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.