Feelin' Good

Had a good few days of workouts Thurs thru Sunday night - highlighted by a 4hr, 75m ride on Saturday.

Met the MRC boys bright and early Saturday with and early 0500 roll-out from Bolton. Steve Kimball, Dave Corso, Gary Sclar and I warm-up while heading to Stow to meet up with Gary David, Chris (last name ? - but LOTS of power in his Clyde’s frame) and another gent who's name escapes me = all MRC riders.

We did two loops of Stow with the plan of 2x20 @100% and 5x15 at 85% FTP. In the end we hit the 2x20 but only managed 4x15. I felt good and knew I didn't have time to run off the bike so I pretty much bagged the 85% for more like 90-100%. Legs felt real good - and felt fine the rest of the day, so I don't think I over did it. Wanted to run in the afternoon but instead enjoy a nice 90 minute ride on my lawn mower (it looks as green as Fenway this time of year). Just wish I had a beer and cigar for the ride.

Ended the weekend at 8pm last night with a 3.5 mile run at 7:06 pace (7:18, 6:42 on purpose, 7:17, 7:07 last 1/2m). The day was jammed packed with family stuff, little league and with the 0330 wake-up call on Saturday I knew I needed to sleep in. So after LL I got home and went right out for a run. The legs felt great at first (as did the breathing) for the first 2-2.5 mls, then the fatigued a bit. To be expected I guess but overall happy with it. Knew the hammy and hip were there but kept everything under control. Still need to get the run going though with Mooseman International less than 3 weeks away - not sure what the run looks like but it's in NH so I will expect there to be at least some "rollers".

Shoulda swam this morning but got to bed too late - will try and sneak it in tonight.

Safe training everyone!

2nd post in one day - outta control!

OK, let's not get carried away. Plus, I started Tweeting a couple weeks ago... to keep up with a couple other tri-friends and their trainings. But I draw the line at Facebook. Some things are better off left alone... don't need anyone poking me or finding me that I don't want to find me, ya know...

So after my 3k swim this morning I planned to run at lunch. But that work-thing got in the way again, so I headed home at 6p with the intention of drinking coffee and hitting the trainer after the ruckus died down (BTW, the flu is having a field day in this house so don't breath too hard while reading or you might catch something).

Started to get a little late as I had to run out and buy a b-day card and cake for the little lady for tomorrow (she already bought her present with some custom made drapes for the family room a while back - I don't even want to know the kind of tri bike I coulda had for the cost of those things... ugh!).

So at about 10pm I jumped on the trainer and watched the end of the Bruins as I hammered out a nice 90 minute spin. Glad to have gotten it done and will now NOT beat myself up if I don't wake at 0430 tomorrow to train. Instead will run at lunch (I damn well hope - friggin work).

Number for the ride:
20' wu 58% FTP (a little too low)
MS 1x60' 78% FTP (in the grey zone - gotta keep at 80-85%)
10' cd 56% FTP (little low again)
= overall it coulda been better... but then again I coulda been asleep in bed as well.
Doing something was better than nothing tonight.

G'night!

Time to get back to work (originally entitled "Slacker" until I noticed that title recently being used)

Slacker - more for my ineptitude in keeping this blog-baby going than for my training --- that actually has been good to very good at times over the past 2 months since my last (real) post; it has also seen some down time and troubles...

In true TRI fashion let me quickly summarize what’s been happening since early March ( quick summary cuz I don’t type fast at all!)

SWIM
Ok, so I decided not to continue with the Tony Sufferfests in Dedham on Saturdays this spring – reason being, I need the early Saturdays for a long bike. I can accomplish a great 3 hr ride Saturday morning in the time it would take me to drive to Dedham, have a great swim workout then drive home. With 4 kids, 3 of which have their many weekend sports activities – if I don’t get the work done by 9am I usually don’t get it done – period. So I decided to commit myself to hitting the pool M/W/F on my own (god help me to get there and push it). Started out strong, then had a set back with my wife’s travel schedule – but after a 3000yd swim this morning, and feeling pretty good through it, I am once again excited to be in the pool.
(I will rejoin some masters’ program after the season for sure!)

BIKE
Most improvement and joy in this discipline. I didn’t hit the roads until mid April cuz I hate the cold! But with the addition of my PowerTap and some training programs/bike tests from Endurance Nation I got a lot of great saddle time and fitness in the basement. Once I hit the outdoors I felt (and still feel) great – plenty of room for improvement, of course, but loving being out there, doing the intervals or riding 3 hours.
Even had the pleasure of running into and meeting TriGirlPink in Concord one morning as I was finishing up. Was flying down Lowell, looked over and saw this black P3 with pink Team Psycho decal - there's only one made in the universe ya know. So I had to stop and say “Hi” before she ventured off with the TP team (great to meet you TGP)

RUN
Was really loving my run training for a while there - until I pulled my L hammy doing 4x1 mile intervals.
One of my goals this year is to really work on my running, getting my times down to where I can average low 6’s for 10k or mid 6’s for HIMs. Felt like that was coming along even with the hip… speed was picking up, pacing was dropping (mile/min that is), was feeling fit and strong even with the labrum tear. I think I figured out how to run with it this year = by being under control, having a quicker turnover (which of course is just plain good for your run anyway) and being very careful with up/down hills and never over striding or reaching with the foot. As long as I keep everything within the limits of my "personal space" I feel I can manage the pain. Was even banging out 10k runs no problem. Until the pull --- predisposed by playing wiffle ball in the back yard with my son... this (now) 44 yr old body doesn't like to accelerate too quickly any more.

FINISH LINE
Ok, that’s about it in a nut shell for the last 2 months. Weight is steady at 189-190. Body comp has changed with drop in fat but weight same. Goal of racing at 184 seems hard to reach as I’ve been pretty good with diet… though not up to Jesse’s standards so there is work to be done! It’ll help once I start running again…

So hopefully this is the re-start of my Shakespearean gut-spilling. It’s fun to write and re-read as time passes.
Thanks for taking a minute to read it { TGP :-) }

Mooseman International only 3 weeks away…

Safe Training Everyone!

test test

working?