Keeping it rolling ...

Out of bed at 4:45am, quick breakfast of OJ and low-fat yogurt, and rolling by about 5:20am. I've noticed that hopping out of bed and getting right on the bike never really gives my legs time to wake up, and this morning was no exception, so the first 45 minutes or so was a struggle to get juice to the legs. I finally felt like I could put a steady effort together about an hour to 1:15 into the workout. (I was probably also still a bit fatigued from the overload on the legs, what with strength training on Monday and the long run on Tuesday, not to mention the tough main set from the long ride on Sunday). There's nothing like having two hours of training under your belt before you even get to work.

At noon, I pulled myself together for a half hour run. I intended it to be an easy run, but I drifted up to about a 7:50/mile pace with an average HR of about 145. I'm obviously still feeling the effects of all the work these poor legs have endured over the past four days.

I'm about to head out to the gym for an arms, shoulders, core strength session. Should make tomorrow's 90 minute swim fun. :)

Gotta love a good swim session!

Patricia had a power focus in store for me today. After a 500yd warmup (including the 4x25 pull set), she gave me 4x500 pull as #1 - full gear (pads, buoy, band), #2 - pads and buoy, #3 - 10x50 buoy only, descend 1-5 and 6-10, and #4 - buoy only. She followed this with 5x200 freestyle, with the first 100 of each 200 fast and the second easy as active recovery.

This was a great workout. I really let go mentally and just did the work without thinking too much. The 500's were tough (and I'm pretty sure I did some extra 50's in there in the first two sets), but rewarding. The 10x50 descending was tough but rewarding, as well, and I started to feel like I'm reaping some of the benefit of the band-only 25's. The easy 50's were around :47-48, and #5 and #10 were both about :39-40 (which is about as fast as I could do a 50 swimming last year).

The 200's were all about a 3:15 arrival, which isn't bad considering that I really took the easy 100's easy. I got out of the pool pretty wiped and needed a nap mid afternoon, but it was a great feeling to follow up a tough run last night with such a solid swim this afternoon.

Never work the legs at the gym the day before a long run ...

Given the soreness I felt just walking down the stairs at home all day today, I debated bagging the run tonight, or at least shortening it. In the end, though, I just decided to take it out and see how I felt.

Right away, I could feel the fatigue. Keeping the turnover up was difficult, and my heart rate was up higher than usual for the pace I was maintaining. After about 10-15 minutes, however, I loosened up and decided to keep rolling. Unfortunately, that only lasted for about an hour. On the return portion of the run loop, my hip flexors, quads, hams, and IT band began to ache. By the end of the run, I felt almost like I was back at mile 20 at the Cal International marathon ... not good.

I made it home, though, and took some long, slow stretches and some easy massaging. I'm looking forward to getting in the pool tomorrow. I just hope there's not too much kicking planned.

The tough workouts keep coming ...

Legs still tired from yesterday's ride, I had a swim and a legs/core strength session on the books today.

The masters swim was a good one, though exhausting. On the advice of Rich Thornton, one of the coaches, I've added a set of 25yd pulls with a band only immediately following the warmup. This is how the Aussie swimmers train, and it definitely takes some power as the legs just tend to drop. Today's focus was on non-free strokes, and the main set (shortened a bit for me) was 4x(4x75), in reverse IM order (free, breast, back, fly). The 75's were done as kick/pull/swim by 25. The breaststroke set worked me over since I'm not that efficient, and I put on fins for the fly (and skipped the pull, instead just doing 50 swim after the kick). After a set of 4x200 to finish up, I could barely pull myself out of the pool. (I love swim workouts that leave me completely worn out.)

I debated dropping the legs/core strength session (or at least postponing it) due to the lingering fatigue from the bike ride, and to get more recovery time in before the long run scheduled tomorrow, but in the end I decided to go for it. In retrospect, I probably hit it too hard, especially in the glute/quad work. We'll have to wait and see how I feel on the run tomorrow ...

Long Ride

Anticipating afternoon showers, Amy gave me permission to ride in the middle of the morning, usually reserved for family time. I wasn't sure what weather to expect, so I bundled up (and ended up stripping off my jacket sleeves on the fly, feeling like a roleur).

I rode the standard loop to Sycamore Valley, out Camino Tassajara and Highlands to Livermore, Greenville/Vasco to Tesla, then back to Pleasanton via Isabel and Valley, and home via Santa Rita to Owens/BART and up Dougherty. The bike computer tallied the ride at 50.8 miles, but MapQuest has it at about 51.5. Riding time was 2:44:57, for an average speed of 18.7mph.

I added some structure to the ride, too. Starting at about an hour in, I inserted about 45 minutes of continuous intervals: about 90s each of standing about 60rpm, time-trial (TT) at about 90-95rpm, and TT in a big gear at about 60rpm. This was a tough workout, painful in the quads at times, and even though I finished out the ride at a solid, steady pace, I doubt I could have gone much further. That main set is definitely a keeper.

Taking up the challenge ...

As many of you already know, on June 26th, I will toe the line at the Ironman Coeur d'Alene triathlon. In preparation over the next 17 weeks, I'll be logging somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 training hours, comprising around 2000 miles of cycling, 500 miles of running, and about 180,000 yards of swimming (about 7200 laps and over 100 miles). It's a privilege for me to be able to do that, though, and in acknowledgement of my good fortune, I've decided to raise money for Children's Hospital Oakland. This is a way for me to express my gratitude and, hopefully, do something that can really make a meaningful impact for people less fortunate than I am.

I've hung my virtual shingle through the Janus Charity Challenge and the Active.com network at http://www.active.com/donate/imidaho/tri4cho. I'm hoping to raise $10,000 by race day. Please visit the page and make a donation, since every little bit will help, no matter how small. I will also be organizing events around the community to help raise awareness and generate donations, including sponsored evenings at local Baja Fresh restaurants and Starbucks coffee shops, a fundraising event with a silent auction featuring products and services from community shops, and perhaps even a poker tournament. Stay tuned for more details!