February 2005 Archives

I kind of lost track of where I was last week. I realized that trying to keep myself aligned with the book was wrong. I was confusing myself. So, I'm correcting it right now. This completes week four. I know that because it's been four weeks since I started training in earnest. The first recovery week went well. I feel the body has recovered a bit, and I'm ready to continue to ramp up the effort. Unfortunately, this week is setting up to be a bit crazy at work, with night meetings, and a night in Milwaukee. I'm arranging several things to make it all work. I have a feeling something will get missed. Let's hope it doesn't, but it's not the end of the world if it does. One thing I have noticed is my hydration. I've been a big fan of water, but as nutritional as it is, I don't think that's cutting it. I drank a lot of water today, and ending up in the bathroom a lot, only to find myself rather dehydrated later tonight, wanting more. I have to look into it, but my theory is that I'm not getting enough electrolytes (sodium, potassium, or chloride), from my diet and/or hydration. I'm going to try some hydration supplement tablets when they come, but maybe I'll get some Gatorade in the mean time.

Oh yeah, here's the latest graphs.

Swimming takes a mental attitude unlike any other sport. Workouts are developed through the combinations of varying distances, strokes, and efforts. The variations are technically endless, but time, talent, and fitness limit what can be achieved in a workout. Overall, your start exactly at the same end of the pool you started. Throw in the fact that you can't socialize with teammates during the workout and the entire time is spent starting at the bottom of the pool, following a line black tiles capped at either end with a T, back and forth, back and forth. Then there's the gear. Suits that cling to your body don't leave much to the imagination. As I said, swimmers have a different mental attitude.

However, the satisfaction gained when completing a difficult workout goes a long way to overcome all that. I had such a workout this morning. It was a solid, tough effort, nothing special. It was that much better because it was a Friday morning, after basketball game last night and biking yesterday morning, and knowing that I have a run tonight and a long bike and run over the weekend. Past Friday morning swims have been pretty hurtful because of all the other workouts. This morning started differently. I felt strong through the warm up sets. It continued through the main set. But there' I started doubting if I could finish the 400-for-time I had planned at the end. I let excuses creep into my head, "The pool's getting crowded, I'll just cut it to a 200 and let someone else use the lane." And sure enough, just before the planned 400, my lane mate climbs out and two kids climb in, clearly not meeting the "fast" requirement of Lane 5. I stewed over what I should do for a couple of minutes, catching my breath and heart rate. Then I decided just to do it. I warned the kids that I'd be swimming around them and set off. Four minutes, forty-five seconds later I touched the wall, quite tired but tremendously pleased with the effort.

Here's the 2,850 yard workout:

• 3x200 on 3:00
• 4x75 Build Each on 1:20
• 4x:
  • 200 Free on 3:00 (held 2:20)
  • 100 IM on 1:40 (held 1:15)
  • 50 EZ on 1:00
• 400 for time (4:45 - 1:06/1:10/1:13/1:16)
• 150 Warm Down

I don't think it came across in my last update what shape my body was in. With the extra running from the Valentine's Day 5K, my hours pushed from 6.5 in the second week to almost 7.5 last week. (Neither include basketball games on Thursday nights.) Not quite the gentle progression I had planned. As a result, Monday was filled with some gentle reminders of the previous work. Rather than continue to build to 8 hours this week, I decided to pull back and rest, shooting for only six hours and let things recover.

And my body has responded. As of this morning, the 2.5 hours of working out this week have been easy and comfortable. I'm relaxed and the effects from all the running have gone away. I will continue with a four-week pattern of increasing workout time over three weeks, and then recovering for the fourth.

I continue to learn the complicated process of feeding my body. According to my book, I'm supposed to consume approximately 510 grams of carbs a day. A far cry from my South Beach Days. There's a complex world of carbs, protein, endurance drinks, supplements, hydration supplements, etc. that I'm just starting to realize play the most important role in my training in addition to race day performance. I'm really diving in and enjoying the swim.

Notice that I've added some ads to the bottom of the page (see them on the workout page). Google seems to be expanding their AdSense program, so I thought I'd try my hand at raising a few extra dollars. Please click on some. All proceeds go toward my race entry fees and race support. Thanks.

And that completes Week 2. Technically, it's my third week of training in earnest, in the sixth week of the year. Keep all of that in mind when viewing the current training log. (pdf) It's more than what was originally planned with the Valentine's Day 5K on Saturday. It was a great day to run. By the time it started, it was 42° and sunny. Beth was in town and ran it with us. I finished in 24:44, averaging just under 8 minutes per mile. Not too bad. I've got another 5K in four weeks. We'll see what another month can do.

I did the long bike after the 5K on Saturday, completing the hour and a half at a really easy pace watching Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. I did the long run on Sunday indoors, as the rain and high winds weren't too run-friendly. It was my longest continuous run, and I finished half of a half-marathon (just over six miles) in the allotted hour. I thought I'd be sore after all the activity, but this morning had nothing to really complain about.

This week, I'm going to scale back to about six hours, and rest. The following week will notch it back up to about 8 hours and I'll continue to build for three weeks, with a rest week during the fourth.

Week 1+ is in the books. It's Week 1+ because it was more than Week 1, but less than Week 2 in terms of training hours.

This week, I had longer swims to make sure I swam for an hour at a time. The run is the most surprising stat. I continue to improve. In the first week of 2005, I averaged more than 11 minutes per mile. This past week, I averaged 9:17 per mile, a drop of nearly two minutes per mile. The bike has followed suit, but isn't nearly as dramatic: 4:29 to 4:18. This could be due to the trainer as well as a leisurely bike outside on Saturday. Either way, everything is clicking and I'm psyched to keep going.

Next week (Week 2) marks the official 30-week countdown until Ironman Wisconsin. The long ride is 1:30 and the run is for an hour; my longest yet. There's also a Valentine's Day 5K on Saturday that Kris and I are doing together. I plan on doing it in addition to everything else.

Bonus: In addition to these posts, I'll be uploading a summary PDF of my training log.