Digging deep...the mental over physical battle

Today brought in a 120 minute run.  The run was broke down into:

• 30 minutes at LRP-8:40-9:10
• 2x12 minutes at HMP - 7:03 with 5 minute at LRP in between the two
• 40 minutes at LRP
• 15 minutes at MP - 7:20
• then 5 minutes light jogging or walking

It was going to be a mental/physical battle from step one.  I was still feeling the effects of over pushing the bike yesterday and the brick run.  Just felt fatigued.  When I got out of bed all the thoughts were negative....like damn I have a two hour run today.  Poured a few cups of coffee, kissed my wife goodbye and wished her a great day at work and off I went.

First 5 minutes were really tough, lets were tight, hamstrings were pulling and my itb's were screaming at their neighbor the hamstrings cause they were so tight therefore making the ITB's work harder.  They just were not playing nice today with each other.  So I stopped for a minute, stretched, choked out the ITB's with my straps and off we went.  I finished strong and tired therefore knowing I put a good workout in.

Towards the end when I had to speed back up for the MP I was not happy and was hurting.  I thought to myself well all my training partners that are using this plan are all in the same boat and this is nothing like the pain will be on 9/11 so I fought through the physical part and just carried on a conversation with my brain and we got through it just fine.  

Ended the day with 15.3 miles.  Then sat in the hot tub and drank a liter of water.  Rest of the day will stretch a few times and take a nap.

Have a great day.  

Burn the back tire off today!!!!

It is funny what a little bit of rest and hydration can do for a person.  I will be the first to admit I went a little overboard on the bike and really paid the price on the run afterwards.  Weather was foggy, ugly and humid.  Very wet ride.

BIKE WORKOUT WAS:
WU: 10-15' Easy, then 3 x 1' (1') Hard/z4/100% to open up your legs.
MS:

• 8' (3') @ FTP/z4-5
• 10' (3') @ FTP/z4-5
• 12' (3') @ FTP/z4-5
• 2 x [8' (2') @ FTP/z4-5]
• Remainder of session at 75-80%

WD: 5' Easy
I nailed those FTP's to the wall

• 8 minute FTP was at an IF of 1.079 and Power of 249, speed 21.4 mph
• 10 min FTP was at an IF of 1.035 and Power 239, Speed 23.7 mph
• 12 min FTP was at an IF of 1.014 and Power 234, Speed 22.7 mph
• 8 min FTP was at an IF of 1.042 and Power 241, Speed 23.5 mph
• 8 min FTP was at an IF of 1.01 and Power 233, Speed 20.5 mph

Entire Bike workout numbers below
Entire workout :Duration: 1:35:11
Work: 1045 kJ
TSS: 129 (intensity factor 0.904)
Norm Power: 209
VI: 1.14
Pw:HR: 7.3%
Pa:HR: -1.99%
Distance: 31.227 mi
Elevation Gain: 484 ft
Elevation Loss: 495 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-12 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 421 183 watts
Heart Rate: 71 170 146 bpm
Cadence: 30 153 83 rpm
Speed: 0 31.7 19.6 mph
Pace 1:54 0:00 3:03 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 21 6 lb-in
Altitude: 689 875 806 ft
Crank Torque: 0 644 184 lb-in
Temperature: 69.8 77 70.2 Fahrenheit

We then had a 40 minute brick to follow the bike workout.
First 20 minutes were to be at LRP = ~ 9:10 pace.  We had a hard time staying at that pace but tried to force ourselves to...close but no cigar. 
Next 20 minutes we concentrated on a negative split with sprint work.  Hit the negative split but nowhere close to what we are use to.  Again if your run is bad it is the bike unless you can prove otherwise.....Prime example is above.
Overall pace was:

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Split	Hour:Minute:Second Time	Miles Distance	Minutes per Mile Avg Pace
Summary	00:38:24
1	00:08:40	1.00	08:40
2	00:08:56	1.00	08:56
3	00:08:22	1.00	08:22
4	00:07:46	1.00	07:46
5	00:04:38	0.58	07:58

Tuesday, July 5, 2011....Swim

Today was a swim that included speed and endurance again.  3000 yards total and all felt well.  Then worked on the core and stretched.

Tomorrow brings in a 90 min bike with LOTS of FTP work followed by a 40 minute brick run with HMP built in to it.  Looks to be beautiful in Iowa tomorrow.

Thursday is long run # 3 of the 12 weeks plan and it is 120 minutes (2 hours).  Looks to be a lot of work built in...30 minute easy pace, then 2x12 minutes at HMP with 5 minutes in between the two at EP.  Then 40 minutes at EP, followed by 15 minutes at MP.  Remainder of time jogging.  The run seems to be coming along well.

I have ran 16 stand alone marathons with my best being 3:12 but never ran one coming off of a 112 mile bike ride so this is a new experience.  The brick runs so far to date have felt comfortable.

Goal is to keep my TSS under 270 on the bike therefore leaving me some muscular glucose for the run.

This Saturday is my first Big Day of this 12 week plan.  It consists of:

• 1 hour swim-concentrating all on endrance
• 4 hour bike concentrating on riding at Ironman Intensity.  Going to try and ride at .75
• 1 hour run or 6 miles whichever comes first.  1st 30 minutes at LRP and then remainder of the run is to get a negative split.  Will try and run it at my MP.

Closing blog today with a pre bday wish to my beautiful wife who turns 40 tomorrow.  Love you and can't wait to see your face when you open your gifts.

Week 3 of 12....The march to Madison Continues

Today started out with a nice swim but only 2500 yards.  Worked on 50 and 100 yard ladders for sprints then at the end added some endurance work.  100's today were landing on 1:25 so still making minute improvements.  I am there with the endurance for me the correction has to be in my stroke but I don't want to change things now with only 9 weeks of training left.  2.4 miles are looking to be around 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Would like to see it a little faster but with 2200 other swimmers starting at the same time you never know what will happen.

Run today was 60 minutes and included 3 x 1 mile repeats.  Not the fastest in the world today but hung on for 6:40's.  Not to shabby after a fun evening of jack, wine, and beer.  Yep, mixed em all and got away with it.  Felt great this am.

Right knee was bugging me in the pool.  Noticed during my kicks.  That again is the right ITB.  It gets tight in the hip first and makes its way down to the knee.  Will be working on the tight hamstrings and ITB all week.  Will consist of stretching, icing, tennis ball and a massage.  If no better might to a little ultrasound with my friends at Altoona Physical Therapy.  Also noticing a ball by my right shoulder blade.....Noticed yesterday on the bike even though I was comfortable in the aero position for 99% of the ride. 

Well happy Independence Day to you all.

Little piece of Jamaica here....My wife and I in Negril, Jamaica.  Pics following us renewing our wedding vows after 10 years.

Happy birthday to one of my great friends Shane A. Grego.....39 years young today.

Oh hills----Heaven or hell ......

Well a training partner and I rode from Altoona to P-Hill, through Runnells, and onto Monroe.  I did nothing but constant switching of gears for 3 plus hours.  I can say without a doubt that I have rode to date the hilliest course for me.  Hoping it is close to Wisc.  I have heard it matches the hills but the course is more technical meaning lots of turns on the down hill.  So will need to learn the lay out of the course.

I did a lot of stopping, turning around, and playing catch up today so my VI was not pretty.  That is the first thing I need to workon.  I split the 3 plus hours out in 30 minute intervals to see how I was doing.  My goal is to ride Wisc around .78-.79 but I still have 2 race rehearsals to do to fiqure out the exact number.

Overall the ride felt like a 6/10 today.  Bilateral ITB's still bugging me and that for some reason makes me feel a little weaker and over worked.  Temp was around 75 degrees, 88% humidity with a dew point of 71.  Wind calm.

So for the week bike numbers came in at = 171 miles, weekend alone accounted for 140 of them.
Running numbers for the week = 38 miles
Swimming numbers for the week = 11,500 yards

BIKE NUMBERS

Duration: 3:06
Work: 1927 kJ
TSS: 192.5 (intensity factor 0.778)
Norm Power: 180
VI: 1.1
Distance: 60.74 mi
Elevation Gain: 2602 ft
Elevation Loss: 2642 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-35 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 393 164 watts
Cadence: 32 246 85 rpm
Speed: 0 39.1 18.5 mph


Up coming week is a test week for me to include swim, bike ftp, and run vDOT.
Happy 4th of July weekend all.  Be safe but enjoy!!!!

OUCH!!!!

Well here is what the bike ride brought me today, first the facts then the numbers:

• Two different new skin colors :)
• Lots of sun, heat, and humidity
• One bruised taint
• A lot of pulling over at the side of the road and screaming cause I hurt so Damn bad
• Myself thinking to myself, "Carl, seriously WTF is wrong with you.  I had to start riding cause I was about to start carrrying on a conversation with myself.
• Redwing black birds swooping down and pecking the helment.
• A stop in Colfax at the truck stop for sunscreen.  All they has was SPF 15 but it worked.  I could feel myself frying out there.  I put some on before leaving home but i could feel the bald head sizzling under the bike helment.
• Oh yea me pulling over and screaming again and again how bad I hurt

Bike numbers:

Interval 1:
Duration: 14:35
Work: 195 kJ
TSS: 22.9 (intensity factor 0.972)
Norm Power: 224
VI: 1.01
Distance: 5.809 mi
Elevation Gain: 100 ft
Elevation Loss: 93 ft
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 322 223 watts
Cadence: 63 119 87 rpm
Speed: 16.3 30.9 23.8 mph
Pace 1:56 3:40 2:31 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 10 6 lb-in
Altitude: 936 991 970 ft
Crank Torque: 0 316 218 lb-in
Temperature: 78.8 78.8 78.8 Fahrenheit


Interval 2:
Duration: 12:30
Work: 169 kJ
TSS: 20 (intensity factor 0.979)
Norm Power: 226
VI: 1
Distance: 5.086 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 350 226 watts
Cadence: 49 123 86 rpm
Speed: 9.3 33.1 24.4 mph
Pace 1:49 6:26 2:28 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 14 6 lb-in
Altitude: 918 995 961 ft
Crank Torque: 0 371 223 lb-in
Temperature: 78.8 80.6 80.0 Fahrenheit

ENTIRE WORKOUT

Entire workout Duration: 4:00:58 
Work: 2249 kJ TSS: 216 (intensity factor 0.744)
Norm Power: 172
VI: 1.1
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a Distance: 76.205 mi
Elevation Gain: 1889 ft
Elevation Loss: 1711 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (180 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 350 156 watts
Cadence: 30 225 83 rpm
Speed: 0 36.4 18.7 mph
Pace 1:39 0:00 3:13 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 34 6 lb-in
Altitude: 788 1012 923 ft
Crank Torque: 0 775 159 lb-in Temperature: 75.2 93.2 83.8 Fahrenheit


Today was the first day in this entire season I was thinking WTF!!!!  I truly need a couple of days completely off the rest and heal.  I keep telling myself that but feel like if I miss a day i am screwed.  That is hard to explain but trust me it is like an obsessive compulsive issue with me.


Well ITS MY FREAKING BDAY!!!!!!!  I am going to go pick up mu little ones and hang out with them and do things they like.....Swimming and shopping for mommies bday :)

Thursday, June 30, 2011....Long run # 2 done

Well on the backside of a 48 hour shift here at the fire department.  Not a bad night a few trauma's here and there and got to see Engine 4 a couple of times.

Up at 0315 for some coffee and pre run snack.  Then to the treadmill I ventured.  Today brought a long run and it actually went better than expected. 

Total time was 1:50 and that brought me 14.4 miles.  Hit all paces but really struggled with the last 15 min MP so I broke it into three 5 minute intervals with 1 min of EP and nailed them. 

There will be some serious stretching and rolling today to get me ready for the 4 hour bike with FTP's and a brick run on Friday.

On another note my race weight for 9/11/11 is 145.  Currently handing around 153-155.  Can't seem to eat enought by metabolism is out of control.  Lots of protein today after yesterday's day/night of crap.

Have a great day.