at Niketown and head out with a group.  There are a few distance options and pacers so it's a pretty organized group.  Ramon also is a coach for this group, so it's good to get in front of him another night during the week.  Tonight was a 6 mile loop in Central Park, the first mile was a warm up, followed by a tempo run for the last five miles.  I feel pretty good about what I ran for the five miles.  I would say it was the toughest five miles of the six mile loop.  Toughest equals most hills.  I had one of my teammates running with me and she really  set the pace for us.  I couldn't let her run away from me, so it was a good way to keep me going.  We did the 5 miles in 44 minutes.  I'm pretty happy with that effort.  Tomorrow I guess I'll wake up and ride, but it will be another easy one, as Saturday morning will be our first BRick and I want to have somewhat fresh legs.   

The Last Weekend in February

Last Friday was all personal, no training.  After work I signed a lease for new apartment.  Who knew going from 4 walls to 8 would be such a great thing.  I'm really looking forward to April 1 when i'm in my new digs.  After the lease signing I met up with my good friend Dr. A and his lovely wife Dr. A.  They were in town for a speaking engagement and had the weekend to relax here.  I met them for a beer then headed to bed to rest up for Saturday's workout.  

Saturday morning was a  7 a.m. start in Central Park.  Another tough workout concocted by Ramon.  We did our usual warm up and headed off to a pretty steep hill in the park.  This workout, as most are these days, about strength and speed.  We ran up this hill, it was about 300-400 yards at about 70%.  Once we reached the top of the hill, there was a small path that was another 300 yards or so.  We ran hard on this path, pushing it even harder than the uphill, followed by a recovery down to the bottom of the hill.  We did these loops for about 40 minutes, leaving me pretty spent.  My quads were totally blown out.  From here we did a slow jog for a mile or so, then turned it back up for a 1.2 timed mile back to Bethesda Terrace.  That was the end of the coached part.  From here, Ramon suggested that Lawrence and I do some additional miles.  We did another 3-4 miles and finished at my car at about 9:15.  I totally lucked out.  I was parked in a metered spot that you have to feed the meter by 9.  As I was walking up to the car there was a Meter Maid at my car about to give me a ticket.  Lucky for me, he didn't give me one.

Sunday I had a longer ride on the schedule.  I woke up not feeling so well and ended up sleeping the whole day.  I had "flu like symptoms", that's how NBA players are described when they are sick.  I'm not sure why, they just don't have the flu???  So no ride for me.  

Today I didn't go to work, spent most of the day sleeping/relaxing again.  By this evening, I was feeling a lot better and decided to brave the cold for a short run.  I was restless and needed to get out of my apartment.  I also knew it was going to be really cold for the next few days, so I wanted to get out there before it was to miserable.  There was a Nor'easter that dropped a some snow and ice and created a mess in the city.  All the melting/freezing will create a lot of ice out there, so i'll probably spend more time on my trainer and in the pool over the next few days.  

Lacking Focus

The past few days have been tough, I've been lacking focus on my training.  My sessions haven't felt like they've been very productive.  I've done the workouts, biked last night and this morning and I also got a swim in tonight.   I think I have been focused on other things the past few days. Barring any unforeseen problems, i will be signing a lease on a new apartment tomorrow.  I'm moving about four blocks to the north to a brand new building.  It will be a great set up, leaving "the box" for a real one bedroom apartment.  It's a great building, gym, roof deck, screening room and a lot of great services.  I think once i get this sorted out, I'll be ready to return my focus to training.  Saturday morning should be good, a tough coached workout to get me back on track.  

The Past Few Days

I'll start with Sunday, the "day after".  Saturday's long run left me expecting a rough time trying to get out of bed on Sunday.  I woke up early, as usual and hopped out of bed.  My legs were definitely sore, but honestly, not as bad as I expected.  I had a trainer ride schedule for Sunday.  I got on my bike and realized very quickly that I may not be sore but I didn't have much juice in my legs.  I did the minimum prescribed workout and got off.  As the day went on, I felt worse and worse.  My legs were hurting and I was feeling run down.  I stayed off my feet the rest of the day and made it to a couple of fun Oscar parties.  

Monday night was a group workout.  We met Ramon and he offered two workouts for the evening, and easy and hard one.  Like the true motivator he is, he "convinced" everyone to do the tougher workout.  We did our usual warm up followed by a series of sprints up and hill in Central Park.  We then did a tempo run of a couple miles, followed by a serious core workout.  We did some more sprints and finished the evening with more core.  I'm still working on the six pack, but these workouts will help me get there.  

This morning was another early wake up call and hour trainer ride.  I followed Ramon's workout and caught up Sunday night's Amazing Race episode.  I know, I know, reality TV, but this show is great, you should watch it if you don't.  I'm still trying to figure out what my angle is to get on that show.  I bailed out on tonight's swim, but I'll make it up later this week.  I needed a night to myself.  I'll be ready to run tomorrow.

Longest Run of My Life

This morning was the first of many long runs I will have leading up to August 30th.  I covered between 16 and 17 miles and experienced the following things during the run.

1.  Two States

2.  A Bridge

3.  Near the site of the most famous duel in American History

4.  A Landslide

5.  A Chain gang

6.  I think I was hallucinating at mile 15 and may have seen the Virgin Mary in a rock formation.

7.  Some fine car dancing to a Beyonce song.

It's time to eat and take a nap.  

The Past 24 Hours

The past 24 hours has been full of training. Yesterday, the schedule called for a weakness workout. The weather didn't allow me to get out and run, so i did the same bike workout i had done on Tuesday. It was a pyramid type ride utilizing all the rear chain rings. I rode hard for a hour, worked up a good sweat and then had a great meal.

This morning I woke up early and went for a 40 minute run. I guess I'm so tired these days that I can't read a my workout plan. It wasn't part of my workout plan for this week to run this morning, but no question I need the time running so it's not a big deal. I worked, got my teeth cleaned and came home and went to the pool. My swim was about endurance tonight and it was another pyramid type workout. I did the following: 4x25 yards, then 4x100 yards, 4x200 yards and finished with another 4x25 yards.

These pyramid type workouts are used to raise your heart rate, then recover, then raise it again while pushing the distance. I'm guessing this is a good way to build endurance, or at least that's what it seems to me. We've been doing so many of these pyramid type workouts, I'm expecting Dick Clark and Nipsey Russell to show up at my apartment. The only thing that I would ask if they did, is that Nipsey lay down one of his dope rhymes. (skip to the 1:35 mark to hear the OG Nipsey Russell spit some rhymes) Nipsey Russell has been gangsta since like 1978, RIP.