Drills and hills…

So having set myself up with the target of pool yardage and bike mileage it is only fair that I report on my progress…blogging etc tends to keep you honest that way!

My week shook out pretty well, I was in the pool at 5:00 Tuesday, a mile later I got out. Thursday should have been the same but the fly in the ointment was my wife having a last minute trip to San Francisco which stopped me from hitting the pool in the morning so I dashed over at lunchtime for a quick 1000 yards. 2750 done total so far! Most of my swimming is continuous and with a Pull Buoy I am having issues with heavy legs which I am trying to address but I am doing drills to help my glide and catch and other swimming jargon that, like the water, is going over my head! A friend has offered to watch some video of me and suggested I take some lessons to reset the basics that I know. I have bumped into another swimmer at the pool several times who shares the penchant for the early mornings and they have given me several pointers which have helped as well. So come Saturday I was left with 2250 and that was always going to be a stretch. I managed 2000 yards Saturday morning so I ended the week with 4750; close but no cigar!

Heavy legs sinking down and apparently straight arms is a big no no too!

The bike was a bit easier and I set myself up on the trainer three mornings and one evening riding three Sufferfest rides and also a CycleFilm DVD which are all on sale now! Check them out here! By the time the weekend rolled around I was left with 59 miles to make my goal of 125.  As is the usual modus operandi, this would mean an early start on Sunday morning so a good 4 hour ride would not eat into to too much of the day. I was out the door and in the saddle by 7:00am a little later than planed and it was freezing, layers of Pearl Izumi Thermals barely kept the cold at bay and the only break I got allowed my to remove my long fingered gloves and uncover my ears…that’s it!

Pacific Coast Highway…a favorite for cyclists, can’t think why, the view is terrible!

The plan was to ride through one of the canyons to Pacific Coast Highway head north and then sweep around and back home, this would leave a long hard climb around the 50 mile mark, I have only ridden it once well over a year ago and with a triple!

The ride was uneventful, the way I like them and the climb proved a challenge to say the least but I huffed and puffed up it and was very happy to get to the top with no dabbing…or flipping over backwards!

Totals for the week then:

• 4750 yards in the pool
• 131 miles on the bike
• 10 miles ran…a couple of little jaunts!

One week done…four to go!

Swim, Bike and Clif Bar winner

All thing considered this was a quiet week…my legs found there way back to normal form around Wednesday after last weeks 50k. I avoided my running shoes and spent some time in the pool; 4000 yards and on the bike 51 miles (only one ride though), my climbing was steady but I need to work on my confidence descending and more importantly I need to get more miles on my Tri bike.

Still it was a pretty good lead into next week and in fact every week between now and the end of the year. I am aiming for 5000 yards in the pool and 125 miles on the bike a week to take me into Tri Training proper…I am still reviewing plans and trying to formulate my whole 2012 strategy but seeing as my weak area is the swim followed by the bike I think this is a sensible course of action, that and the fact that I have pretty much been on a running plan for the last 6 months and my legs need a rest.

I have also mapped out my 2012 races, my critical A race entries are secured; Vineman 70.3 and Ironman AZ and as it stands I have roughly a race every 60 days…but more on that later!

In other news Thomas is the winner of the Clif Bar giveaway, 4 tweets and blog comment gave him 5 out of a possible 6 entries so the odds were in his favor, congrats!

Weekends are for shopping right…

Got me some of these…

Ordered up one of these…

Unpacked this which has been under my bed for 6 months…

Oh and snagged one of these too, ex-demo <100 miles -$800 discount = no brainer…

In case you’re wondering; yes it does have these…

Oh dear what have I done…

Week end and weekend shenanigans!

Well another weekend is almost in the bag and I started Week 3 of training yesterday. I seem to have screwed up Week 2 and not put in enough mileage, I was about 4 miles short but the miles I did put in were pretty solid and it’s a 20+ week program so I am not losing any sleep over it (see below)! Seven days of training is not something I am used to even at the reduced volumes and I am sitting here with tired legs…it’s been a long time since I have has that feeling and it feels pretty good! Here’s the SportTracks summary for the week, some data is missing, there’s no HR info for the elliptical or swimming.

As you can see there is lots of Zone 2 work; 43% of the week in Z2 and 39% in Z1, this means lot’s of slow controlled miles, so controlled that I walking during runs in places where I would typically run through, it’s insanely frustrating but I know that it will pay off in the long run…pun intended.

This weekend I hit my local trails, but ran out of time, the downside of the walking! 8 was on schedule, I made just over 6 in 1:22, that’s a 13:12 minute mile. I am going to need to factor in more time rather than more miles. Here’s the elevation overlaid on my HR, can you see the walk breaks!

Still the question is, was the juice worth the squeeze…well I think so, this trail system is not huge, but it’s literally 2 miles from my house! Hard to believe that I live in LA right!

I also wrapped up the photos for the Salomon XT Wings hydration vest, review to follow shortly. It’s a bit of an odd fellow…but I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet. Talking of pack reviews the folks at Wilderness Running Company have really stepped up; I received three hydration systems this week from them!

Today I hit the pool again, I am alternating Sunday’s cross training between the bike and the pool and I swam my fastest mile ever 52:49, yeah I know…but I’ll take it! I have some new goggles, these things totally rock, I put them on and I take them off an hour later, zero leakage…awesome!

I’ve felt for the last couple of days that I am coming down with something but I am doing my best to shake it off. Getting 40 hours of sleep Mon – Fri last week was nigh on impossible, especially when you’re up at 5am! But I did get more than I usually do and I do feel better for it, better mentally too, a bit more chilled! I kept a log of sorts and averaged just under 7 hours per night, so this week I am going to try it again and see.

As mentioned I am bracketing out the hydration options and here they are, it’s all subjective but it makes it a bit more interesting, I need two more to fill out the brackets (I decided to leave out Clip2 as it is specifically for 6 hour + events). if you have any suggestions let me know…I am never ashamed to beg for samples and so I present the competitors. There will be an accompanying Google Doc which outlines the criteria for evaluation as well as the nutritional info etc, I am just finishing that off.

So it’s another week and much like the mercury is heading of late …upwards and onward as they say!

0.95238095238 mile per hour!

Well I would hate anyone to think that I was inaccurate! So you’re probably wondering what the hell is this, Stuart’s gone (more) bonkers! Well that was my speed to swim a mile, yes a mile, I swam a mile, that’s 1609 meters, 64 laps! Can you tell I am excited! It took me 1:02 and change, I would have had a more accurate time but my watch died; when I got home no less!

Let me let you into a secret though…so I had this dangling toe nail, trust me it bought hang-nail to a whole new level! Every time I kicked I could feel it pulling on its last vestiges of skin, then after the 22^nd lap it stopped mostly, at lap 28 it stopped altogether and I looked and it was, yep, gone! Hooray! It’s been hanging on for a week at least! Then on the next lap I saw it lying at the bottom of the pool, no probs I thought I’ll pick it up when I have finished. After the last lap I went to pick it up and, oh the horror, it wasn’t my toenail it was just a mark oh the tiles…ooops, sorry Mr Pool Cleaner!

Pun overload!

There’s a scene in Friends where Chandler is overwhelmed by the jokes he could make about Joey. I felt he same way about the post title…so I chickened out. Tonight I joined a gym, Gold’s Gym…can you see what I mean! It was kinda weird watching people all exercising in a row, I’ve not been in a gym in over three years!

Now there’s a rationale here, it goes something like this. My pool closed..for renovation work…for a month! All is not lost, here’s the dealio, it actually costs in to join the gym, by my math, I am actually $40 a year better off as long as I go at least once a week and I get free sunbeds…err hello Southern California, but that is a third of a pair of running shoes!

There are a couple of side benefits I can work on general leg strength and it’s half a mile from my house; can you smell brick training. Obviously the main advantage and appeal was its pool; (who thought I would ever Ever EVER say that!) which while not very wide; 3 lanes! Is a bit too hot; 83f, is, I am assured, underused, two other swimmers tonight followed by class; one of two a week. So I managed to get in a quick for me 750 meters (820 yds) before I had to go but did manage to cover it 15 minutes faster than I could a scant 5 weeks ago! Progress indeed!

There is still a few hours to vote in the Haiku Gu contest…but it does look like a Frayed Laces sweep, I hope some of her followers stick around and follow me!

Windmills in the water!

Another Friday night another trip to the pool. I managed to get there in good time this evening and didn't have the need to rush off early. I was hoping to get in 1200 meters for a 2000 meter week.

I've been swimming a lot of breast stroke; it's comfy but I need to move out my comfort zone and get on the freestyle wagon so without the time crunch I could spend some time practicing.

I also took my camera which has a pretty decent video camera and with a big enough SD card can just be left to run, I tucked it under my towel just to remove temptation and just left it recording. Unfortunately it did a great job of focusing very sharply on a leaf just in front of it and not much else, everything beyond that is blurred! That being said I was able to see how bad my form is, I was sharing the lane and the recording shows me, by comparison to my more efficient lane sharers, waving my arms like a windmill; very uneconomical. I managed the 1200 meters, so just under 2200 yards for the week. The learning curve continues...

Don't forget if you're interested in entering the draw for some Chocolate #9, add a comment to my previous post.

Night Swimming!

Well I wasn’t expecting that! I had totally forgotten that it would be dark when I got to the pool. I was late getting out of work, caught by the door for an impromptu discussion on change management that lasted 30 minutes. As you can see it was dark and foggy; thick marine layer had rolled in from the ocean. The thermometer in my car said 64f; it wasn’t that cold, in fact the water temperature was warmer than the air temperature.

My knee (it's not actually my knee but you know what I mean) felt better with a wider range of motion; I feel like I am really in the closing stages of recovery. The recovery seems to have accelerated over the last week or so, fingers crossed it continues. I am going to give it another two weeks minimum before I lace up my shoes; just to be on the safe side.

I only managed 800 meters, I’ll do more on Friday; I’d like to do 2000 meters this week.

Going off at the deep end!

So today I went swimming, told you I was going to! Of course I happened to have picked one of the coldest, windiest days we’ve had in months; outdoor pool! That worked in my favor as I actually had a lane all to myself and once I was in it was pretty much ok as long as I kept going. I got a bit over excited at one point and overbent my knee so now I am sat here with an Ace tube on it, it’s swollen a bit…another lesson learned the hard way!

I checked out some YouTube Videos last night, this one I thought was pretty good and helped me visualize what I need to be doing; remembering the ‘rotation’ helped today. I didn’t go mad, and swam about 800 meters, to be honest I lost count but I was at it for about 40 minutes, easing myself into it until getting all over cocky and bending my leg too far!

On the suggestion of JD and few other people I ordered this book and DVD from Amazon, thank goodness for used, much as I like kit $40.00 for a 30 minute DVD seemed a little steep so a used ‘new; unopened’ one for $12.00 was a bargain along with a ‘used; like new’ book for $5.00.

I am thinking about a swimcap…everyone seemed to have one, maybe for warmth? I think my wife has one from her tri kicking about somewhere, maybe I’ll snag that and see.

I have to say all in all I enjoyed it and so other than the knee thing so far so good, I am aiming to go again on Friday...yeah the next thing'll be webbed feet!