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Yamuna Body Rolling – Better than Foam Rolling?
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Thinking about Ironman, and help for a great cause.
The political season is over! Finally, the earful of negative spouting and cursing from each candidate is finished and our communities can get back to the business of living and of course, working out.
I have an affinity for doing my best thinking in the shower. I know, kind of weird right. It must be because there is nothing in there except the overwhelming peace of the hot water being sprayed all over….uh…..well, you know what I mean. (At least I hope.) Anyway, I was trying to figure out how can I possibly complete all of my workouts for Ironman without it obsessively impacting my life as it did last year. I am still having an issue with it, but I think I figured it out to a point. I know I have three workouts in each event, plus 3 strength workouts, and hopefully 1 yoga class per week. Here is what I have so far:
Monday – Interval Swim, Strength
Tuesday – Tempo Swim, Interval Bike (2-a-day)
Wednesday – Interval Run, Strength
Thursday – Tempo Run, Tempo Bike (2-a-day)
Friday – Long Swim (as recovery)
Saturday – Long Bike ( Subst. Bricks), Yoga
Sunday – Long Run, Strength (Subst. Swim Bricks)
As you can see if I can pull this off then I only have two nights a week where I have 2-a-days and they are bike workouts and can be completed in front of the TV using commercials for intervals. Saturday will still be long workouts, but Sundays should be done by late morning. It works out within my groups as well, since Wednesday morning is track with Coach Dror, my interval workout, Thursday, I have been running with Jackie and crew since they do their easy runs which is tempo for me, and the weekends will continue to be long bike workouts and bricks with the A-Train. I am also contemplating swim workouts on Monday and Tuesday possibly being at the University of Tampa and their masters program which may provide some instruction, but mainly accountability.
I really do not have to start all of this until January if I decide to do Ironman Louisville, or March if I decide to compete only in Ironman Florida, but it has been rattling around inside my brain because I really want to perform much better this time. I am planning on pushing my body to its limits at IMFL and to find out what I really can do, and that is going to take planning, commitment, desire, passion, but most of intelligence. It is going to take smarts to know when and how to recover which is not something I have been all to familiar with.
I am not sure whom is all reading my blog but for those of you whom are not followers of Sneakers & Fingerpaints, or Crazy Running Girl, there is a virtual run campaign for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. I donated my 7.5 mile PR this morning, and I hope you will help as well.
The American Red Cross is still taking donations to help the Hurricane Sandy victims from this past weekend. Also, now not only are they recovering from that storm and rebuilding, but they are awaiting a snow storm on their door step. To Donate, click here. Any amount, big or small, can make a big difference!
Crazy Running Girl did a post on a Virtual Run to help the victims of Sandy.
With a minimum donation of $10, you can go to the link above to register to run in the month of November – there are also prizes to be won as well & all proceeds would go to the American Red Cross too! Nothing like a great, virtual run, for a great cause!
Carpe Viam!!
The Nutty No-Excuse Goof
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| The line to register for IMFL 2013 |
To coin a bad phrase; “Oops, I did it again.” I signed up for Ironman Florida for 2013. The energy of Ironman is intoxicating and if you have any ambitions of competing in one you have to go and either spectate or volunteer. You will either be so overwhelmed that you end up scared out of your mind, or you become so energized you sign up the next day. I again had no intention of signing up. I was planning on doing another Ironman, but I was thinking another location like Arizona, but between Pete, Jaime, Kat, Stan, Tom, Ken, Chuck, Todd, (and probably a few others I am missing), I couldn’t help but think how much fun it would be. I basically trained mostly on my own for my Ironman in 2011, but this time it will probably be a lot more fun.
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| Anne, Marai and I after they both crossed the Finish Line |
What also helped was volunteering the day before and getting to be right there for my friends and watch them compete. Anne, Marai, Eve, Summer, Kat, David, Rick, Iron Rick, Mary-Ellen, Carola and Jessica all did amazing. A few of them with PRs if not for the IM distance but for this course. I was so honored to be able to sneak in and put Anne’s Medal around her neck. It seemed to mean a lot to her, and it meant a great deal for me as well. It also helped to be there when Mirinda “Rinny” Carfrae ran past me and I cheered for her through the bull horn I was yelling through for gear bag numbers. To be so close to someone with her talent is so inspiring. She took 2nd and locked up her spot for Kona 2013, so I imagine her off-season will be nice and relaxing now that she is engaged.
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| Mirinda “Rinny” Carfrae as she zipped by me |
Being that last year my goal was to do an Ironman, and I accomplished it. This year, I may have to up the ante by adding Ironman Louisville to the list to make this the year of two Ironman distance races. I am still not quite decided yet as there are logistics that have to be worked out, but I have heard good things about Louisville and because it is in the heat of August and is not the most popular Ironman, the registration stays open longer. This allows me a little bit of time. (Of course, I just put out a chunk of money for both the IMFL race and the deposit on the rental for next year, so I need a couple more weeks to save to pay for it.)
I feel like I am stronger than last year and I am definitely faster on the bike and run. The swim still has a lot to be desired, so my focus on the off season will be a lot more swimming. I am setting up my goals for next year.
The Goals
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| The Three of us…again. |
Swim: 90 minutes or less (Aim: 1:15) – 1:15 – 1:30
Bike: Avg 20 mph or higher (Aim 21.5 mph) – 5:15 – 5:40
Run: Avg 9 min/miiles or less (Aim: 8:00) – 3:45 – 4:00
Transitions: 5 min or less – 10:00
Total: 10:40 – 11:20
The Plan:
Swim: 3x Week (Drills + Intervals, Tempo, Long)
Bike: 3x Week (Intervals, Tempo, Long)
Run: 3x Week (Speed, Tempo, Long)
The Periodization Cycle:Strength: 3x Week (Heavy, Supersets, Endurance)
Yoga/Stretch: 2x per week (possibly more in Recovery Weeks)
To include A LOT of BRICKS!!!
2 Week – Base (Low Intensity, High Duration)
2 Week – Build (Med Intensity, Med Duration)
1 Week – Peak (High Intensity, Low Duration)
1 Week – Recovery (Low Intensity, Low Duration)
I decided last night to put my own plan together with the help of a bunch of resources to include what worked for me over the last year. I will definitely be building in weekend workouts with the A-Train and speed workouts with Progressive, but besides that, if anyone wants to work out with me during the week, you are more than welcome.
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| The Goof’ On-Duty |
I wanted to put this out there to not only give a glimpse into what goes on inside a goofy brain like mine but also to make myself accountable. I hope to continue to blog about this new journey and while I am learning and experiencing I may be able to bring an ounce of motivational inspiration to anyone whom thought doing an Ironman was beyond their reach, because let’s face it; if I can do it, anyone can do it.
CARPE VIAM!
(Seize the Way! or Seize the Road)
Miles For Hope
Saturday started the perfect day. There is nothing better then a nice long bike ride with a group of not only excellent triathletes but amazing and supportive people. A few of us are on our way to Augusta, Georgia next week for an Ironman 70.3, so we took the speed a little more conservatively, which allowed me to get to know a few people a little better.
As much as I enjoy riding hard and challenging myself, there is just something really cool, about the somewhat more aerobic rides like this one. There is more of a chance to check out the local scenery, watch the sunrise, and notice stores and unique businesses I wouldn’t normally notice, but I digress.
Miles for Hope is an event, that includes runs and rides in the support of a cure for brain tumors. The event started extremely well organized. Pete and I rolled up to a somewhat full parking lot, gabbed with a couple of friends and headed over to get our bibs and t-shirts which took all of thirty seconds. Afterwards, we had the chance to catch up with some of our group and gather everyone together at the start line. Here is where the organization wasn’t as clear as it could have been. We took off and about half-a-mile into the ride there a roundabout with a cop pointing left and arrows pointing right. Of course our group split, with half going one way and the rest in the opposite direction. Not a huge deal, a quick look at the map and we realized our mistake, but unfortunately, we didn’t catch up to a portion of the group until the halfway point.
Other than that, the ride was fantastic. The weather started in the mid 70s and didn’t rise higher than the mid 80s. The wind was slight, the company was great and no one really fell behind or ended up lost, which was probably due to the herding skills of Pete and Nick.
We ended up averaging a little over 18 MPH which was very comfortable. During an interesting conversation I had with Nick during the last twenty miles an amazing realization came over us. A year and a half ago, 18 MPH for 62 miles would have been a hard ride for us. Now we are coasting, talking and just having a great time. The lesson; keep riding, running, swimming and progress will be made. Of course we will see just how much this next weekend at Ironman Augusta.
It wasn’t completely without challenges. Pete, and I tried to chase Nick down, unsuccessfully over the 3 bridges of Clearwater, so kudos to Nick. He has gained a inordinate amount of strength this year, of course he has worked his butt off so he deserves it.
We all decided to do this because of Pete more or less. His mother is affected by a brain tumor and with everything he has been through this last year, we all wanted to support him, not to mention he is just a great guy and everyone loves him. There is not a lot I wouldn’t do for him myself and am really proud to call him one of my good friends.
We all came through the line comfortably and feeling pretty confident about next week. There was food, live music and of course beer. Beth and I went straight for the Coke which is fast becoming my recovery drink of choice. Not the best choice but it seems to working for me better than Gatorade ever did. After some great conversation, meeting up with some other riders and some pics it was time to hit the road home. For such a great ride it was actually kind of uneventful, but maybe that’s why it was so great.
