Blogging at 30,000 Feet

Yesterday, got in a short swim at the JWM pool, chilly water temps in the low 70's. Post swim, stretched and got in a 3 mile run on the treadmill. Started with a 9/mile then got down to a 6:15/mile and felt really really good. Interesting that I noticed that I was over pronating with my left foot, which is the cause of itb issues....so I am going to focus on this and get it corrected, while I strengthen hips,gluts, etc. After all those miles, still learning.....

This am went for a walk along Biscayne Bay and then used the foam roller on the ITB. This afternoon did hill repeats to prep for the hills of STX, minus the heat. Long week, headed to the club for a nice dinner and then getting 8 hours of sleep, a first this week.....

Tomorrow hopefully will get in a long ride and a 3 mile run....Need at least a 3 hour workout....Cheers!

Miami Work Out......

Got up at 5:30AM today to hit the 19th floor gym at the JW Marriott in Miami. A great work out facility. Got in a 3 mile run, felt fine, not IT band problems. Worked the foam roller on the IT bands and got a very good strength training session in as well. Quads, Hamstrings, Abductors and Core. Would like to get in a swim tonight..but it's been a very long day with lawyers on the 31st floor. Good views of Brickell Bay. Makes me want to go on Spring Break....Today!

Back to reality...going to grab a light dinner and then get a swim and run in the morning......

Hit 24HR Fitness last night. Got in 3 miles at a 8:45/mile pace. Stretched and no issues with the IT band.

Got in a solid core workout along with hips, calves, quads and hamstrings.

Need to stick with the plan. Unfortunately I'm headed to Miami and it'll be challenging to get in any biking till Friday. So I'm going to need to find a pool, a glut machine, foam roller and some weights.

The beat goes on...

After a solid bike ride in rainy cold and ugly weather, I managed to get in a solid 45 minute strength training session at Prairie Life on Saturday.

I've been methodically stretching and strengthening my IT bands, quads, calves, hamstrings and hips/gluts.

Nursing a sore right shoulder that only gets worse when I swim. So yesterday I swam 1,500M at an average pace of 2:20/100M. When I swam 2.4 miles in Australia IM my average pace was 1:48/100M. While I don't expect to get to that level for IM 70.3 STX I need to be at 2:00/100M. This pace will deliver a 42 minute swim time for 1.2 mile swim. Guessing that I'll end up with a 42-45 minute swim time due to the fact that I won't swim in a straight line and secondly, no wetsuits are allowed in this race.....

On my usual Monday morning flight to Denver. Have a busy day planned but will make it to 24HR Fitness for strength training and a 2-3 mile run.

On Tuesday I'll be back in the water and on the bike. I need to get in more time on the bike. Really need to get in a 56 mile ride this weekend. Hoping that the weather cooperates.

The rest of March and April are focused on IM STX and strengthening my legs/core. Post STX I will have about 112 days till the Leadville Trail 100 and 106 days till the LT100 bike.

Plenty of training ahead...............

A Cold & Rainy day.......

Great training day in middle tn. Couldn't feel my feet 3/4 way through my ride. Rode a negative split today....40 out and 35 minutes back...that was strong....in the big ring the whole time. As I stood in the shower post ride it took a solid 10 minutes before the blood started flowing back to my feet.

Later this afternoon I made it to the gym to get in my strength training,,,core, calves...quads,,,,,gluts.....hips.....and hamstrings....a great work out. Working on getting my IT bands rehabbed....so far so good....no running since Monday.

Tomorrow planning on swimming like a fish for 1.5 hours....we'll see. Anyways a long day....hitting the rack......cheers!

PT

So Far ..... So Good

No running since Monday trail run up at Green Mountain. Spent an hour on Thursday am at 24hr Fitness working on rolling out the IT band, core, hamstrings, quads, hips/gluts and calves. My plan is to focus on hips/gluts strength training before any serious running. I plan on doing 2 miles on the treadmill a few days a week, but focus will remain on pool, bike and strength.

Yesterday I got in a solid 1:50 hour bike ride in 15MPH winds. Rode about 35 miles. 100% of the ride was in the big ring, just like three previous rides. The goal of the big ring is to build strength to ride the climbs in STX with power and handle the significant headwinds that we'll be facing on the west to east 15 mile stretch of the isle. Endurance is not an issue for me, so getting tuned up for this course requires a tailored approach to training. The one factor that I have not yet trained up for yet is the heat/temp conditions. Temps brought me down in Australia and i certainly will not let this happen again. The good news is that altitude simulates the effects of heat so I should be ok, especially if I prepare with heat as well.

Specifically need to train 30 days out by taking in at least 30 oz of fluids, enduro's, aminos, sustained energy and heed so while on the 2:50 hour bike ride in STX my gastro is prepared for the increase in fluids and nutrients. In Australia I was not prepared and it caused major cramping and reduced me to a walk when I increased fluids and nutrients. Body simply was not trained for this increase. Also, will need to focus running on speed not endurance, lots of sprints and 2-3 mile runs at 6 min/mile pace or better while doing a 10 mile interval......

Today is a raining, windy, shitty cold day here in middle tn.....so that means....a great day to train. It'll be a tough ride in these conditions..but there simply is no substitute for riding in nasty conditions. Most triathletes ever consider weather on race day...I'm hoping for 4-5 foot waves, rain and then heat on the run.....we'll get to see you is prepared mentally :)

Well, going to suit up and go for a ride.......

Cheers!


PT

What's in your head...in your head... zombie, zombie, zombie...e..e..e.?????

So I get up at 4:45AM today to hit 24HR Fitness for a 30 minute swim and 1 hour spin class. Swim was fine, need to get stronger in the water. The spin class was pretty intense. For those people that go to spin classes understand that it's what you put in is what you get out of it. Today i decided that i wanted to push hard for the entire hour....this meant keeping my HR above 140-145 the entire time.

At 6AM, post swim, one needs to find something to focus on that will motivate you to push yourself to the upper limits. Today my zombie was the young bull. For one hour I simply envisioned that I was chasing the young bull in STX on the bike and I could see him and had to push hard to catch him. The lady next to me probably thought that I was a whack job as I muttered for an hour "catch his ass!!" ...."I'm going to catch you!!!". My quads and lungs burned while my HR reached around 155, which is pretty much red line for me. I left a puddle around my bike this am...definitely the sign of a good work out.

Post work out I did strength training exercises on my gluts and hips along with core, calves and quads. A good day..... Hitting the rack and going to chase down the young bull again tomorrow. I will catch him......

Cheers!