Fart Licks and Wetsuits

First of all, I know that isn't how you spell Fartleks, but I thouht it was funnier looking like that.  It translates to Speed Play from Sweedish, and I also know that the workout described below is not a fartlek but intervals, again it was funnier this way.  

So I decided that I wanted to try and improve my 5k time, dramatically.  Everything I've read or heard says the best way to do this is to train like a miler.  Run short really fast intervals as part of your normal training and your speed should increase.

I did some research, read some articles, and found a 12 week program I like.  I can get 6 weeks of it in before the Tri and the remainder done before Bix.  The first workout was 8 sets of 200m with a 100m rest in between.  The research told me to pick a goal pace for my 5k (I picked 20 minutes) calculate the 400m split from that pace (96seconds) and subtract 8 seconds from that (88 seconds).  Use that as your desired pace for all workouts.

So I went to the track last night to do my 8 sprints at a 44 second pace.  I was shocked and amazed, apparently over a short distance, I'm fairly quick still.  I finished all 8 sprints in 38 seconds or less.  Now this was the first workout and was supposed to be easy but I couldn't believe how quickly I was finishing them.

The 44 seconds corresponds to a 5:52 pace which seemed really reasonable.  The 38 seconds corresponds to a 5:04 pace, which seems ridiculously fast.  I'm going to keep the 44 second pace and work on running slower to match that pace. 

Next week it increases to 8x300m with a 100m rest and progresses all the way up to a 2000m at the 5:52 pace.  As the distances increase the sets decrease so the total distance stays pretty similar.    The 5:52 pace is a full minute per mile faster than my last 5k and would put me finishing in the 18:12 range.  That is completely out of the realm of possibility as far as I'm concerned, but I think it makes breaking 20 minutes very reasonable. 

I'm doing the speed work 2 days a week with tempo run in between and a long distance endurance run at the end of the week.  Wish me luck!

In other news, I've started considering a wetsuit for the Triathlon.  The wetsuit will provide a little bit of warmth, will make me a little more buoyant, and shouldn't cost me much in transition time.  I think it will leave me with a little extra energy for the bike and run, however, the $40 price tag to rent one doesn't seem all that beneficial, and the cost to buy one 80-150 seems ridiculous if I'm only going to use it once.   I've got a week or two to think about it, but if anyone has a triathlon specific wet suit they aren't using and would like to loan/rent it to me let me know.  I'm 5'8" 170pounds with a 38" chest. 

If anyone has any thoughts and/or opinions on the wet suit or advice on the speed training please let me know.

River Run 2010

I ran the river run in 21:33.  My goal was 21:45 so I made my goal, the weather was a little cold and windy but it didn't really effect the race or the course.  The biggest detriment was running in a sweatshirt and wind pants.  I started out really fast.  My first mile was 6:15, and I knew I couldn't keep that pace up, but during that mile I had identified another guy that was running step for step with me. 

I stayed with him as best I could he distanced me in the first part of mile 2 but I caught him on the big downhill at the end of mile two.  I ran the 2nd mile in about 7:30  Once we got to the flat of mile 3 he put some distance between us and finished about 30 seconds in from of me.  But he was a driving force of me making my goal time so a special shout out to you, Mr. Yellow Bandana Man.  I rant he last 1.1miles in about 7:45 which is about a 7 minute mile pace. 

This was a good start to the competitive season I'm entering.  I shaved 3 minutes off my total time from a year ago.  I finished 14 out of 62 in my age group and 66th out of 365 males.  Much better than a year ago.  I hope this success carries forward all through September.

This is my last week of the base phase of my tri training and next Monday I start the race phase of my training.  Its 4 weeks of bricks, time trails, and long swims to get ready for the competition.  I'm gonna make another push to lose some weight through these 6 weeks leading up to the race to get down close to 168 pounds for my race.  I think carrying 10 less pounds for the race should really help my times.  Hope you all have a great week.

More of the same

Last weeks training was very similar to the weeks before, this yard work thing is killing me!   We should have all the yard work taken care of by the end of this week and by that I mean the beginning of the year stuff, plant beds weeded, mulch put down, fertilizer spread, holes filled in, patch kits put down, all that good stuff. 

On top of all that I have a very busy weekend.  Our Corporation Board meeting is Saturday at 10am in Iowa City, and on Sunday morning at 9am is my FIRST RACE of 2010.  That's right, River Run is finally here, and my competitions can begin.  This is perfect timing, I've been on the same training schedule for 6.5 weeks and its starting to get a little boring, this should mix it up, then its 1 more week of this training and then on to the last 4 weeks of bricks and training for the triathlon.

After the Tri its Bix training along with RAGBRAI training, should be a nice change of pace, plus it looks to save me money since the RAGBRAI training is going to be me biking to and from work at least 2 days a week.  Its 20 miles one way to work :)  

As for River Run, I have set my goal at 21:45.  That's a 7 min/mile pace.  I really hope race day adrenaline kicks in and I can run a 6:40 min/mile pace, I've been able to do the 7:00 pace on my own on my training runs so I think the adrenaline is worth 20 seconds per mile.  Wish me luck!

Balancing Life

So this weekend was a lesson in balancing life and training.  Friday I got a call that Shawn was in the Quad Cities for meetings, instantly my mind turned to Buffalo Wild Wings, since Shawn is my trigger for binge eating.  Friday is my long days for workouts though, so I had to get in a run (5k in 21:50), a bike (30 minutes on the bike path at about 18.7mph) and a swim 35 minutes at the Y doing drills, plus get showered and to BWW before Shawn finished his meetings.  I made it and then gorged on 24oz Miller lite, Grilled Chicken Buffalitos in spicy garlic sauce, 8 boneless wings in Hot Sauce, and a regular order of buffalo chips with cheese.  The best part was even after this feast I had 375 calories left for the day.

Saturday was another lesson, the nice weather means that there are chores to do outside as well as inside.  Lisa and I headed to Lowes and HyVee to get our shopping taken care of.  We finished that and started on the yard work.  We mowed the yard, unpacked the shed, fed the birds, and put patch kits down in our bare spots in the yard, planted annuals in our hanging baskets on the backside of the house, installed new solar powered path lights, and filled in holes with top soil.  I made a 2nd trip back to Lowes (isn't there always at least a 2nd trip), to get the things we forget/realized we needed.  By the time we were through most of our list it was late I decided to put my bike ride off until Sunday.  We grilled burgers and brats instead. 

Then we started a fire in the fire pit and hung out in the back yard making smores until the fire had died down.  We did have some unexpected entertainment as a bunch of high school kids thought it would be fun to have an impromtu get together at the elementary school just through our backyard.  It got really, the cops were called and we got to watch the kids running away out into the neighborhoods. 

Sunday was more of the same.  I got up early and went for a 6 mile(45min) run.  Then we started on our outdoor list again.  As I got to the shed one of the cables on the door had broken, so it took another trip to Lowes and a couple hours to get it straightened out.  We picked up a couple more patch kits and finished up that part of the yard.  Then I tried out our new electric edger, it worked wonders and the yard looks much better.  We finished the day off with 3 loads of laundry and 2 episodes of Fringe.  In between I did a 60 minute ride of almost 18 miles on the bike path.  The weather was perfect for it. 

We bought Zelda a harness and a leash on Saturday while we were out running errands.  We took her out on Sunday morning for about 10 minutes she was pretty freaked out most of the time but she seemed to relax a little bit.  Hopefully we can get her comfortable going out so we can help her get a little more exercise, she needs to lose 2-3 pounds to be a little healthier.

So this weekend I learned that you have to be flexible in your training schedule when life and chores come to call.  I still got great workouts in, we still got a lot done on our to-do list.  This week is going to be busy, we need to deep clean the house, keep working on wedding planning, and do some more yard work (weeding and putting down mulch).  Can't wait for next Saturday so I can sleep in again.

Long Overdue

It has come to my attention that I have been severely lacking in my blog posts over the last couple weeks.  I apologize to all of you who use this blog as a distraction and/or a way to stalk me :) 

My training has been in kind of a lull the last few weeks, it started with my trip to Omaha for the NCAA wrestling finals.  The wrestling took up more time than I had anticipated so my workouts weren't as intense or as often as I wanted.  That was followed up by the a week leading into my Roto League Fantasy Auction draft.

I had never done an auction baseball draft before and so I spent a little extra time preparing for it.   I made it through that and was hit by the week of Easter.  We spent Thurs night through Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee.   Needless to say its hard to be in a routine when your routine is changing.  That being said I did get some good workouts in.

The week of the draft I was able to get all my workouts in leading up to the draft, I swapped my sunday workout for my saturday workout and missed my 60 min bike ride on the day of the draft.  I had every intention of riding when I got home, but the temp dropped a good 20 degrees on our way back from Iowa City and it was just too cold to ride. 

The weekend of Easter I took my swimming and biking stuff to Milwaukee.  I got 2 really good rides in.  There are some nice roads just off Lisa's parent's cul-de-sac.  The loop was a 5 mile loop and had some small hills, little traffic, and few stop signs.  Plus most of it had extra space so even when there were cars they had a whole lane to go around me. 

I ran this loop on Saturday for my long run of the week.  I had a really good run, ran it in about 7:20 pace.  It was a fun weekend, we got to go to a Brewers vs. Tigers exhibition game at Miller Park.  I had my first cheese fry in a helmet and 2 stadium hot dogs.  It finally feels like spring!!! 

This week has seen a good return to my routine, however I missed my lifting workout on Monday instead I went to the Filling Station (great wings) for a heart attack platter and opening day baseball.  The HAP comes with 6 wings and a serving of fries smothered in colby jack cheese with bacon bits and ranch to dip it in.  After the Cubs got utterly destroyed we went back home to take a nap and watch the instant classic that was the NCAA championship basketball game between Butler and Duke. 

I've got 3 weeks to lose the 5 pounds I've gained over the last month, too much eating out, not enough working out, before the River Run.  As I've said before my goal for this is a 21:45 which is 7 min/mile pace.   I'm hoping race day adrenaline helps me push that pace up to a 6:40 which would have me finishing in .  I've put together a play list that is exactly 20:38 long which corresponds to a 6:40 pace. 

My summer is filling up even more, trips for weddings, competitions, trips for fun, bachelor parties, the wedding is going to be here before I know and we still have a lot of little things to finish up.  EEK!!!   Hope you all have had a great month in my absence, and I'll be trying to post a little bit more regularly now.