quick post.

There is not much to say about my workouts lately other than they are getting a little better.  Running was fun for the first time on Saturday.  The plan was just to slog out 4 miles so the day wouldn't go by without working out.  So, i started slow, and felt pretty good.  I have been reading a lot of running books lately and was really focused on my form.  I had some good music on, so I decided to speed up a little, just a little.  After the warm-up I was going maybe 6mph. 10 minute miles.  No problem.  it was dark, it was cold, it was wet, and running was feeling pretty good.  I sped up a little more.  How are my arms swinging? is my head up? If i focus on something 50yards away, can I make it not bounce? Am i landing mid-fore footed and relaxing?  Just cycling through the form questions.  I sped up a little more.  Quick feet, always behind, never in front.

I sped up a little more.  At this point I am about 1.5 miles into my run, and I am going at a pretty good clip.  I would say maybe 7.5 -8 minute miles.  Breathing is not ragged, everything feels good.  I speed up a little more. (I am thinking to myself - ARE YOU FRIGGIN NUTS?  YOU SPED UP?)  I see an oncoming runner.  He gives me a look.  You probably would too if you saw a 250lbs man flat out running in your direction.  Yes that is right folks, I am FLAT OUT RUNNING.  It feels good, and my breathing is about what it normally is for a 10 minute mile.  I stop at the 2 mile mark, and take stock.  First I check to make sure my body is still with me, not passed out 1.5 miles back in a ditch.  I pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming.  Nope.  I really did that.  20 seconds and my breathing is back to normal.  What the hell?  Then, and here is the crazy thing, I do it again, back to the house.  I see my wife driving out of the driveway as I run up, and i do a jumping kick just for fun.  I probably looked like an idiot, but it felt great.  Then when I get to the doors I jump around like Rocky did when he got to the top of the stairs.  I feel really good.

The next day I need to focus on not going out and repeating the run, or doing something crazy like trying to run 10 miles or something.  I am coming off of a soleus injury, and just now increasing my mileage, so it would be silly to overdo it now, but damn... Damn..

You kick funny when you breathe.

Yep,  last night I got a chance to get in the water and have someone watch.  On a pull set with no buoy CB told me that my legs go wide when i breathe.  Sure enough, after she pointed that out I noticed it, and now they do not spread wide when I breathe.

I had a chance to 1 on 1 work with someone last night, and got to try several things to help them keep their shoulders and head down in the water, and their legs up at the surface.  This was a learning experience for me as well, because I was in the water and had to think about what the best way to do this would be.  Ends up that kicking to make the most bubbles and splashes worked the absolute best of everything we tried, and we tried a ton of stuff.  I could feel my pull get stronger and my head and shoulders move further down in the water as I kicked a continuous 3 foot splash.  It was kinda fun.  It also made me realize how out of shape I really was, since 25m kicking madly is a lot of work!  

My time out of the water also gave me time to figure out that I forgot how to breathe totally.  I kept holding my breath and then gasping for air.  75s kicking with no arms  is quite scarey when you are holding your breath and telling yourself you have to breathe but not doing it.   

So.  Lesson learned.  Back to training, back to the pool.

Adjustments made.

I don't know japanese.

Whoever keeps posting comments on my old blog posts in Japanese which links back to porn or hacking sites is persistant.  I would ask them to stop, but I don't think they are reading my blog - mostly because I have been on break.

It was only a break.  Sheesh.

I am picking up the training again.  Since I posted last a few things have happened.  1. I strained my calf during a long run - which turned it into a short run.  I was running along and then POP!  It felt like someone snapped me in the calf with a rubber band.  I was 2 miles into a 6+ mile run, and so I limped 2 more miles and decided to cut the day short.  Later on I would Ice it, then notice bruising.  I decided to take a week off.  After the week it was not better, so i took another week off.  Then I found I could run to the Y to a spin class, and that was OK, but 1/2 way home it would start to hurt again.  Riding was ok, but running is a no-no.
I rode 45 miles yesterday, not too hard, but when I tried to do the 6 mile run portion of the BR-ick...well, let's just say the ick started early.  I began feeling strain in my calf, and then abnormal strain on my right quad - which means I was running lopsided without knowing it.  I walked back.  I am going to start this week to build my running up to snuff for my October race.  I will start with small runs, followed closely by some wicked foam rolling to get the muscles back.  I have lost a lot of my bike, and all of my run in the last 6 weeks, so this should be a heavy build up for Oct. 31 Miami HIM. 
Another issue that I have discovered in the last 6 weeks is that there is a really good chance that I am gluten intollerant.  This means flour makes me feel yucky.  REALLY yucky.  I didn't know that until i stopped eating wheat based products.  I started to feel a little better. My stomach is more sensitive to different foods now.  Then I ate some fries at a shop which had some sort of batter on them.  It was wheat, and boy did I know it.UGH!.  So, I am going to keep on with the no-wheat thing for a while, see how I feel, and see if it makes any difference.   Common thoughts on the subject is that for a gluten intollerant person, eating wheat based products causes mood swings and depression, bloating, GI issues, and the inability to properly digest food, so they feel hungry because they are missing nutrients.  They tend to be overweight, and not able to lose the weight.  This is me in an nutshell, so I am giving it a go.  My family is behind me (which is ok now that I am not having such bad GI issues.). 

I will post more later, since Tri season at the Y starts tomorrow, and I have a ton of people bugging me to start P90X.  Later.

Subway giveaway

I eat at subway too much, but here is a giveaway to help not fix my habit.  I will post meaningful stuff later. unless  you think the other stuff is fluff...in which case, i am glad i was able to make your day and post something meaningful.

Subway Give Away (and a pretty cool blog)

Giveaway - this one is really cool.

Visor of the STARS!!  I am gonna win this visor.!

Where the heck is my fitness?

Ran 4 miles this morning.  I ran 6 miles 2 weeks ago and beat my feet up really bad,  - bruising and pain, no reason why.  Shoes were 6 weeks old and had been through a race, I should have been recovered.  I figured they maybe were too tight.  I could not figure anything else out.  Then last week I ran 4 miles and just felt like dog shit.  First mile was bouncy, second mile was uncomfortable, then 3 and 4 were both just like in the race - walking with little runs inbetween.  I chalked that one up to the fact that it was 90+ degrees.
Today I ran the whole thing, and only walked on the mile markers to get a swig of water.  I finished the 4 miles, but they were not the most comfortable 4 miles ever.  I wonder where my fitness has gone.  I was doing 10 mile runs without stopping before the race.  Now it has been a month, and I should be healed and raring to go!
Bike rides have been better, so maybe tomorrow's ride will be good.
On a positive note, I was up at 5 and running at 6 today!  The move to consistent morning workouts has begun!

CEP giveaway.

Ok.  Gonna have to try them now...  If I don't win these, I am going to buy some.

Barefoot Angie B and her Great Sock Giveaway.

-ryan

I am a dumbass and didn't reapply sunscreen even though I have had one of the most deadly skin cancers there is...TWICE!

So, there you have it.  Transition 1 and I am putting on my long sleeved UA heat gear, buckling my helmet, putting on my glasses, getting into my bike shoes, and throwing all the nutrition back into my pocket that fell out when I thought I would be so cool as to already have it in my pocket before I put my shirt on.  What did i forget? Re-application of SPF70 sunblock.  It was right there, I just missed it.
So, the bike was fun.  It is my favorite part.  The first part was a little head-windy, so I took it easy.  I passed some excellent swimmers, and just cruised.  18mph or so, into the wind coming up off of the water.  Then when we hooked inland, the wind went away, so I continued to cruise along.  Chugs of my nutrition about every 15-20 minutes, with water in-between.  My goal was to get to the feeling that "If I have any more of this crap I am going to be sick", and I got there after about an hour.  I had water in my aero bottle, and Sustained Energy mixed with Gatorade in my bottle.  I had two open butt bottle holders for picking up at the hydration stations, which I did at the first and second.  Gatorade and water.  I also had some shot blocks in my pocket to change up the flavors if I needed to.  Up and over the causeway bridge thing, and then down WHEEE!  35mph on the down.  I love going fast - almost too much.  My 245lb massive freight-train body makes me able to pass the little people on the downhill even if I don't pedal.  Then there was a long stretch of smooth, flat, new pavement that I just kept on with - all the way to the turn-around.
Thats when I realized that I had been helped a bit with a tail wind for the last hour or so - cause coming back was a tad harder.   So, I pushed through and tried to keep some speed so I could hit my goal of 3 hours for the bike.  Up the bridge was a little slower than last time, but since there was not a turn at the bottom this time, I could keep my speed for longer  WHEE!. Then back on the straight stretch coming in, the wind was at my back, so what should a speed freak do?  Pedal harder!  By this time I was feeling it.  The extended swim in the choppy water had taken it's toll on my upper body, and so I was uncomfortable in aero position.  I was spending more time vertical, which was bad in the second half because of the headwind on the way back to the beach.  The tailwind along the beach was not too bad for being vertical in, but I could tell that I was getting tired.
I ended up getting back to transition in just a teeny bit over 3 hours.  I think it would have been a really great race time if that had been the end of the race.  4 hours for those two events was right on plan for me.  Problem is that I was tired, and this was normally the end of my workout.  4 hours of exercise, then a day off after.  I realize now this was one mistake that I had made during training.  Oh, I had done long bricks during training, but I always took the next day off to recover.  My long bricks also usually were heavy on the bike, and light on the run.  My longest included an hour of running where I felt like I was probably running 10's but really was closer to 12's.
Anyway, that is the bike in a nutshell.  Stay tuned for "You Idiot! Why didn't you run more?"

Gulf Swim

The swim for Gulf Coast Triathlon was really hard.  I was told it was more difficult than St. Anthony's swim which was cut short so nobody would get hurt. I am not saying they should have canceled, or cut it short, but just that it was more difficult than I thought it would be.  So my goal in the swim was to find a fast person, and draft for dear life.  Then I found out that the current was pulling people from right to left, so people were going way off course.  So, I positioned myself at the far right thinking this is where I should be so that the current will pull me into the course and I will line up with the buoy just fine, (this is also where the slow people swim on the outside so that they do not get trampled). So the horn sounds, and we stalk into the breakers.  Yes, I said we STALKED into the BREAKERS.  The waves pushed us back, but we stubbornly walked into them.  As I started getting hit above the waist with waves, I started diving into them kinda like you see the surfers do it on TV.  That worked OK, and all the sudden I was swimming. I did what I had intended for a while, and followed some feet.  This was GREAT!  Then after a while, I looked up to find a buoy and see how close I was to the big red one signaling the turn.
There were no buoys!  What the hell! That is when I also got my first sinus cleaning and throat gargle of salt water.  Awesome.  So I waited until I was at the top of a wave, and looked again.  I was off course.  WAY off course.  I was very near Texas I was so off course.  The other problem, is that I could only see two buoys.  I could see the one I was parallel to, and the one I was supposed to be going to, and i guess the one that i should be going away from THREE buoys.  I could see three buoys.  So course correction, I started seeing some little hands windmilling over by the buoy I was supposed to be near, so I headed that direction.  After two more course corrections, I finally made it to the big turn.  Gulped another mouthful of salt water, and then turned and headed out to sea.  After about 10 strokes, the nice man in the kayak trying not to fall over said, "HEY, THAT WAY" and pointed me back towards shore.  Swim, Swim, Swim, look up, drink seawater, swim some more.  It went this way for a lot longer.  Then I hit a sand bar.  I walked for about 25 feet in 2 foot water, then swim again the last little bit to the beach.  Unfortunately, the waves were not regular enough to body surf them.  Oh, well.  During this long swim, I was passed by the orange capped guys, and most of the purple capped guys, and was seeing some of the women from the wave behind them.  All in all, 54 minutes to get out of the water, about 15 minutes more than I thought I would do, But I was still alive and racing.  I sauntered up the beach, rinsed off in the shower things, and tippy-toed over to transition and my waiting bike for my favorite part of the race.

Stay tuned for "I am a dumbass and didn't reapply sunscreen even though I have had one of the most deadly skin cancers there is...TWICE!"

Gulf Coast Triathlon RR

Here are my results:

538 JONATHAN COMBS          37 ORLANDO FL              

Total time: 7:18:51    

Swim time: 53:37  

T1: 4:37  

Bike Time: 3:02:29  (Avg 18.4)

T2:  3:51  

Run Time: 3:14:19 (Avg 14:50)

I will break this down over the next couple posts.

-Ryan         

Honesty

This one is for the honest scrap tag given to me by TriMommy.  10 honest things.

1. I have a real issue following through.  Example: I didn't finish my Masters, even though I started a couple times, I don't have a teaching certification, I never build a strip built kayak, I haven't even started my book - even though I bought a book to help me write it, and most of my big chores go undone, or 1/2 way done until I get bugged to finish them.  To that note, I have not really been doing all the workouts I need to do for my 1/2 IM which is in 2.5 weeks.
2. I have big dreams.  I see myself doing things, and getting things that may be slightly out of reach, or that I may not know how to do.  That gets me into trouble sometimes with #1.  An example is a house we put an offer on.  It is going to take a lot of work to fix, and we would either have to pay someone to do it, or I would need to step up and do the work.  I work in software, not in construction, and the projects I do sometimes come out...marginalized...?
3. I am kinda insecure.  I feel like I am kinda goofy looking and may not have the greatest personality, and sometimes can't figure out why someone would like me, or why my family would appreciate me.  I have to tell myself that they are probably in the same position, and wonder the same thing about why I like them.
4. What do you call it when you say things out of one side of your mouth, but do the opposite?  Like when I watch the biggest loser and say, "I could totally lose weight." then continue to eat the same way, and not change my habits.  Or "I could totally become an elite athlete" and then miss training more than once a week.  I am one of those guys.
5. I have a strange views about how i should look.  Specifically, I have these huge scars on my neck from having melanoma removed, and I like to almost put them on display.  they look awful.  But I have issues with my body hair, varicose veins, and my lopsided-ness (not quite the guy from Goonies).  I need to be satisfied with how i am.  Funny, the stuff that bothers me doesn't bother my wife, and that is really the only person that matters at this point.
6. I like stupid movies.  I watched RoboCop the other day.  I liked it.  I recorded Rollerball with LLCoolJ a few weeks ago when the movie channels had a free weekend.  I can't help it.
7. I still look like a kid.  I am 36 years old, and I still look like I just got out of high-school.  Maybe it is a generational thing, or maybe it is me.  I don't know.  I looked yesterday in the reflective walls of an elevator at me and another person.  We both had khaki pants and a golf shirt on, but his fit better on him, it was tucked in, his hair was combed, and he had dress shoes on.  Mine was wrinkled, a little big, untucked, I had a long sleeve t-shirt on underneath (sun protection cause of melanoma), and cross-trainers on with white sports socks.  It didn't help that I was sporting my computer in a back-pack. Hair was clean, but completely messy.- for some reason I can't have styled hair for more than 10 minutes...  Anyway, I looked like a kid.
8. I very rarely take the lead on things, or feel confident that I know as much or more than others.  It is hard to convince me that I should be the one to take charge, cause I feel like there are likely more people out there who know more about something than I do.  I would very much like to coach people doing triathlons, but I can't see how i can get the knowledge enough to be able to coach them, even though the rational portion of my brain says I pretty much know what they would need to know.
9. I still love being in the same place as my wife.  I feel better when we are in the same room, and that is just a feeling of contentment that I am addicted to.
10.  I am scared of funerals.  My grandpa passed away this week and I am kinda bummed.  I haven't gone to any funerals ever.  From Jens in high school, to Dan who committed suicide a couple years ago, to my grandma on my dad's side last year, to grandpa on my mom's side this year.  Just haven't been able to do it.

Big Brick

Yesterday was big brick day. Plan was 50/6. Ended up being 60/60min. I am not sure how far I went. Google maps doesn't have the road I ran on, so I ran 30 minutes out, and 30 minutes back. Exactly a straight split, which is weird. Legs felt like 1000 lbs on the run.
First 40 of the bike, my heart rate stayed at 120. I kept an average of 18+ mph. As the wind picked up, one way got slower, and the other way got faster. At 40 miles on the bike, my hr started to increase. 130's for 40-50 miles, and 140's for 50-60. I am thinking this is cardio creep that I have to keep under control. Most likely I had to take in more water during the first 40. I went through 3 24 oz bottles during that time, and I had a PB&H at about 35-40 miles in. That could be a factor, where it COULD be that cardio creep was a result of solid food on the bike. Hypothesis #2 would be that rather than cardio creep being caused by not enough fluid in the first half,it could be that digestion of solid food pulled water into digestion rather than used for blood pumping and keeping cool. I am going to have to change one thing for next time, so if i am able to get some liquid energy for next week then i will remove solid food for the bike and see how the cardio goes. If not, then I will add a bottle and force myself to drink it in the first 15.
Run, as i mentioned was heavy. I didn't feel quite right until 30 minutes in, which is not so good, and it was mostly muscular. Possibly I need to prime the potassium pump, and get more electrolytes in at the end of the bike. couple that with more fluid and I should be better. I also need to plan a pee break in T2. This time, pee break was about 20 minutes in, and as I was walking out of the ditch, I saw a REALLY BIG GATOR. He was really big because he was about 15 yards from where I was peeing and I was still walking out of the ditch when I saw him. At that point, he looked to be 10 feet long... but on the return trip I figured he was more like 6. Adrenaline added some height to him. I would have laid down next to him to measure, but eh...not so much...
So, before my race, I need at least two more huge bricks like this one, and I likely need a couple more which are about half of this one that I can do during the week. This way I can get my nutrition down, work on my endurance, and work on my transition running. Then after the race, I can work on my speed and more on form for my next A race in October.

I shod the sheriff...

Today seems to be a good day for me to post my shoe quandaries. Last night at the YMCA tri practice we had a foot doctor answer some of our questions about feet. He talked about all the things that could happen to feet, and since you probably don't care, I wont tell you about them. I WILL tell you about what he says about shoes and running styles. Essentially, he says you should get shoes that accommodate your feet. If you have high arches, then you should get high arch support. If you have flat feet you should get shoes to help with over-pronation. If it hurts to run, then you should get shoes that make it not hurt. I asked about tri specific shoes. He mentioned that they will likely hurt your feet, and not help at all, and the drainage will not likely be a factor for anyone but the elite athletes. Also, he says barefoot running and near-barefoot running is crazy, and that running style is extremely hard to change because it is instinctual and you should get shoes to accommodate your running style, instead of changing your running style.
These are most of what I expected a foot doctor to say. I kinda feel weird disagreeing with someone about feet who does feet for a living. My contention is : try heel striking with no shoes on. You won't do it for long.... I really like my Zoots.

I also don't agree that you should wear regular shoes for training and break out your racing flats only for races. I say, practice in what you race in. If you have different shoes, mix them up. I like to wear my Zoots sometimes, and regular running shoes sometimes. I have my elastic laces in my shoes all the time, not just for races, because "Nothing new on race day". Plus I can just pull on my shoes. I am lazy like that. Who knows, because of this I may get injured, and in 5 years be a convert to the wearing shoes to accomodate my bizzarro feet, but for now, I am trying to train my body to work as close to natural as possible.

There is an arguement that "Back in cave-man days there was no concrete or asphalt." I agree. I still wear shoes. They did have hard-pack dirt, rocks, and other types of terrain that I could not even imagine like roots poking up and prickly bushes to contend with. I bet they rarely ran flat out, and if they did, they were sorry for it for days to come. They did not run flat out through cush grass or soft pine needle trails, either.

Anyway, aside from my ingrown toe-nails, and the occasional muscle soreness from super-bricks, my feet are fine, so I am going to keep on-keeping on with my current regimen. I.E. wear whatever the hell shoes i feel like. Speaking of which, I am going to get some new ones soon. These have several hundred miles on them, I am sure, and are due to be retired.

Until next time!

Weekend Training.

So, Saturday was a pretty good day at the AAA Triathlon Camp. We got to learn about aero positions and time savings, work on transition, and do some biking, as well as having a body composition analysis. Friday was a family birthday celebration for my middle son, and so the food I had in my belly for Saturday was not optimal. It seems like as I get more fit, the bad food feels worse. Steak, Guinness, and cheesecake ganged up on me and made me feel like a practice transition was harder than a full race. Lesson learned....til next time.
I feel like I was pretty savvy on the drills we did, and like I was at the top of the group as far as performance. That is pretty good if you ask me, since this tri group tends to sweep the podium at local races.
Sunday was a brick, which was not as good as it should be 6.5 weeks out from a race. 40/2. I did the 40 in just over 2 hours, which is not horrible. I think my bike time will hopefully be sub 3. That will be -10 or more minutes. 2 miles running should have felt better. I was hurtin for certain. My run was 2:49 before, and I would like to get most of my savings there. The swim will not be 'downhill' so I am probably going to have to make up some time, but my swim stroke is a bit better. We will have to wait to see what the water looks like on race day. So, essentially, I need to take a look at my run time and see if i can get better at running out of the bike. I could probably do something about these 5 minute transitions, too. More bricks are in my future for the next 6 weeks.

Sprints, AGAIN!

Y Not Tri workout last night was a timed run and sprints! Here is where I figured out that my great speed that I found lasts about 2-2.5 minutes. Unfortunately, the run was about 1.25 miles. 8 loops of the "track" (footpath around a field and bathrooms). 1st lap was 1.05, then 1.20, then it went downhill for a while until the last lap where I pushed through and did it in closer to 1.10. Then we did sprint/relay/games. We finished with capture the flag. I think it is a blast when adults can play games like kids. I also figured out that in an all out sprint, there are not many who can beat me, and my recovery is really pretty good. This being said, I think more intervals are in my future. I know that too many sprint/interval workouts will make you prone to injury, but they are also shown to improve your fitness by incorporating slow AND fast twitch muscles, increasing your VO2 Max, yadda yadda yadda. They are also supposed to be better for changing your body make-up because they get all muscles burning for a longer time. So if you don't like it then... bleh.

The big experiment

Ok, it took a week to get to the experiment, and i didn't have my video camera, but here is (roughly) how it went.

I know a guy who runs wicked fast. like 6 minute miles in a 10k fast. So when i found this entry online by Jessi Stensland, I had to try it. I think one of the main keys is having someone who can do 10mph running next to you with no effort.

So, warm-up, 6mph for a bit. no sweat, that is my pace! My friend was almost looking frustrated at the slowness of it.

Interval at 7 mph. This took a little effort for me, but was not too bad. 1 minute was a short enough time to not get pooped. then a walking rest.

Interval at 7.5mph. Still not too bad. It helped having someone go effortless right next to me. Kinda made me relax to look over and see that he was having such an easy time with it. then a walking rest.

Interval at 8 mph. Here is where my running buddy noticed that my hands were too low. I thought I had my elbows at 90 degrees, but he said they started at below 90 degrees and fell down from there. This was essentially putting on my brakes and taking way tons of energy to keep going. I decided to focus on arm position for the rest of the intervals. walking rest.

Interval at 8mph. This one was focusing on my arm position and the effort on this one was not too bad. I could tell i was going fast, but in the minute+ that i held this speed, i did not really get out of breath too bad, and was not getting overly tired. I am going to be sore tomorrow.

Interval at 8.5 mph. This seemed not so much faster than the 8. I held the speed, and with him running effortlessly next to me, I tried to be effortless too. I kept dropping my hands, and at this speed i could really tell.

Interval at 9mph. Wheee! this was fast! Elbows have to stay at above 90 degrees or I was going to fall off of the treadmill! Stay light, Stay forward, stay balanced, and keep my arms UP! Old people all around us are looking at us like we are nuts. 1.5 or so minutes at 9mph. walking rest.

Interval at 8mph. This was just to see how it felt. I have to say, this felt much easier - not as easy as 6mph, but a lot easier than 8mph would feel like before. My friend called it "resetting your easy button." True-dat.

I think that at the faster intervals i had some balance problems. Those may be core strength issues, or just that I need more practice at that speed. Either way, I need to practice and get core strength up. I also need to keep my arms bent more than I have been. This saved SO MUCH energy, I was surprised. Amazing to think that my arm position could have been keeping me slow for so long.

If you do this experiment, be careful. Treadmills are scary, and should be used with caution. Don't base your experiment on my blog, or I will have to come up with some sort of waiver of liability. Base your experiment on the link above. She is a professional.

I am going to do this for a couple more weeks in a row, to see if i can extend my faster running to a 5k distance. Then it will be time for another experiment. I am going to try this one by Gail Bernhardt

That is all for now.

still here.

I have not been posting much. Not much to say. Swim, Bike, Run. Run. Swim. Bike. Blah blah blah.

I DID get two complements in the last 24 hours from people who say I am trimming up. One from someone who spent a while looking at my butt on a bike ride, so I guess I have to believe them.

Tomorrow i am doing an experiment on running efficiency. I will fill you in on the details if it works. If it doesn't work, I will take pictures of the bruises and/or casts and/or general carnage. I hope to find some padding to either wear or set up some mats to protect us and the equipment and walls around us.

hey, maybe i will also take a video! that would be cool. I will bring the digital video thing.

Til then,

Ryan

You must give in order to receive.

Like most mornings, I woke up today logged into my computer, then looked to see if any of my favorite bloggers have posted anything last night or this morning. After reading the couple that were out there, and wondering where everyone was, I noticed that I had not posted anything since last week. So, there might be someone out there waiting for me to post something! I need to contribute so that others will enjoy my rantings, remember that they have something to contribute as well - because what I have written reminds them of a funny story - and then write something.
Workouts this past few days have been phenomenal. Saturday was a pretty tough swim with sculling drills, 5x100s at race pace, and 25y sprints. Note here that most of my swim workouts do not include any kicking. The reason is because I am saving my legs for the bike and run. I only us them when I swim 100's or less, or sprint. This was a kicking EXTRAVAGANZA!ANZA, Anza, anza. So when I got out of the pool and rode the bike into the wind at a speedy pace, my legs burned - toaster style. at the end of the track, we did sprint loops. Now the toast was burning. Easy ride back to the YMCA to regroup and we were done - Except that I had ridden to practice, and had a 7 mile ride home. Ugh! Rough day.
Sunday was long run day. I figured even though I was a little tired, I would be ok since running is different. Another note: I am not so good at running. Well, 8 miles took a long time, and I did not break any land speed records, but I got it done without walking, and I felt pretty good about it. I also was motivated by the fact that several people went 10+ miles, and lots of people were faster than I am. One of the group even got their 8 miles done in less than an hour.
Monday was YMCA practice, and it was time to punish my tired legs again. Warm-up and plyometrics to start(walking lunges kick my a$$!), then a quick jog with some dips (i finally was able to do 30, without stopping!) then came the punishment. Spinning then sprint to 3x 1 flight of stairs, then finish AFAP around and back to the bikes, where we went harder. At 3/4 through the first set the 8 mile exhaustion from Sunday came back and the last 2/3 of the drill was painfull, but I need this. This is what I need to give to receive a better time, and to look better.
This morning my body is still throbbing, and muscles are stretched and torn and repairing. This is a good day to have off, since I see workouts (some which are really tough) over the next 6 days.

good week so far!

Ok, so it is Thursday now and after my rest day on Tuesday to allow my body to move again, I picked it back up on Wednesday by going to the gym. 1+ mile running warm-up, free-weights for upper body. My arms were just getting to the point where I could make them straight again on my own. Time to punish them again. I spent the day yesterday stretching them back out to straight. I am close to good today with the whole 'haven't done curls since...1992?...' thing. Then after weights, I swam in the pool. (I almost wrote 'jumped in the pool' but that would have given you the idea that some chunky pale man in tri shorts was over in the corner of the pool jumping up and down. Gross!) Anyway, 2x 1000 with a 100 warm-up and cool-down. The pool was warm, which was weird. I zoned, but I found myself focusing on the catch, and that is a good focus. I experimented with my fingers being open and with them being closed. I envisioned grabbing a ball that was too big for me to palm, and using my hand and arm to push it down below my waist. I understand the reason now for the little 'S' in the stroke, and why it is not really an 'S' but it is because your body turns at the same time. Friday is pool day again, and Saturday I swim with the Y-Not-Tri team, so we can see whether I am wicked fast or not now. (Just so you know, I don't expect to all of a sudden be Michael Phelps, that dude is tall!)
Today was a bike day. Two of us showed, so we alternated the pull. This was cool. average speed was 19+, probably more for the ride itself since warm-up was counted in that. My legs are burnt again. It feels good - not like being burnt from running where I walk like a 100 year old man, but like someone is using my legs as junction for the power lines. Just a background humming that I imagine is causing abnormalities in your sperm. Good thing we broke them kids out of storage before I took up this sport.

catchup

Saturday - 35 mile group ride at the Y. 5 miles from the house makes it 45 miles total. It was a windy day, and the wind always seemed to be in our faces. I pulled two groups together, which was pretty tough. It meant a sustained 22-24 into the wind. I stayed up and did not go aero, since my goal was to pull people up to the next group, not blow them away. I was successful, but found that once I grouped them properly, I had no legs to pull the whole group when it was my turn, and that the people I had pulled where pretty fresh, so I ended up dropping back for a bit. All in all, I successfully burnt up my legs. I am ready to do it again next week!
Sunday - I hadn't been on a long run lately, so, long run - again at the Y. I have to say here that having a place that has regular workouts that is so close to home is awesome. I didn't realize how much time I spent driving to different locals. I will still drive to them, but it is nice to get the bulk of my long workouts done and be home by 10. 8 miles may have been pushing it for me. I had really only done 4 max since my race in September. So that is an increase of... wait for it... 100%. I should stay here for a couple weeks before I slowly ramp up again. That last mile was a doozy, and I really had to concentrate on my form. Head up, arms pumping, pelvis straight, light pitter-patter of feet.
Monday - ouch. hard to walk. my calves are way tender. 10 minute run, weight circuit, then 40 minute swim. 3 to a lane was a little crowded, but I managed. I must be getting better at swimming. Even being sore and having just done weight training, I felt pretty strong in the pool.
Monday evening - Y-Tri group. Plyometrics, 1.5 mile run, then spinning. I don't know if I should feel good or bad, but I guess I looked like I was having too easy a time, because I was asked to crank the tension two times. ouch. It is all good. I pushed as hard as I could. What doesn't make my calves explode out the back of my legs only makes me stronger, right?
Today is a rest day due to the fact that I don't want to get injured, and I need a rest day. Otherwise, I would go all "Fists of the North Star" and that would be bad.

Idle thoughts

Ok. This morning, on the way home from my ride, I noticed that I have a cassette deck in my truck. I no longer have any cassettes, but if I had them, i could totally rock out. I have a cassette shaped adapter which has a headphone dongle on the end so I could plug in my satalite radio - which i cancelled. I wonder if i should go on a hunt to find cassettes of all my favorite groups. I bet they are cheap.
I rode with two friends this morning, 25 miles, in 1 hour 7 minutes.i didn't do the lion's share of the pulling, but when i did pull, I did until my legs were toast. The last bit they were burnt toast - half chewed on by wild hyenas and peed on my a large albino gorilla - who proportionally has smaller testicles than man.
I can't believe that nobody has commented about the fact that picking scabs is one of 10 things that make me happy. That is just plain weird.
I friended someone I knew in High School recently, and he works at Microsoft as an SDET. I wonder how you really get a job at Microsoft, and then whether I would like working there as much as I like my current job - as a software QA engineer -specializing in load testing web-based applications (this is for when Microsoft does a search for themselves and sees my post - then they can comment that they are looking for a quirky, witty person just like me to not only help them out with their software, but to be on their in-house Triathlon team, not because I have posted any great times, but because I am a hard worker, am fun to be around, and have great untapped potential.
Mom just sent me information that turmeric helps with inflammation, and also prevents Melanoma from metastasizing. Ancient Chinese secret, but they published it in a natural health magazine! Those guys are not good at keeping secrets...

Nike has it right.

Since I started training to do triathlons, I have been looking online and for books that would help me to get better, and I have been looking for ways to improve my form and endurance, and strength, etc. I have the shoes, the hat, the outfit, the bike, etc. Everything I need to get-er-done. I don't have the best in class of everything, but all of my stuff is appropriate for what i am doing. I have a tri-bike, zoot shoes, and tri shorts for swimming and racing in. I have bike shorts for long rides, and lots of jerseys I have only worn once or twice.
At this point, I am not suffering because of the equipment that I do or don't have, I am suffering from No-Nike-itis. "Just Do It" needs to be consistent to my vocabulary, not just something I say in the beginning of the week, or something I make excuses for. I miss workouts because I do not "just do" them. I postpone them until I can't do them today, and I may as well not do them before tomorrow, since I have a workout scheduled tomorrow.
All this summed up is that I am frustrated at my lack of commitment, and need to do better.

10 things that make me happy.

Tagged by Running Buddy

1. Spontaneous displays of affection by Mrs. Supervision. That really brightens my day.
2. Watching the kids achieve something. - Make a basket, win a debate, show me something they made or learned.
3. Being very small - Those times when you look up or around and think to yourself - "damn, look at that! not many people get to see that!" Example: swimming at Lucky's Lake Swim, looking up at the stars and the moon, then watching the sun rise as you are swimming, seeing shafts of dawn filtered down through the water.
4. Picking scabs. Weird, I know. It just feels good to pick whatever it was that was on your skin off.
5. Post workout THROB. Knowing you worked out so hard that your muscles are singing, and going to really hurt tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and possibly even sometime next week.
6. Friends. I am making more, and the ones I have really are cool.
7. Eating. This one sucks a bit because I am trying to lose weight, but Mrs. Supervision is a really good cook, and even when she thinks a dish is not so good, it is great. Example: Breaded Chicken breast stuffed with shrimp and brie. Awesome.
8. Feeling strong. Sometimes I just feel like I could do anything.
9. Being included. I love getting invited to stuff. Even if i can't go. It means someone chose me. - having my blog followed is the same feeling.
10. Managing people and groups. I like to be responsible for multiple people, having them achieve their goals, while at the same time, having goals for the entire group and achieving them as well. I like to advocate for people and fight to get them what they want, need, or deserve. Ultimately (and eventually), I would love to coach.

There is 10 things. Notice none of them say "getting melanoma." Fer pete's sake, people, cover up! no tanning booths. SUNBLOCK

Although, I still am scabbing and picking at my last melanoma incision....

Now I have to tag 10 people? sheesh, some are going to be double tagged.

Elizabeth the Marathon Girl
Trigirlorlando
miss melanoma
kim ("teta" means "booby" in spanish
Tawnee at Tri*tawn
Krazy Kit Kat
tri-al
Terri at My Life. My Sport.
Michael @ Trilife
Ryan from Caught on the Run.

Some of you have not posted in a while, and will not likely get this because you don't follow me, but you need to post! I miss some of you!

I appreciate this post because sometimes you have to sit down and think about what makes you happy. It is more of an exercise for you, than for those who read it. Except the fact that now people know some of my secrets that are kinda disturbing...

intervals and a pffft

Last night was Y-Tri workout night, and we warmed up with 1 mile and some plyometrics like lunge walking, reverse lunge walking, karaoke run, dips, pushups,

(pause) here is where I got something in my eye.

then another little run

(pause) I tried to rinse my eye out in the bathroom to get whatever it was out, but that was not happening. My wife and son noticed as I was heading to the bathroom to clean it out, and when i came out, they told me how bad it looked, and got me a cold pack. After a couple minutes, they went to yoga, and I got me a bike and went outside for the workout.

Spinning was interesting. I had a pretty high cadence on the bike initially, and i guess i was supposed to be standing vertical for a part, instead of leaning forward, but for the most part it felt pretty good. After a few intervals of speeding up, then mashing, then sprinting, then spinning, we headed out for our first run. (less than a mile, pretty hard.) The goal here is to exercise, and get used to bike-run transition. I mid-packed it for the run.

Then we were on the stationary bikes again. spin, standup, sitdown, mash, etc. the coach mentioned that I had it to easy, so i spun the knobby thing twice and continued. standup, mash, sprint, then pretend like powering up a hill fast, then we ran again.

Here is about where my run breaks down - and where I realized this was a great drill for me. I was out of the gate last, and stayed last for the whole .6 mile run. Looking back at it, I probably could have gone faster running. I need to realize that the workouts are only 1.5 hours long, and that I really need to push it more. That would also increase my speed/cardio/mitochondrial density? etc. Note for Thursday, push harder.

Cooldown was core and stretching.

Note to self, I did 20 pushups for warmup. that is lots more than i did before. (like 2x)

Today I was going to bike on the airport loop, but one workout partner didn't have their bike, and one didn't want to go out if we didn't have a group. (I am sure that group meant that he didn't want to look at my butt the entire time... (kidding)). So, I have between now and this evening to do something. Maybe I will take a long lunch or a pre-dinner bike ride. It should be warmer by then. It was 40degrees F this am, which is pretty darn cold. BTW, this is the pffft. workout planned, but not executed.

Sunday.

Yesterday's bike was good. Really good.

6 mile warm-up riding to the Y

2 mile time trial (HR up to 167 which was as high as I could get it.)

3x9mile ride. 18-20 avg for first 9, 15-18 avg second (got a chance to chat with a guy named eric) and 18-22 for the third 9

6 mile cool down ride home.

total: 41 miles.

Today was supposed to be a run day, but i am taking a day off. I feel like the soreness and tired legs would get me into trouble, and I have a big workout week planned for this next week, so I am taking today off from a workout.

Went to see Avatar last night with the family. The images of flying are a little what I am trying to get to when i am on my bike. I strive for the glide, piercing the wind like an arrow. I get that feeling some when I am riding at 30+mph. That doesn't happen much, but it will. I had it on Thursdays ride in the wind, and yesterday for a few minutes in the time trial.

On a positive note, my ass doesn't hurt near as much today as it did last sunday, and the mileage is similar. I figure in a few more weeks, I will be able to do 50 pretty easily and then I can start getting my legs to push me faster, and also will be able to start doing a long run the day after.

Y workout

warm-up.

Run test - don't know how long it was, ran as fast as possible. 8 Laps around this little grassy thing. Kept HR at max, which was between 175 and 180.

running drills - kinda like swim drills, only running. butt kickers, knee ups, side running, form running with emphasis on pulling knee through and landing mid sole, lean knee-ups against a wall - (or some guy named todd)

pushups, situps, dips, strength plyometrics like walking lunges, side hops, backwards running, etc.

planks. (holy mother of all creation that hurt.) both sides, and middle plank.

stretching/yoga.

I think that was all of it. I am tired.

What I should be posting...

I really don't plan any time to actually post anything here. It is just a process of logging in, looking at other people's blogs, then vomiting some stuff that has happened to me lately. I really should be logging my workouts, or making cute observations, or laying my soul bare, or something...

In an attempt to be more consistent with my training, I am doing a couple of things. I joined the local YMCA tri-team. Y-Not-Tri.

They are located less than 5 miles from the house, and there are 20 or more people in the club. - At least there were at Monday's strength assessment. I am hoping to increase my Triathlon network, (maybe some of these people will work out with me.) and save money on gas and tolls because practices will be close to home.

My strength assessment sucked. Here are some reasons why. 1. I rode 45 miles on Saturday, and a "recovery" 20 miles in hills on Sunday. My legs were toast. That means my wall sit was about 2 minutes. I am overweight, and weak in the upperbody. So, that means 1.5 pullups, and 9 pushups in a minute. That is totally cool. I have a lot of improvement there.

Situps took me for a loop. I did 34 situps in a minute. I remember when I did 70+ in high-school. I think that just goes to show how far out of shape I am now. It is Thursday now, and my abs are still sore...

I rode 25 miles today in the wind. That was an awesome ride. 15-16 miles per hour going out, then 24 miles an hour going back. Then 16mph going out again, then 24+ coming back. I wanted to see how fast I could go, and hit 30mph before I had to slow down. 30mph on the flat is awesome. (even with a wind at my back).

Tonight is the run assessment at the Y. I suck at running (i mean running is my biggest obstacle), so this should be fun.

Here is the new haircut. Mrs. Supervision didn't want to go all the way bald, so we went with a #1 all over. I kinda like it. Now that I cut it this short I see lots of people with this style, (or lack of style) and it doesn't bother me. it does bother me that when light hits the sides of my hair it is light, but when it hits the tops it is dark, which gives me a halo of sorts in certain lighting. My kids mentioned that now my whiskers are longer than my hair, but since they mentioned that I will have to shave... I always shave when people mention my whiskers. They know they can get me to shave just by saying "Dad, are you growing a beard?"

On the training front, I am focusing on running. Monday I did intervals, I do not have them mapped, but since my entire run took 40 min for 4 miles, and I alternated running fast and walking, I would estimate the running portion to be sub 8 minute miles. Wednesday was a solid 10 minute mile tempo run.

Now that my incisions from the melanoma have mostly healed, I think I can start getting back into the pool. Now I just need to find a lane that is heated and not filled with New Years resolutionists.

It is quite cold out (32F) and so I am going to have to set up the trainer for the bike for a couple weeks. I was really hoping to get outside, but that is going to have to wait until the weekend when I can start a little later in the day when the temp is closer to 50F degrees.

So that is it in a nutshell. I am mostly healed and ready to go. Gulf Coast Tri is in 17 weeks. I gotta get my volume up and start working on that run. Since Augusta was 6.5 hours, I am going for sub 6 at gulf coast. I think that the courses are both easy, and the 10 minute benefit I got from swimming downstream in Augusta should be made up in at least 10 minutes gained on the flat bike course. The run for GCT is flat as the one in Augusta so hopefully overall fitness and improved running efficiency should get me 30+ minutes - hopefully. We will see. My parents got me a digital video recorder for Christmas, so maybe I can make some video to post too.