OT Training 6.12.14

Today was a pretty good training day. I slept in a little longer than I usually do (stayed up later also) so I got a late start on things. I went to the gym and got a good back/bi workout in while seeing one of my closest friends. We talked about some things and he was asking about my training and I said that I had a 45 minute run lined up. He suggested that I run from our gym into the place I usually run. After thinking about it I though it would be a good idea.

The run starts downhill with some smaller uphill climbs along the way but flattens out where I typically run. My race is going to be mostly flat but as my buddy told me it can't hurt to get stronger with some hill work. I ended up going 44:07 and covered 5.34 miles which came out to an 8:15 pace. It was a little slower of a pace than I would have liked but I kept a really consistent pace throughout my entire run and over my last mile I was able to overcome the significant hill that I have yet to be able to complete the eight or so other times I have ran it.

I was pretty tired about halfway up the hill and thought about catching my breath for a quick second but I knew that I needed to push through this and push myself mentally. Over the last couple tenth of a mile it got really steep and what really kept me going was the thought of me crossing the finish line. I know the race is going to be tough and the running part is going to be extra difficult after a mile swim and a 25 mile bike ride so the finish of a 45 minute run with nothing before it was nothing.

I was able to overcome that hurdle and when I finally finished I felt awesome. I mean my legs were shot and I was sweating really bad thanks to some unreal humidity but I was able to continue when I thought I was going to have to stop. That is what it is about. During the race I am sure I am going to want to stop on numerous occasions but as long as I can train through wanting to stop I am going to give myself a better chance of working through it in the race.

Good workout day.

OT Training 6.11.14

Today was another swim and bike day. Today was probably one of my better swimming day over the past couple of weeks as I was able to get in 1,300 yards in about 40 minutes of swimming. I was only able to get in 1,000 yards on Monday because my legs were really dead but the legs felt fresher than usual for today.

I was able to get back into the swing with my 100 freestyles as I started with three of those to start my workout. Typically I have been doing 4 x 3 sets of the 50's but with me wanting to push it a little more I went with a 4 x 4 set swims of 50's starting and ending with freestyle's with a kick and pull in between. That gave me 800 yards with just my sets and coupled with my 100's to start gave me 1,100 yards. I finished up my workout with another 50 each of kick and pull and then a pair of 50 freestyles.

Really good swim after some really bad days. It was a tough day for the swim since the pool hours have been scaled back over the summer so for the time being I am going to have to get up at 7 a.m. for my swimming days. It's not as if I get up really late but setting an alarm to make sure I am up at a certain time is something I haven't had to do for a long time. I guess that isn't a bad thing since I will eventually have to be getting up at a set time soon (hopefully) so might as well start now.

My bike is still down for the count with a bad tire. It should be fixed for my long ride on Friday but that meant that I had to go to the gym to get my ride in. On Monday I used the spin bike and while it was good to get something in it didn't really mimic the biking I am going to be doing. I didn't realize the gym had a regular stationary bike so I jumped on that for 1:15. I was able to get all of that work in and it came out to 19.3 miles which was a little more on target with what I would be riding a flat trail on so it was a good workout.

OT Training 6.10.14

Today was a weight workout day and my short running day that included somewhere around a 35 minute run.

The weight workout went pretty quickly. I like to get in and get out when I am at the gym and I was able to do that today as most of the people in there were on cardio machines so that made things pretty easy. It was a chest/tri day with some core work at the end and I worked myself pretty hard so it was a good workout.

I followed that by running in Natrona Heights for my short run. I kept pretty much the same route as I did last week the two times I ran there and this was easily the best of the trio of runs there. It wasn't over hot (around 65) but it was fairly humid (95% humidity) so it made the run suck a little bit more than I anticipated.

I wanted to push myself a little bit more today since I still had some left in the tank the last couple of times. That led to me coming out of the gate a little faster than I would have liked which led my pace to slow down over the next two miles but it didn't slow down to a point where I was having trouble. Here is a look at it:

The good part of this was that I was able to bounce back after a slower third mile to finish the fourth mile with about an 8:00 pace and finessed the last .6 of a mile at a 7:30 pace. I think I would feel much different about the run if my pace got worse as I finished but I had some good push at the end.

OT Training 6.9.14

Today was a pretty rough day. Usually I don't want to get up and swim. That doesn't mean that I never get up and swim but I think it is more of the fact that it is my weakest area and the improvements have been slow. I have been getting better in the pool but the process is slow. I knew it was going to be slow but that doesn't mean that it makes me any more motivated at 7 or 8 a.m. to get up and get into the pool.

I was on Twitter just after my pool workout and checked Twitter real quick before I went on the bike in the gym (more on this later) and I saw this from my favorite comic strip, Calvin and Hobbs.

So true Calvin, so true.

Last week I had a tough time on Friday with my swimming. My legs were dead and I was just tired. I thought I was going to be OK today after having the weekend off and even though I had my long run yesterday my legs were good so I felt I would be alright today. I wasn't really alright. I was pretty tired in my lower half and it made it a pretty rough swimming session.

I ended up getting in 1,000 yards in the pool. I really wanted to get in 1,100 or 1,200 but I cut back a little bit to hope to save my legs a little more for the week ahead. I started off with a 100 freestyle with six 50 freestyles after that. I then did two 50's of kicks and four 50's of pulls. I got in three more 50 freestyles with one more each of the kicks, pulls, and a final freestyle to finish up the day.

Before I left my house I came to find out that the back tire on my bike was completely flat. I have no idea how or when this happened but this meant that I wasn't going to be able to ride it today. I don't really know anyone else who has a bike and haven't been able to buy another bike yet. This meant that I was going to have to go on the spin bike in the gym.

This was a little less ideal but after I was done I guess it was good since my legs were pretty tired. I kept a cadence of 95 during my hour long ride and that covered 25.3 miles. Again, not really ideal but it was definitely better than doing nothing. I am going to be checking over the bike tonight and hopefully have it back ready to ride on Wednesday.

This was way less than an ideal day but I didn't expect every training day to be good. I am well into my second month of training and things are going to start getting hard. I am going to want to not workout but I need to push through those and continue to get better.

OT Training 6.8.14

After a really good day off on Saturday I was back at it today for my long run. Essentially I ran the same route as last week only I went a little longer today but my run today was a lot better than last week.

A week ago I ran this route in a 8:13 pace running 6.1 miles in 50 minutes. Today I was able to cover just over seven miles in almost 56 minutes which came in at a 7:56 pace. I started off this run a little faster with a 7:31 pace in the first mile but after that I rally got into a groove where I ran at a 7:50ish pace over the next four miles. I slowed down a little bit in the sixth mile with an 8:16 pace but finished around an 8:05 pace.

This was a really good run for me and even though this was a mostly downhill race at the beginning I still got some hill work that I was able to get through pretty easily. I didn't come close to stopping at any point which is good because last week I had to make a stop around the 40 minute mark.

I am still getting stronger and being able to run the race distance in about 48 minutes made me feel pretty good. I know that I didn't swim or bike before it but with about two months left until the race I am pretty confident I will be able to run a pretty good pace if I am right around where I want to be now. Also I was doing this run after a night of drinking. That counts for something, right?

Least ideal part of the run today was that five minutes into it the rain started to come down. It came down hard for a minute and then level off but for much of the run I was dancing around raindrops. Not fun.

OT Training 6.6.14

Today was a rough day. I thought after a good run yesterday and my legs feeling pretty good that I would have a better day today with my long swim and long bike ride, but boy was I wrong. My first few laps in the pool were met with the feeling of my legs being really tired and I knew it was going to be a long morning.

At the beginning the swim wasn't all that good. I was barely able to get through my three 100 freestyles and had a tough time getting my legs going with my first three 50 freestyles. I think I kind of got into a groove as my other three sets of 50's (kick, pull, swim) weren't too bad and I was getting through them in pretty good time. Since I wanted to add 100 yards on to the end of this from Wednesday I did two more each of the kicks, pulls and swim to give me an even 1,200 yards for the day. A good stepping stone but it was a really tough pool workout.

My bike ride was much the same. I was supposed to go around 107 minutes today but I actually ended up riding 115 minutes and coming just short of two hours. The legs didn't feel overly great on the steady uphill climb from Freeport towards Butler and after I turned around I expected it to be pretty easy since it would mostly be downhill. It wasn't. I was pretty tired around mile 20 and that would have been alright if I was only biking 20 miles. I actually was doing just over 28 miles so that made things a little longer than I had anticipated.

I am glad I went a little longer on each and got them done but it was not a fun workout day. I will say that I am taking full advantage of my off day tomorrow and tonight I am going to be relaxing by going to the Pirates game with some friends. That is a good reward for the hard work this week. After my long run on Sunday I will have nearly trained for 12 hours and 100 miles on the week. There is still a long way to go but I am on the right path. I think.

OT Training 6.5.14

Today was a really good day for me workout wise. Yesterday I felt pretty good in the pool but when I got to the bike ride I was pretty sluggish. I still finished with one of my better bike rides and cut some significant time off my 25 mile time but I just didn't feel it. Today was totally different. I am not sure if it was just because I had to do only a run with a weight workout but my legs felt really good and carried me through a really strong run.

I did my weight workout first and it was back and bi day. I didn't necessarily go any heavier with anything but I tried to add a few more reps since I was only around 10-12 reps last week. Usually I am able to bump up weight on the second week of my workout plan (that changes every three weeks) but this week I only took marginal bumps up in weight and made sure that I got good reps in.

I decided to stay in Natrona Height for my run. Typically on my medium day I like to go down to the trail as I can control my time better since I run out and back. Today I just kinda freelanced with my run and it worked out well. Overall it's not going to show that I did a lot of hills but there were a few of them. Typically these hills are something I struggled with because of my pacing problem but today I was able to conquer them fairly easily.

Here is the map of the elevations on my run:

As you can see there are a few peaks and valleys but I was able to maintain a pretty steady pace through them.

I ended up running for 43:04 and went 5.30 miles. That turns out to be an 8:08 pace which was right around where my time was last week for my medium run. The best part about the run was that I still had some left in the tank. I probably could have ran a sub-eight minute pace but this showed me that I am definitely making gains in my running and that is a good sign with a couple months left till race day.

Overall a great day in my mind.

OT Training 6.4.14

Today was my medium swimming and bike day and after it is all said and done it was a pretty good workout day. I felt really strong in the pool and despite my legs being tired in the first half of my bike ride I was able to press forward and cut nine minutes off my time from last week.

Got into the pool and did 1,100 yards today which was 100 more than last week. I did the same workout except I added a 100 freestyle at the beginning. I think what I am going to try and do is tack on another 100 before my set work for the next couple of times to try and build up more endurance. At the beginning of last week I was only able to do one 100 at the beginning and today I was able to do three of them so I know I am going in the right direction.

After my 100's I did the same set work with 50's. I started with 50 freestyles and did three of those and then did three kicks, three pulls, and finished with three more freestyles. I ended the workout with another kick, pull, and two more 50's. I went harder today than I did on Monday but I felt really strong, especially in my legs, so that was a really good thing.

The bike was a little harder than I anticipated. I was only going to go about 87 minutes today but I ended up going 1:37:32 and did 24.35 miles. That was pretty good for me seeing that last Friday I did 25.58 miles in 1:48:11 so essentially I cut off about nine minutes on my race distance today and that is always a good thing. I would like to be able to do that in about 1:15 or better but with the race still a few months away I think I am feeling pretty good cutting that time.

OT Training 6.3.14

Today was a pretty easy day with a weight workout and a short run.

The weight workout was chest and triceps and went about as well as I thought. I have been trying to keep higher reps since that is going to help me in my training more than going heavier weight with lower reps. That is what I usually do but I want to make sure to keep my reps between 12-15 and not overdoing it since I am training so much.

The run was pretty simple. I went and ran in Natrona Heights by the Anytime Fitness I go to. Overall I went 3.91 miles in 32:30 and I kept things pretty simple. My splits (every mile) were in the mid-8:00 mark and at the end of the run I know I still had some juice left. With this being an easy day and my legs still being pretty sore from the weekend I thought it was better to keep a slower pace and keep things easy.

I think overall I would like to have an eight minute pace for the run portion of my race so for almost four miles keeping an 8:18 pace today and still feeling good I think I am on the right path. The adrenaline will kick in with other racers around me on race day and that will give me a little extra push so I feel pretty good about where my running is right now.

OT Training 6.2.14

After missing my easy swimming and biking day last week I was back at it again today. I should be able to get in a full week of workouts this week which would be something I haven't been overly able to do recently. Before I went out today I made sure that I was sticking to the plan I had and it turns out that I was a week off. The distances I was supposed to do this week I actually did last week. So, in turn I think I am going to repeat my workout from last week and get myself back on schedule. I guess that gave me some extra work but who knows if it really meant anything.

I started with swimming today and ended up doing 1,000 yards in the pool. It took me a little over a half hour to do which was a little slower than how long it took me to do the same distance on Friday. That wasn't really a concern for me as I focused a little more today on my technique. In talking with some people that have watched me swim at the pool they have said I am using too much upper body when I swim and that I am not using enough legs. This is getting me more tired on my laps and not letting me get enough out of my swim.

Anyways, I worked on closing my finger on my hand and keeping my upper half quiet and pulling more when my stroke comes through the water. I have been really "punching" the water and with my fingers spread apart it is not helping me pull my body, therefore making me use a lot more energy than I need.

I was able to focus on that a little more and use my legs to generate some more power and I think it went pretty well. I kept my same schedule as I had on Friday with a little variance. I started with a pair of 200 freestyles followed by my regular rounds of 4x3 sets of 50's with swimming, kicking, pulling, and swimming. I then finished with a 50 of kicking and pulling and a pair of 50 freestyles.

I went down to the trail for my bike ride. It went pretty well as my average speed was as fast as it has been in some time. I ended up going 16.3 miles in 1:06:13 which averaged 14.8 mph. Pretty much the same story as every time I am on the trail, the first half of the ride was a gradual uphill where I averaged about 13.5 mph but on the way back, which was more downhill, I was averaging around 16.5 mph.

Solid workout today. My legs were pretty sore from my run yesterday but as I have said before a lot of this is mental as well as physical so it is good to power through these when I don't feel like exercising.

OT Training 6.1.14

First workout of June. It is weird, it feels like May just started and here we are already through 31 days. May went crazy fast. Well, Saturday was my off day and what I decided to do on my off day was drink a lot of alcohol. I am not a guy that gets hungover so that wasn't really the problem but I was super tired today. I typically like to get my run done earlier in the day but today my run didn't happen until about 3 p.m. That really wasn't a big deal, but today it was hot.

The heat wasn't overly terrible but when you are dehydrated from a night of drinking it doesn't make things any easier. It also didn't help that I didn't really drink any water before I ran and I forgot to take water with me. I ran into town and had my car dropped off there so it's not as if I could drink water when I got finished. I had no quarters in my car and the best I was able to do was get an empty bottle I had in the back seat and ask a gas station to fill it up with water. Meh, whatever. I drank 32 ounces of water in approximately 10 seconds.

The run was pretty good overall though. I think I was supposed to go 54 minutes today but with the weather and my blood sugar levels going a little low towards the end of my run (due to my diabetes) I was only able to make it a 50 minute run. Like I said I went from home into town and the run is mainly a downhill run but there is two hills that I wanted to tackle. The first hill is a gradual raise and the second hill is a much more significant one that I haven't been able to finish before.

Like I said I have always had a problem with pacing and by the time I hit that hill I usually couldn't make it the entire way up since I was already spent from running too hard at the beginning. Today I was able to tackle the hill easily so that made me feel pretty good. My pace was still a little too fast for my liking but it wasn't as bad as it has been before.

I would like to get my first two miles around 7:45 or so but I think I can live with this today. I ended up going just over six miles on the run. I think I would have liked to get a little farther but that is part of the process. I have been really slowing down my pace in hopes of being more consistent in my runs so as long as I continue to do that I will be able to build up my milage.

Tomorrow is an easy day with swimming and biking so back at it for another week.