Training is picking up

Yesterday, I blogged about my first full run workout that I did Wednesday (45 minute run with two 1.5 mile intervals).  Last night, I stuck with my training plan and got on my bike for 60 minutes (2 x 10 minute intervals in zone 4-5 with the rest of the ride in zone 3).  So that's two days I've stuck with the plan, which is my new out season record, but again, I'm going to dwell on the positive and see it as a good thing.  Now, if I can be sure to get my bike AND run in Saturday (75 minute bike ride followed by 20 minute run) and my workout in Sunday, I'll have done REALLY well this week.  Funny thing, my run workout wasn't that long, but I can really feel it.  I guess taking 2 months off after my 1/2 marathon wasn't the best idea in the world (although I do feel fairly recharged).

First (full) Running workout

I'm still in the out out season (week 3), which means I haven't actually started to ramp up my training.  That's good, because at this point, I don't feel like I've really committed.  It's disappointing because in the past, I've been really good at putting my workouts on the calender and working them in.  So that's the negative.

The positive ... yesterday I completed my first full running workout, so I choose to dwell on the positive rather than the negative.  Yesterday's workout involved a 45 minute run with two 1.5 mile intervals with my heart rate in zone 4 with four minutes of easy jogging as "rest" in between each interval.  In terms of pace, each 1.5 mile interval ended up being about a 7:15/mile pace ... slower than I would like, but better than it could have been had I not trained for the 1/2 marathon.  I hope to have these workouts below 7 minute miles.  Still, I felt good about getting it done (after work no less), and hope that this will put me on the road to serious training going forward.  NO MORE EXCUSES!

Note: I can't find the dock for my Garmin, which means (1) I can't share the run at this point (I'll add it when / if I find the dock), (2) I can't upload workouts to my watch (bad), and (2) I can't charge my watch (worst!).  Guess I know what I'll be doing tonight when I get home. 

Two bike workouts this week

This past week, I did two bike workouts.  Not close to the workouts I was supposed to be doing, but just getting back on the bike is a big accomplishment.  What makes it even worse is that most of my bike workouts are going to be on my indoor trainer, which I really don't enjoy.  Perhaps my favorite part of riding my bike (and triathlon training in general) is riding my bike outside and feeling the wind and sun on my face.  Riding in your own living room (but going nowhere, which for the record makes me sweat like a whore in church because of the lack of breeze) is quite possibly the most boring thing I can imagine.  Music is helpful, but I'm thinking I might actually have to start watching movies / the news / sports.  At least I won't feel guilty doing it.

Anyway, the two workouts I did were essentially the same rides, but the second time just added a little more intensity.  The links are below.  My goal this week is to hit more of my workouts (so I need to hit the road today and get my run in!).

Here is my ride from Saturday (cut about 20 minutes short because of a time crunch - but at least I got the main set in). It was supposed to be a 60 minute ride in Zone 3, but with two 8-minute intervals in zone 4.



And here is yesterday's ride - same as Saturday, but with an extra 8 minute interval in Zone 4 (so three 8 minute intervals in Zone 4).


So what am I noticing?  The big thing is that my pedal strokes are not as smooth as they used to be.  I need to focus on that, because when I do, I notice I'm much more efficient on the bike (i.e., I can pedal faster at a lower heart rate).  That takes me to observation #2 - I also need to focus on getting my average pedal cadence in the 90s at least (i.e., at least 90 rotations per minute) ... 100s would be fantastic, but if I can maintain that, I might want to consider professional cycling.  If you click on "view details," you can look at all of my statistics and see that my average cadence for these rides was in the 80s -- I'd like to get that higher.  So I guess I'll start looking online / reading up on how to increase my pedal cadence.  My guess is I will do it by doing rides in easy gears, but maintaining a high cadence to get my legs used to the higher cadence, but I'll look around to try and find out from someone more knowledgeable than I am.

Bike LTHR Test

To kick of my out season training, I did a 40 minute lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR) test on my indoor cycle trainer.  The test is 40 minutes at "race pace" on my trainer.  After the 40 minutes, I checked my average heart rate during the 40 minute test (using my Garmin Forerunner 305), and used that as my LTHR for biking (it was 160 BPM, by the way).  All of my heart rate zones are now based on that average.

Specifically, my heart rate zones for biking are now:
Zone 1:  < 130 bpm
Zone 2:   130 - 143 bpm
Zone 3:   144 - 149 bpm
Zone 4:   150 - 159 bpm
Zone 5:   >159


Now to start implementing these HR Zones into my training!

Developing a Plan

Training for an Ironman is not going to be an easy feat ... I'm sure of that.  One thing I know for sure is that to have any chance of success, I'm going to need a plan.  Luckily, I have a friend who provided me with a copy of the plan he used to train for his Ironman two seasons ago.  The main program is a 20 week program, with another 20 week off-season plan.  I have plenty of time for the regular season plan, which would start at the first of April, but I really need to get started on my off-season plan.  So over the last few nights, I've been mapping out the weeks on my calendar until the triathlon so I know what week I'm in, and now its time to go in and put my actual workouts into the calendar as well.

I've used Training Peaks (www.trainingpeaks.com) in the past to track my workouts, but unless you upgrade to a premium membership (close to $100 for the year), you can't input workouts into the calendar until the day of the workout.  Essentially that means unless I'm willing to pay $100, I can't put a "plan" into Training Peaks, but instead can only input / download workouts (from my Garmin 305 Forerunner) after they are complete.  This doesn't help me much, however, because I find that I am most successful when I have a calendar that I can look at the day before and plan my workout for the next day.  And the truth is that I don't need anything fancy ... putting them into a separate calendar (my "training" calendar in iCal) is good enough to keep me on track.  So I'm not sure I'll be upgrading my Training Peaks membership (although I'll certainly still use it to download my workouts).

So, with that said, tonight I will probably go start inputting my workouts into iCal for at least the next two weeks so that I can look at them, but more importantly DO THEM.

Midlife Crisis?!

Well, I might be having a midlife crisis, but a few months ago, after doing triathlons for the last five years, I signed up for an Ironman ... Ironman Louisville to be exact ... which will take place on August 26, 2012.  So the good news is that I have some time to get ready, but the bad news is that I feel like I'm already behind the curve.  I spent a good part of the fall running, and felt very good about it (I completed the Thanksgiving day 1/2 marathon in 1:38, which was about 7 minutes faster than my goal), but I have been slacking since then.  So today, I'm deciding that it is time to get off my butt and start training!

If you don't know, an Ironman is a triathlon (Swim, Bike, Run) event that consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 mile run.  That is right, the grueling event ends with a marathon (did I mention I have never done a marathon before, so this will be my first).  So why on earth would I decide to do this?  Well, ever since starting to compete in triathlons, I have always been in awe of the athletes that can train for and complete this grueling event.  I knew that someday, I wanted to be one of those athletes.  I did a 1/2 Ironman in 2009 (exactly 1/2 the above-listed distances) and although it felt great, I felt somehow that I had come up short.  I knew right then that I was going to have to do an Ironman at some point in my life (call it the number one thing on my bucket list right now).

So why now?  Well, this year (2012), I am turning 40!  In addition to realizing I'm not getting any younger, there are a number of things that have happened in my life this past year, and rather than dwell on the negatives of them, I decided to take advantage of the positive aspects of those changes and by channeling my energy into training for an Ironman.  So a few months ago, after trying unsuccessfully to sign up for Ironman Florida (which was my first choice because of the lack of hills), I turned right around and signed up for Ironman Louisville!  In many ways, I've been told its a better event, but I was really looking forward to a nice flat course ... guess that isn't going to happen.

Anyway, now that I've signed up, I really need to get training.  So what's the point of this blog?  Really, it's just to document the ups and downs of struggling through months of training for a very daunting event.  I know just as much as this will be physically challenging for me, it will also be mentally challenging, and I'm looking forward to the personal growth and insight into myself that will (hopefully) come out of it.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, so for anyone who takes the time to read this blog, I hope you'll leave words of encouragement from time to time, and please feel free to ask questions.  Although this isn't my first triathlon, it is my first Ironman, so I'll be learning a lot on the way, and hope to share it with you, whether you are interested in trying an Ironman or just interested in hearing about it.

Until next time...