Josh and Family at a glance (or training geeks with nothing more to do)

Age Group Nationals

2009-08-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

swim 32:26 t1 1:40 Bike: 1:02:47 23.8 T2 0:53 Run: 39:58 6:26- Total2:17:42 2 minute penalty

Swam up river for most of the swim we figure it was about 10 minutes longer. I had a great race kinda.... Good swim, solid bike, and a tuff run the first 3.5 miles then the my legs got that tingling sensation and off I went. The best finish ever, was in the finishing chute with another guy from my age group and we started to sprint for the line, and I went by him so fast I burned the hair off his legs. The run was about a half mile short which explains how I managed to walk some of the hills and still have a sub 40 10K.

Finished 20th overall before the penalty of drafting and went down to 23rd. I do admit being a little too close and I should have been penalized.. I didn't really mean to draft we were on a descent and I was head down and driving pretty hard and when I looked up I was about a bike length back from another bike but I didn't want to pass so I slowed down going back onto the flats and when I looked over there the po po was, busted.

Macon Half Race report

2009-05-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

Macon Half Ironman
35
JOSH SHIELDS
NEWNAN GA swim 31:13 Bike 02:39:19 Run 1:38:12
Total.
04:50:55

Fastest swim in my start group. Very suprising.

Not to shabby, the course that everybody says is hilly really is very hilly. But what goes up must come down.

New Site

2009-05-11T18:09:00.001-07:00

Check out this link http://www.athlinks.com/myresults.aspx?rid=50581247 and if you have done any of the races I have click the race find yourself and click your name for a list of your races and results.

John Tanner Sprint

2009-04-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

Finished 59:46 I had 13 seconds to spare. Had an unusually hard swim, good bike, and heavy run. I was able to push hard the last half mile and hold a 5:45 to pull the average run pace down to a 6:23 pace. Until that point I was struggling to hold a 6:40 pace. Can't wait to see what a tapper does for me in PTC in three weeks.

5mi @6:45

2009-04-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

6:45 pace for 5 mi @154 avg hr, high of 161. No improvement.

Benchmark 1000yard TT

2009-04-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

12:55

1500 yard tt

2009-04-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

1500 in 19:35 a 1:18 pace.

Triathlon Song

2009-03-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

Triathlon Song

1000 yard TT, and 6:43 6mi run benchmarks

2009-03-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

1000 yard TT 13:08, last year March 13:20. 6mile run last week 6:43 pace avg hr 156 ended at 163. Same as January and November but 1 mile longer.

End of Blog

2009-03-03T05:27:00.000-08:00

Well I have decided to end my days as a blogger. I am sure you guys (all 3 of you) are going to miss it very much but I am trying to simplify my life and blogging is definitely an additional task that is very time consuming. I originally thought as I wrote it would become easier but that never really happened. I will continue to use the blog for a way to keep up with benchmarks and maybe a race report or two. But I will keep it as simple and quick as possible.

My first blog was March 5, 2008 and now my last blog a year later. Thanks for reading and for your encouragement.

Lance Armstrong's bike was stolen.

2009-02-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

I was checking out Lances twittering and he reported his bike was stolen....check it out.https://twitter.com/lancearmstrong. Not very smart considering it is the only bike of its kind.

Myrtle Beach Marathon, The Runs and The Run!!

2009-02-15T14:35:00.001-08:00

Woke up race morning at 2am and started with the first of many (about 20) pre race liquid dukes. That's a record!! I knew I was in trouble but I tried to limit the damages by hydrating extra. I probably drank 2 liters of water through out the night, but as quick as I could put it in it was coming out. At 4:30 I started in with pepto-bismol in hopes of decreasing my chances of having a race shart. I ran a little in the hotel and couldn't believe how fatigued I felt. I figured a race finish with a clean pair of pants was all I could hope for.

Bryan was having no troubles with his race morning and felt ready to race. Robyn was having troubles getting into her morning race rituals (pre race duke was absent). She was also a bit concerned due to her hip injury which caused her not to run 2 weeks prior to the race. She however did end up doing the half and finished with a PR. She even walked/ran the last mile due to her injury. She will have a great year once she gets this hip thing worked out and under control.

Bryan had a great race until mile 22 when he cracked and jogged in for a total time and PR of 3:22. Next time he will qualify I am sure.

Steve was also there, he had a great race. He also suffered from injuries for about a month out from the race and he was on pace until about 22 miles as well.

I had my last bathroom visit 5 minutes before the start of the race, and I hoped it was the last for the day. I felt pretty good considering the lack of sleep and the amount of fluid I lost through out the evening, but it was offset with the adrenaline of the race morning. At the start of the race I felt ok my heart rate was a little high but it eventually came back down. I started to get fatigued and crampy after 5 miles and figured that I would be done at the half way mark, but I just kept drinking as much liquid as I could at the aid stations. I started to grab entire bottles of water instead of the cups they offered in hopes of getting more fluids in, eventually I knew I had enough to drink when I started to have pepto come back up. After 13 miles I felt good enough to continue but still didn't feel like I was going to be able to finish very strong. Eventually my body started to come around at the 15 mile mark, I was on pace and for the first time during the day I actually felt like I could get it done.

At the 22 mile mark I knew I was going to have to dig and thank God for the pacer. If it weren't for him and the group I would have never finished good enough to qualify. There were only 5 of us left out at mile 21 of the 25-30 that started with the group and as we neared the finish he would yell out to the crowd, "These guys are going to Boston". It was exactly what I needed, the encouragement that would keep me going. I had to make it, my body and my mind said no, but my will (or ego) said go.......

The last 2 miles had to have been the most difficult and defining moment in all of my athletic experiences. My body was shutting down, my heart was maxed out, my vision narrowing and my lungs were heavy with fluid. I told my self it was only 14 minutes, I had to hang on. I had done all the training, all the early morning treadmill sessions, the circuit/strength trainings to near vomiting and I had just run 24 miles with gut rot. I had to hold pace with these guys, I couldn't let them go and if I did it was over for me, the entire day's effort would be meaningless. I pressed on and went to a place of pain that I hope I never have to go back to, just writing about it makes me flush with emotions, it hurt and it hurt bad. But in the end it was worth every moment. A moment and time I will never forget, my first marathon.

I thank God for allowing me to be healthy enough and fortunate enough to spend time doing these fun things. Thank you Lord, thank you Lord!!

Totals for the day: 3:10:21, 7:15 pace, no heart rate due to the fact the Garmin 405 quit after 16 miles.

ITS THE FLU!!

2009-02-13T06:56:00.000-08:00

Turns out the food poisoning is the flu. I had a nice fever last night and feel much better today. My stomach is still tore up and I hope to continue with the fluids today. The weather looks great check it out..http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/USSC0239?begHour=3&begDay=45

Food Poisoning?

2009-02-12T16:44:00.000-08:00

I think the chicken salad I ate at lunch was a little on the ripe side. But I am sure with a good nights rest and I'll be fine............

Angels house 5K race report

2009-02-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

Decided the last minute to do the 5K Angels house run. I had a little fatigue from Thursdays run and Fridays hard swim but I felt like I should have a solid race. Lots of the group was there, too many to list, but it was great seeing Ryan run the 5K with his 5 year old son, his little man stomped his way to a 38 minute PR. Danny Beck was also there getting ready for his first triathlon.(you've got to click on his name for a very memorable photograph). Bryan finished with a new PR of 20:15 I think. Pretty amazing, considering last year he held a 7:30 pace and this year he held a 6:30 pace.

It was a perfect morning for a race. I think the temperature was about 37 degrees with little or no wind. A perfect day for a PR. At the start of the race I made the mistake of starting mid pack and the time the dust settled there were 5 runners almost a quarter of a mile ahead of me, where they would stay for the rest of the race, and once again like last year there was the one woman I couldn't catch and as we rounded home for the finish of the 5K I noticed the other 4 runners continued on for another lap to do the 10K and the woman finished about 20 seconds ahead of me for first overall and I finished 2nd overall. My best place in any race ever for a total time of 18:04, 20 seconds faster than last years 5k on St. Patty's day. Avg hr 169, a little lower than I had though it would be, but I just couldn't seem to find the leg strength to drive it a bit higher.

I looked up my Vdot on this website and it showed that I am at a 56 based on my 5k time, which should mean I could run a 2:53 marathon. That's a 6:36 per mile pace, wouldn't that be nice!! But I'll settle for a 7:15 pace or 3:10 marathon. I also saw something interesting on there, it said I should pace my long easy runs at a 7:30 pace. A 7:30 EASY, not quite. I wonder if I have been running my long runs for the last 2 years to slow? On the other hand Bryan's Vdot said his long easy runs should be run at an 8:22. And I am positive he hasn't run a single run in the last 18 weeks above an 8 minute mile. Based solely on this fact I believe Bryan won't have any trouble finishing at his goal time of 3:15 which is exactly where his Vdot would place him.

9 days..

2009-02-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

9 days till the marathon and counting... This am had 3 miles at 6:15 pace on the treadmill. I couldn't believe how easy this felt. Hr maxed out at 163. One last test run Saturday at race pace for 10 miles I expect it to better than last weekend I hope...

Last big one

2009-02-01T18:39:00.000-08:00

Today was the last long run before the marathon. It called for a 13 mile run at race pace. I held up pretty good but I still question my ability to hold a 7:15 for 13 more miles.

Total time 1:34. I think this was my fastest 13 miles ever.

Lance Armstrong Triathlete?

2009-01-27T13:02:00.000-08:00

When I first heard Lance was going to be running marathons two years ago I wondered if he was thinking about entering the big show at Kona and today I finally got the confirmation Lance has been thinking about it very seriously. "Is Lance thinking about doing Ironman?".

Grinding it out!

2009-01-25T06:08:00.000-08:00

Grinding it out was our theme for our 20 miler on Saturday. B and I had made sure we were nice and fatigued going into this run, in hopes of making Myrtle Beach seem easier and to finish our last long run before the race with some pain in the bank.

We killed the weights Tuesday, we had 2 hard runs Tuesday and Thursday, and one long bike the day before the run. I was toast coming into this run, mission accomplished. But I actually felt pretty good the first 8 miles of this run, my heart rate for the first 5 miles was an average of 131 for a pace of 7:35. I have never been this fit or fatigued? But the final 12 miles were tuff and the last two miles of this run took everything I had, we hung in there to average a 7:40 pace (the goal for the day was sub 7:35) for the day but the last mile was at an 8:20 pace.

I think the limiter come race day will be muscle endurance and not lactic acid (or whatever it is that makes you slow down if you go over your threshold). I have a good bit of confidence going into this race except the fear of the uncharted miles beyond 22 miles. 3 weeks from now all my questions will be answered.

Totals for the day: 20 miles 2:33 total time, 143 hr, 7:40 pace.

Lazy Days

2009-01-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

I did next to nothing on Sunday, except play around for a few minutes with my ibike, and I don't plan on doing anything today. As I get closer to the marathon I find my drive to do a swim or a bike workout has gone way down. I have justified it with the excuse "I'll be tapering in a week so why push it". I originally was going to do this race and train for triathlon at the same time but I have shifted my efforts now to qualifying for Boston.

I have the same troubles during the season, I'll have a B race scheduled and instead of training through the race I'll end up tapering for it in order to have a good race, therefore sacrificing my gains for the A race to come.

I need to stop justifying my breaks in training. What do I do about this marathon, train as if it wasn't an important race for me and continue training with a triathlon focus or take it easy for the next three weeks and go run a solid A race in Myrtle Beach?

Probably the later.......

15 mile run

2009-01-17T12:12:00.001-08:00

Today B and I headed over to Peachtree city again. We held a 7:35 pace for the first 10 miles then the last 5 miles we picked the pace up to 7:22. We both agreed this was the best run we have had. It was probably easier because we didn't do the 3 hour ride the day and we didn't kill ourselves in the weight room Tuesday. I averaged 147 hr and ended at 150. That should be enough room to run for another 1 hour and 20 minutes if the legs can hold up.

Totals for the day: Time: 1:52 Hr: 147 Pace: 7:30

Ibike mini-review

2009-01-16T07:15:00.000-08:00

I hooked up the Ibike yesterday and went out for a ride without even calibrating the unit and was surprised at how accurate it was compared with the efforts I have had on the computrainer. It was also surprisingly sensitive, as soon as I would start to push the pedal harder the power would go up and as soon as I pushed easier the power would come down. There were some issues with some fluctuating power numbers on the slight downhills and rolling flats. On the uphills the power numbers seem to be more stable. But just like my Garmin 305 I don't look at the real time pace as I run I look at the average to keep my pace.

When on the Ibike if I have an interval I simply hit the lap button and then watch my avg power for the interval to make sure I am on target instead of looking at the real time wattage. I am not ready to do a full blown review yet, but from what I see I like it. It was easy to install and it even is compatible with my garmin hr monitor so I won't have to wear or switch hr monitors for a race or a brick. I can see how there were complaints with the older versions of the ibike but from what I can tell some of those issues seemed to be worked out well with the new gen3.

10 miler on the treadmill

2009-01-15T06:58:00.000-08:00

Today called for a 10 miler at race pace. I held 7:13 for the most of the run, I picked it up towards the end to end my misery quicker. I was a little discouraged with the heart rates I saw towards the end, 156. With my LT at 159ish that doesn't give me much room for drift the next 16 miles or 2 hours. But with a taper, sodium phosphate and my magical race day blend it could happen...

Start them young.

2009-01-14T07:38:00.000-08:00

Josh, after looking at your blog, I think Mac (my 3 yr old) has a bit of an edge on you with his aero position. This message was from Alexis Brooks, one of the three readers of my blog.

2 weeks remain

2009-01-14T06:51:00.000-08:00

Well we have 2 weeks until the taper begins for this marathon. I am starting to believe!! Yesterday we did 3X1mile repeats with a .25 recovery. I did this effort on the treadmill, I held a 6:15 the first mile, 6:07 the second, and a 5:55 the last mile. I felt comfortable and strong throughout the efforts. I would like to do a 5k in the next couple of weeks to see what I am capable of.

After the run B and I did some serious core work and light leg work in hopes of saving our legs for the 10mile run at planned marathon pace tomorrow.

I went home with a bit of leg fatigue and managed to do the 36min computrainer effort I labeled the knee buster. This was the workout where I slightly injured my knee a few weeks ago. The workout called for 6X2 minutes at 350 watts. I had to push hard to get it done but it was successful. I really like these short intense workouts, I think they are helping. Till next time.

New Aerofit

2009-01-12T17:29:00.000-08:00

After reading this months triathlete magazine I decided to try a new aerofit.

Old Fitt- Notice the flat back, BAD. Also notice how
stretched out I am. This is due to the rear position
of the seat to help reduce the angle of force on my knee.
The angle of my forearms is parallel to the ground
which creates a huge pocket for air to get funneled into
my chest.

New Fitt- I angled the handlebars up and brought the seat up

to increase the rounding of my back. I will probably only bring

the seat forward for races or until I feel my knee is safe.

New fitt- I brought my aerobars in as well.

Notice the surface area and the small area

for the wind to get caught in.

Old Fitt- Notice the surface area. I look like a human

parachute. I am not sure but I probably reduced a

sixteenth of my surface area. I am sure I will have

no trouble averaging 25mph now...I wish.

It was a bit disheartening to read last night that to improve your speed 10% you need to improve your power by 33%. ; So that means I have to improve my FT from 300ish to 390ish to improve from 23 mph to 25 mph. I guess every bit of weight and aerodynamics will help. The leg hair goes next.

1 hour trainer

2009-01-11T13:04:00.000-08:00

Did some trainer ME sets and 8 tabata sprints....OUCH. I couldn't hold the attempted power (500Watts) on the tabata's and ended up bailing on a couple of them. Also bailed a bit early on the workout, it was intended to be 90 minutes. I don't seem to have motivation these days.

Done..

2009-01-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

Rode 48 miles Friday and ran 20 miles today, all with B. My wife is getting jealous.

We finally had a Friday with no wind, no rain, and tons of sunshine. We were both still pretty cooked from Tuesdays circuit training so we only managed 16 minutes of intervals the entire ride of 2:45 minutes.

We went to Peachtree city and ran at a 7:50 pace. My average hr was 141 with a max heart rate of 152 at the end. The last 3 miles were extremely painful. I hope race day is a little easier the first 20 miles.

Benchmark 5 mi run

2009-01-08T12:52:00.001-08:00

Performed the benchmark 5 mi run at 6:43 pace at the high school this am with B. Couldn't believe how easy this felt. Avg hr was 154 high of 160 by the end. This is a 2 beat improvement since December 3rd. Hmmmmmm.

Looks like good weather tomorrow hope some of you can make it out to the ride starting at 11:20 from my office.

Speed and Circuit

2009-01-06T06:31:00.000-08:00

Wasn't feeling that great today but I had to do it and it was actually a good workout. We did the 1K, 2K, 1K, 1k with 400 rest today. I held back a little and held 6 min miles. Bryan did not hold back and saw a new high of 190hr. Afterwords we did an intense legs and core circuit. No puking but close.

I ordered the ibike generation 3 last night, I did a ton of research and determined the unit was only good for a round about watts average but not to great when trying to hold an effort at a certain wattage. I was looking for an inexpensive way to input power data into wko for outdoor rides, if it does better than that it will be a win for me. I also liked the fact it is compatible with my 305 cadence, speed, and hr sensor. So I will only need to download one unit into wko, and it will also be nice to not have to mess with different hr straps during a race or brick. I'll let you know how it is.

I also forgot to mention, I bought the 405 forerunner last season and I can't stand it. With any humidity or moisture the unit has troubles detecting when you hit the start/stop/lap buttons on the side. And the touch bezel thing (a circular trim surrounding the face of the unit) is way to sensitive forcing you to lock it on one screen limiting the data you can scroll through and when it gets wet or the humidity gets to high the bezel doesn't work at all, just like the buttons on the side. I can't believe the design team at garmin didn't figure out this defect before releasing the unit. If the bezel and buttons would work properly the unit would be great. The nicest feature about the watch is the size, you can actually wear it and not look like you are wearing a detonator of some sort.

Saturday Run, Sunday Rest

2009-01-04T18:02:00.000-08:00

Did 15 miles at 7:40 pace. I felt great for the first 12 miles and then I started to struggle the last 3.

Had some people over last night after the Falcons loss, drank too (to?) much, ate too much, went to bed too late and woke up with a cold thing. Decided to take some time off and REST!! Will probably take tomorrow off to (?).

Totals for the week: 8.5 hours, 34 miles run, 52 bike, 4400 swim, 20 minutes of Dungeon of pain core.

Friday=Rain

2009-01-02T16:34:00.001-08:00

Well once again the Friday rains kept me indoors on the trainer. I did 1:15 minutes with 2X20 minute intervals at 280watts with a rest interval of 4 minutes. I set a new Cp60 and 30. The new 60 is 262 and the 30 is 270, I averaged a hr of 132 and topped out at 140. The power profile on WKO said the power profile was that of an upper Cat5. I'll have to give it my all and see where I land on the power profile. So far the highest I have is a high cat4 rating for my cp5.

New year run!

2009-01-01T13:31:00.001-08:00

I did 10 miles today at marathon pace, 7:15 min per mile with average hr at 148 with it topping out at 153 at the end. When I first started this run it felt pretty easy but by the end I was wanting it to be over. I am not sure if this run was a good or a bad indicator of what is to come.

I did notice some very mild knee soreness after the run was over but 2 hours later nothing is detectable, I wonder what 26 miles will feel like come race day.

Here is a great blog about the necessary power outputs necessary to qualify for Kona.

A little recovery goes a long way!

2008-12-31T16:30:00.000-08:00

Met up with Doug today at the pool. It was his first trip back to the pool since Ironman Florida. It's nice to see Doug thinking about triathlon training again.

We started talking about my new cp I set yesterday on the bike and how important recovery is to the training equation. I didn't realize how fatigued my legs had become over the last 2 months. I hadn't been biking that much but with the marathon training on top of the strength training my legs didn't have much to give when it came to the bike. I was starting to get a bit concerned about where my fitness on the bike was and how far I had to go. But with last weeks time off from the bike (one 45 minute trainer session) and only 6 1/2 hours of training total it has allowed me to recover a good bit.

So today when I was on the trainer I wasn't sure what to expect but I was very surprised and excited when I was at 230watts with a heart rate of 118. I then followed it up with 5X280 watt five minute intervals with a 2 minute rest at 160 watts and my heart rate would fluctuate around 130-135, upper zone 2. Normally that would be my heart rate for 240-250 watts.

What I could of said with less details is, with some recovery I am about 30-40 watts more powerful, which is helpful information next time I am training and not hitting my numbers like I would want. Good training and Happy New Years!!

Doug's Dungeon of pain

2008-12-30T08:06:00.000-08:00

Went over to Doug's after my speed work at the track. 3X (2X1200) @ 5:40-45 pace. I did this outside at the soccer track down the road from my house. I held up ok on the speed work, but during the warm up it seems my fitness is still not where it was last year at this time. I wonder if this 3 days a week running is enough. I may start adding in another 6-8 mile run every week for the next 5 weeks until the taper.

When I showed up at Doug's I knew I was in trouble. He had some heavy metal playing, giant barbells that looked as if they were built for an Olympic lifting, kettle bells, a black mat thrown down on the floor and bare cement walls to top off the look. Doug showed me how the work out was going to go and as he warmed up you could tell he was there to inflict pain, he demonstrated how to lift the barbell then slammed it down to the ground as if he were mad at it. He said "that's my favorite part about working out down here, you can throw the weights around as much as you want". What I heard was "that's my favorite part about working out down here, no one can hear you scream". I'll save you the details of the workout, just know if Doug invites you to his Dungeon of pain plan on puking.

I left Doug's on a high and all fired up, I came home and jumped on the trainer and cranked out a new cp 5 record of 343 with avg hr 159 and it topped out at 172. I just couldn't end the year without a new high. I might even go for the 6 minute tomorrow.

2500yd swim

2008-12-29T13:48:00.000-08:00

Did pulls for 300, then 150 swim, 20 rest, 50 swim fast repeat 5 times. 45 minutes.

Finally feel great today, after 2 weeks of upper respiratory stuff I think its gone. Surprising after the 23 miler on Saturday. Legs also feel great, probably not the case after tomorrow with Doug and his Crossfit.com workout. This site is pretty neat, they post a different circuit training workout everyday for 3 days and then a day off. These workouts is what Doug has been doing this off season. He will have plenty of strength come time to start training specific tri stuff next year.

23 miles

2008-12-27T14:57:00.000-08:00

I almost called it quits after 2 miles today, the fog was thick, my throat was sore, my legs felt heavy and my heart rate was elevated. I was torn, with only 5 weeks till the taper for the marathon I knew I needed this long run, but I wondered if it would make me sicker. But I figured if it did make me sicker it would only be for a few days and then I should be well enough to go next weekend for another important run.

I also determined that going slower than the recommended pace and a bit longer would be easier on my body and better than not running at all, so I ran 35 seconds per min slower than I was supposed to, an 8:20 pace instead of a 7:45 pace. As the run went on, my lungs cleared some of the flem and I started to be able to swallow again, and I actually started to feel better. My legs really never came around but because of the slower pace I was ok.

The nice thing about this run is that my heart rate didn't come unhinged until mile 21, where it went up to 152 from 145 where it was pegged most of the day. Some of the unhinging was also probably due to a slight pick up in the pace in hopes of ending the pain sooner.

It's still hard to believe I will be able to hold any pace sub 7:25 for 26 miles. With 4 weeks to go I guess it could happen, but I'll need a breakthrough. For those of you who have been there, how am I looking?

Totals for the day: 23miles, 145hr, 3:11-8:20pace

Christmas in Canada

2008-12-26T18:15:00.001-08:00

I'm in Leamington, Canada for Christmas. Leamington is the tomato capital of Canada and the home of Heinz ketchup. The weather has been its usual; gray, cold, and windy. There is about a 8 inches of snow on the ground and I am starting to panic a bit about this run tomorrow (3 and a half hours). The weather is calling for a 60% chance of rain with 18mph winds and I feel like I have gained about 10 pounds of Canadian insulation which should make it fun as well. I may have to retreat to the treadmill at the gym.

I did manage a tempo run on Christmas morning. I don't think the locals are used to spandexed runners on their roads, I got that look of "what the hell is that moron doing running out here" a couple times. But at least there was no yelling out the window or cars vearing at me as they typically do in Newnan.

85% of Functional threshold power intervals

2008-12-24T14:47:00.000-08:00

While I was searching around trying to figure out how to do a Wingate TT. Joe Reger had mentioned he did one, so of course if he does it I have to do it also. In my search I still haven't found a good explanation but I found a pretty good explanation of what Dylan Rist had talked to me about, holding an effort in zone 3 some zone 4 for 20 minutes X 2. This website helps me decide the training plan specifics I am trying to construct for this year. http://www.flammerouge.je/content/3_factsheets/constant/functhresh.htm

Monday PM computrainer and Tuesday AM speed/circuit

2008-12-23T07:49:00.000-08:00

Went home last night and was feeling a bit spicy. No wife, no kid, no dog, nothing but me and the computrainer. I decided on the way home I was going to set a new cp number. I didn't care which one but I was going to do it. I decided to go for the 2 minute cp number which was previously at 402 watts. I felt a bit fatigued (from the ME's sunday evening) at the start but I thought I could still set a new high. I set the trainer at 420 watts and started to crush the pedals, 20 seconds in I knew there was no way. I hung in there until 45 seconds. I figured if I recovered and did another 45 seconds and then another that would add up to the 2 minutes I need with some time to spare, even if it was cheating I would get a new cp. I also cranked out some 350 watt segments in hopes of maybe even obtaining a new cp high for 5 minutes, previous 338. WRONG.

I thought the trainer averaged your efforts to compile the best avg for the x amount of minutes completed, regardless if the efforts were continuous or divided out into several different intervals. But It actually takes the best average for a continuous time period. All that work and no new cps.

Looking back over the data I can't believe I was actually ever able to hold some of those power outputs. 408 watts for 2 minutes? I was either ignorant or stronger, I am not sure. Which leads me into a second question, why was I stronger with less training in April than I am now? I looked over the data and the two things that stand out to me was the hard interval sets and the glutamine. I have been holding back on the bike in an effort to build some base and save some for the run. But in January I'll start back up with the intervals and the glutamine in order to set some new CP's.

This morning B and I killed the speed work and the circuit routine. The speed set called for 1 mile at 6 minute pace, 3 minute recovery, then 2 miles at a 6:10 pace, and then 2x800's at 5:45 pace. I couldn't believe I was able to hold the 6:10 pace for the entire 2 miles especially with the big effort from last night still in the legs. The circuit was uneventful but we have learned in order to keep from feeling lightheaded and faint we need to fuel through the workout. Train hard, have fun, Merry Christmas.

Morining Swim

2008-12-22T08:15:00.000-08:00

Today was a great swim for me. I have been holding back and swimming easy for the last couple of months0. Normally once a week maybe twice. But today I wanted to see what I was still capable of. We did a ladder of 300, 200, 100 then repeated 3 times for a total of 1800yds, it was supposed to be 4 but its the off season. As the sets went on my times got faster. I was doing the 300's in an easier 1:25ish pace, the 200's in a kind a hard 1:20-16 pace range and the 100's in a 1:10-07 range. I couldn't believe how strong I felt in the water today, I was taking longer rest sets than I would of normally which was also helpful in me staying strong throughout the set. But I also think it was a combination of the strength training and the swim Friday in which I swam mostly with the paddles.

North Georgia Mountains

2008-12-21T17:47:00.001-08:00

I've restructured my training plan and have switched my Wednesdays ME session and off the bike squats to Sunday. I've been missing to many Wednesday workouts and I felt pretty fatigued on the long bike on Friday because of all the workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday. So today on the trainer I started the trainer out at 200 watts and held 55 rpms. Then every few minutes I would turn up the wattage 10 watts until I ended at 300 watts. It really did feel like I was climbing the mountains in North Georgia. Totals for workout were 235 watts-45 minutes-52rpms-129avghr.

Totals for week: 9:20-29mi run, 74 mi bike, 2400yds swim, 20 minutes strength.

New schedule:
Mon-swim;
Tues-Speed run, circuit training, 1.5hr bike zone 1 and 2;
Wed- Swim;
Thur-Tempo run;
Friday-Swim, 3-4 hr Long bike with 2 longer efforts at tempo;
Saturday-Long run 14-20 mi;
Sun-1.5hr ME work and off the bike strength.

18 mi run

2008-12-21T06:48:00.000-08:00

Had a great run yesterday. Met up with Bryan, Ryan, Steve, and Robyn in Peachtree city. Robyn did her own thing for most of the run and met up with us at the 12 mile mark. She ran with us for a while and held her own, she looked great.

We did the 10K loop 3 times with each loop getting progressively faster, 8:05, 8:00, 7:46. Ryan called it a day after 12 miles. For a guy who just got into this early this year he has come a long way.

Steve started to fade a little bit the last 4 miles but he is surely going to PR Myrtle Beach (3:23). Not to bad for a guy who is 50. Steve is a real inspiration for me, he still has this child like enthusiasm about the sport and is still pushing himself to his limits, with a smile. Great guy!

Bryan is really starting to transform into a runner. Bryan started out this year with a 5K race pace of 7:40 and now he is holding strong for 18 miles at a 7:50 pace. He has yet to slow down this year, and with Ironman Florida coming his way in November I don't think he will. He felt as if this run was a breakthrough for him. He said he felt great the entire day.

Robyn ran 20 miles with an average pace of 8:40 per mile. She is a sure thing to qualify for Boston and break her 3:40 goal in Myrtle Beach. Kim Bramblett, Robyn's coach, has put together a great plan for Robyn. She is going to be more than prepared to run a 3:40 in Myrtle Beach. This race should be easy for Robyn, because it will be her first marathon not preceded by a 112 mile bike and a 2.4 mile bike. Studette!!

As for me, I am still a bit questionable on running 7:15's for an entire marathon. Yesterday when we finished up the 18 miler, Bryan and I held his marathon pace (7:25) for the last 2 miles and it hurt. The good news is I still have 5 more weeks of training till taper.

1 hr swim, 3 hour ride

2008-12-19T14:06:00.001-08:00

Had an easy swim this morning, they finally have the heater fixed. I took it easy for the most part, held 1:20 pace for a couple hundred yards to make sure I still could.

After work Bryan and Doug met me at my office for a nice and easy tour of the country side. Mostly zone 1 with some zone 2 on the hills. It was nice to go out and ride on top of the aerobars for a change and enjoy the scenery. Bryan and I did however sneak in a mile TT to see who was the boss and we had to call it a draw.

I am starting to get a little anxious about my current abilities on the bike. I have a long way to go to get where I want to be. I'll start working on it a bit harder after the holidays.

47 miles, 16.6mph, Time-2:52, avg hr 111.

Morning run

2008-12-18T08:54:00.000-08:00

Met up with B and Robyn at the high school track this am. After 2 mile warm ups I held a 6:26 pace for 3 miles. I felt very comfortable today during the interval and felt like I could have kept going. My heart rate was a bit elevated but I feel like it was due to the lack sleep last night, 4 hours. So far so good, the First program is working well. Its kind of hard to believe that only running three days a week could be producing fitness this quickly.

Correction

2008-12-17T12:29:00.000-08:00

The link I posted a couple days ago was the wrong circuit training program. I watched the one I had on there and it wasn't at all like the one I had done so here is the correct workout.

45 min trainer

2008-12-17T12:19:00.000-08:00

Had to shake the legs out a little today. Yesterdays effort has them all tied up. Starting to feel a bit unmotivated this week, I feel like I am run down. I guess its time to take it easy for a few days.

My idea of having an epic week while the wife is out of town has sort of fizzled. Maybe I can make it epic this weekend.

Triathlon and Lance Armstrong

2008-12-16T13:50:00.000-08:00

"Watching the Ironman on TV. Hmm" This is what Lance Armstrong posted on his twitter site a few days ago. I wonder how long it will be before he steps up to the plate. No I don't sift the web daily looking for this stuff, Joe Reger had it on his blog. So as far as Reger goes, I think he may be sifting through web.

Tried this new circuit workout this morning after the intervals on the treadmill. Loved it, short, sweet and very hard!! The intervals were not to bad either, I held a 5:42 pace for all 12 400's, I could have definitely gone harder but I wanted to have that sick dizzy feeling again this week.

Humble Pie

2008-12-14T15:03:00.001-08:00

Went to the airport ride today and I had a big fat serving of humble pie. It wasn't that the entire ride was hard but there were bursts of 2-10 minutes of some pretty hard efforts that almost broke me. I was in zone 5 for almost a complete hour today. This was one of the hardest group ride/races I have ever been a part of. I couldn't believe I was seeing my hr at 173 while drafting, I've got some work to do. I'm not sure I was struggling because of some fatigue in my legs but I felt pretty good this morning before the ride and powerful most of the ride. It was when our speeds would get up around 30mph where I would really start to struggle.

I'll try and join the ride once in January and a couple more times in March. I heard that the group pace gets faster as the year goes on. I'll use the fear of being dropped to continue to work hard on the trainer and build my power.

Joe Reger was there and he was making it look easy. He amazes me, for as much time as he has had off, how he managed to not only hang in there but continue to take his turns pulling. I hope he continues to take some time off so that I can catch up to him. It was great to see him out there representing the tri guys.

Totals for the day: 58 miles, 2:52- avg speed 20.5 (that counts the stop lights), 141avg hr.

Totals for the week, 11:20- 26 miles run, 125 miles on the bike, 2300 yards on the swim, 45 minutes strength. 3rd week in the row with only one swim.

Workout buddy!!

2008-12-13T15:21:00.000-08:00

Its official, I have a workout buddy!! I have always been a bit weary of having a training partner, there is the whole scheduling thing and the I am to slow or not fast enough thing (especially in endurance training). But after only 10 months of training Bryan is plenty fast enough and we both have the same work schedules for the most part, and he definitely holds me accountable for the early morning workouts. So after training together for 4 weeks straight, its safe to say Bryan is my training buddy!! It started casually with swim practice, then it lead into an occasional bike ride here and there, and now we do almost 3/4 of our training together. Today was a great example of the benefit of a training partner, where I would have normally thrown in the towel after 8 miles and thought it good enough to just finish 14 miles B pressed on and we finished strong.

This turned out to be the best run I have had since May when I was at my all time peak. The first mile I knew it was going to be a great day when we warmed it up at a 8:30 pace and my heart rate was in zone 1, 122. Then as we sped up to hold the 7:40 pace my hr climbed to low Zone 2, 138hr for most of the 11.5 miles until we picked up the pace for the last 1.5 miles to 6:52 pace. I am almost starting to believe I may actually be able to do this thing in February. Total for the day 14 miles-1:47, 7:39 pace @ 138avg hr.

Tomorrow I will attempt the airport ride (60 mile option) for the third time this year, I hope I can actually get to finish with the group this time.

Friday afternoon ride!

2008-12-12T14:21:00.000-08:00

B and I did 43 miles down smokey road. I didn't seem to have anything in the ole legs. They felt heavy and pretty fatigued. This would be when I would normally had called it an easy day and spun them out. I had initially thought about saving it for tomorrows run and Sunday's airport ride. But with this years motto in mind we managed to do some efforts up the hills and 6X2 minute efforts with 2min RI. At first it was hard to even get the heart rate up into zone 4 but by the last effort I was holding upper zone 4 pretty easily. Today I learned that even when you don't initially feel it after some efforts things can loosen up and turn around. TOUGHENING IT UP!!

Chat with Dylan

2008-12-11T08:37:00.001-08:00

I talked with Dylan Rist, elite triathlete, and discussed what it takes to ride a bike at 25 mph for over 2 hours. He told me that he very rarely trained more than 200 miles in a week and he usually trained about 120-140 miles a week. This was great news to hear, I really thought he was going to say he rode and average of 180-240 miles a week.

He said that he felt he had a good aerobic engine already from swimming but when he first started riding he didn't feel the strength was there to keep his heart rate up in the higher zones with out a lot of muscle fatigue. This further strengthens my thoughts on "toughening it up" this year. He relayed to me that his favorite workout was during his long ride of the week after an hour of warm up he would due 2X 30 minutes at lactate threshold or below. And he would eventually build that to 2x45 minute efforts. Last year I would have only attempted an effort like this if it were a few weeks out from a race and I was attempting to peak. This year if I can keep the intensity at threshold efforts more often it should help me build speed and muscle endurance as well. If running hard and long helped me so much last year when doing the marathon training, going hard and long on the bike this year should reap the same benefits.

He also said that the long steady efforts of climbing were also essential in helping him build his speed. Because the mountains are so far away I will have to develop some computrainer courses to help simulate the mountains. I have been already doing some work like this, but since I have switched to the marathon training program I have eased off the efforts. I will pick things back up on the bike in February after the marathon, which is only 10 weeks away. Its hard to believe I only have seven weeks of training before the taper begins. I certainly hope I start to see my aerobic pace drop, right now I am way off pace.

Circuit training ideas

2008-12-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

My next circuit training session: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ETHPvJzMQ Thanks Doug!! This will be sure to get me to puke!!

Did speed work and circuit training yesterday morning. Then came home and tried to set some new power records (cp's) on the trainer. When I went to download I went blue screen. I was so pissed, I busted my ass for some new cp's and now I have none to show for it. The last cp I set was back in August.

Went out this morning for a tempo run at 7 min pace for 6 miles with 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down. I had to work hard for this effort. I am starting to feel like its on season again. Probably need to slow it down on the efforts, but I am having fun. So who knows, I may just keep going.

Wet suit legal swim

2008-12-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

Today at the Y the pool couldn't have been much more than 70 degrees, wet suit legal. It took 4 hours to warm up after the one hour swim. Next time I am brining my wet suit just in case. Working on form and taking it easy in the pool these days. I don't want to get burned out by hitting it hard in the pool this early.

Graphs, charts, and tables oh my!!

2008-12-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

Well now I am in trouble. I have downloaded the trial version of WKO on training peaks. After reading the triathlete magazine's article on the subject I thought originally how I needed to stay as far away from the product as I could. I spend enough time looking at the numbers and doing this blog already, now more data. But I couldn't resist, and here is a copy and paste of one of the functions in the program. This is the run break down for me, it will also automatically do the power output for the same amount of times listed below and it has so many customizable charts my head is spinning. Please send help for me if I am not seen next week!!

------Peak 1'--- Peak 5'--- Peak 20'--- Peak 60'
Dec -- 6:09 -------6:27------ 6:36 --------8:37
Nov-- 5:47 -------6:30 -------6:47 -------7:50
Oct--- 6:19------- 6:35------- 7:38------- 7:59

Today I did an hour recovery ride on the trainer for a total of 10 hours this week. 33 miles on the run, and 82 miles on the bike, 45 minutes of weights and only 50 minutes of swimming.

21 mi run

2008-12-06T16:52:00.001-08:00

Ryan, Bryan, and I ran 21 miles today. At the start of the run I knew I was in trouble because my legs were very stiff and a bit fatigued. This was the first week of the off season I have actually felt fatigued. I was having troubles running anything below 8 min miles. So I was rather pleased with the group pace of 8:30. Great weather for a run and the knee felt perfect the entire time. The negative from this run was the almost obvious fact that running 7:15's or even 7:20's for 26 miles is going to be damn near impossible, well at least for now it feels that way.

Looking back at last year I am sure the knee trouble I had was two fold, it was from running to hard during the long runs and it was from heel striking. I have been back running in the Newtons for 2 months now and I have to say they have helped improve my run. I am supposed to be getting the new winter weather Newtons next week, and thankfully they have some better colors to choose from.

1 hour trainer

2008-12-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

Held 200 watts at an avg hr of 110 for 40 minutes then the last 20 minutes I held 240 watts with the hr fluctuating between 120-128. I believe if I had kept going my hr would have climbed to mid 130's. So I am not quite to my goal of 240 for an hour completely in zone 2, but I am much closer than I was 7 weeks ago.

This is what I did to the house this weekend!

2008-12-03T15:30:00.000-08:00

Perfect weather for a run

2008-12-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

Met Bryan up at the track this morning with temperatures around 28 degrees. After a good warm up I was actually to hot and had to lose a layer. We started our 5 mile 6:45 pace run a bit fast and actually held 6:35 for the first 3 miles and then I forced myself to slow down to hit the 6:45 goal. I am not sure if I have improved any since the last time I did this run because I did it on the hilly roads around my house last time. So this will be a great place to do this run in the future as a benchmark. 5 miles @ 6:43 pace avg hr 156, 163 was the high.

Tuesday trainer and a movie

2008-12-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

Met up with B at the Y (I am a abbreviating fanatic or an ab fan) for some circuit training and some speed work on the treadmill. I managed to hold 5:45 pace for the entire set, ok for the entire set except the last 800. The workout called for 2X1200 and 4X800's. I was able to hold the highest heart rates ever, 176. After the treadmill we did the circuit training. We switched up our circuit routine to 25-35 reps for one set because of time constraints, but the switch was good and painful. We may keep the high reps for a month or so.

Went home and did 2 hours on the trainer and watched a girly flick, PS I love you, please don't laugh to much. But its good to get in touch with your girly romantic side, these girly flicks help you understand your wife a bit better and it may even inspire you to do something romantic for her. I know it sounds like bs (there it is again, the abbreviating) and it probably is.

I did try the 200 watt steady effort, my heart rate was a bit elevated compared to 2 weeks ago (135 instead of 118) probably because of the intensity of today's effort on the treadmill. NO biggie.

Tomorrow is a good test for me, 5 miles at 6:45 pace straight. This would have been fairly easy last year in April but now......It makes me upset for losing all that fitness during the season this year. I hope I don't follow the same path next year, the early spring pop and then a lot of fizz the remainder.

GOOD SORE

2008-12-01T14:03:00.000-08:00

I am so sore today, a good sore. A sore that's tells me I have pushed my body to a new level. Tomorrow should be a good test of how well I have recuperated, I have some 800's and 1200's on the schedule.

I am excited to see what can happen if I can continue this training regime with the consistency and effort I have so far.

Airport Ride

2008-11-30T15:44:00.000-08:00

It was blowing a misty rain today and it was fairly cold. I figured because the weather was off there would be at least half, maybe a quarter the usual amount of riders at the ride. There were 8 plus B and I, for a total of 10 riders. The group decided to do the 40 mile route, there were no complaints from B and I. B was feeling a bit heavy legged from yesterday's run and he tried as hard as he could but finally got dropped after 17 miles. I stayed back with B and we rode in together. As the day went on we were eventually soaked and got colder and colder. This was the most miserable I have ever been on a ride, cold is ok by itself, rain is ok by itself,but the 2 together not so good.

I felt surprisingly good today with some good power in my legs. I feel like the bike position has helped, after the ride was over I could really feel it in my hamstrings compared to my quads. All in all, I would have to say my bike position is a more powerful position. I will find out Tuesday when I do a computrainer test for sure.

I can run!!

2008-11-29T07:38:00.000-08:00

Today was a great for me. B and I ran 18miles today. I wondered if I would ever be able to run 18miles again with out injuring my knee. And with this recent knee irritation I questioned it even more. But I DID IT!!!

We ran for 7miles on the treadmill to reduce our overall time out in the rain. Then a quick change and we did the remaining miles straight from the gym. I couldn't believe how easy today felt. There was a little suffering towards the end but nothing like in the past. I believe the slower pace 8:30 avg is the way to go for me, until I build up some ligament strength. I still can't believe it, 18 miles and not even a twinge, well maybe a twinge or two but nothing to even mention.

I really am starting to believe I can do this marathon thing. I am not sure how I will hold up running 7:15's for 3 plus hours, so I may change my goals to finishing healthy. 18 miles, 2 hours and 33 minutes.

Turkey day feast pre ride.

2008-11-27T17:10:00.000-08:00

Rode a couple hours this morning with Isac. It was great talking with him about his attack on the georgia cup next year. I'm sure he will come away with a jersey next year. I would like to join him for a couple of those races. Even better I would like to get the entire Newnan crew out there and try and mix things up a little.

Knee felt great, towards the end I could tell it was time to give it a rest. The bike position needed a little tweeking but I think I got it. Happy T-day.

Bike Fit number 2

2008-11-26T19:34:00.000-08:00

I promise to keep it short and simple as I can. Sorry about the last novel I wrote about the bike fit. I raised the seat up another 3/8" and slid it back another 1/4" and now I can really tell a difference in my position. Sorry no picture, but the new position has made a dramatic difference in the angle of my drive downward. It also has seemed to keep my pedaling further from my body which leads to more extension in my drive. I think it may lead to a more powerful thrust, kind of like when you are in the gym pushing the leg press, how you are stronger at the top more so than when the weight is at the very bottom. But with the seat being higher I guess I am gaining some drag. But I really don't think I will have the knee issue from the bike again.

It amazes me how many different ways you can construct a bike fit. I believe a bike fit is not just an angles, position, aero and a torque thing. I would believe a good bike fit would take some trial and error to get what works best for that individual rider. I will find out tomorrow morning how much of an error tonight was.

Tempo run

2008-11-26T08:23:00.001-08:00

Did a little tempo run of 3 miles at 6:35 pace. I can tell I have a way to go to get where I want and need to be. Knee held up good, and I think because its calling for rain Friday I will get out and do a long slow ride tomorrow. Any takers? I'll be leaving around 9 or 10am.

5 mile run

2008-11-25T05:58:00.000-08:00

The knee was feeling good this morning so I met up with B and we warmed up for a mile then we did 3X1mi efforts at 6min mile pace with a 1:20 RI. I was happy with my effort. I did manage to hold 175 hr for the last interval. I think I have increased my lactic threshold and V02 some. I used to only be able to hold 174 for 800's. We followed up the speed work with some circuit training. I took it easy on some of the squats and other leg things. Now that I am home I feel pretty good, not 100% with only a slight bit of swelling but I don't feel I did any damage.

I am thinking I will take it easy on the bike this week and probably only ride Friday and then Sunday join the airport ride if Friday goes well. I think as long as I stay away from any high intensity intervals on the computrainer I'll be okay. I'll find out Friday if I waited long enough to get back on the bike.

Chiropractic Beyond back pain?

2008-11-24T13:33:00.001-08:00

I know many of you have an idea or a concept of what a chiropractor is or does. This is an article I am working on for my patients and Life University's newspaper. I hope in some ways it may open your eyes to what it is I do for my patients and their families. I have seen so many "miracles" it saddens me that I am still put into a box by many as the neck and back doctor. Don't get me wrong, I love helping those people too, but what about the child who has lost her hearing because of long term ear infections, or the personal trainer who has sleep apnea, or the house wife who suffers from anxiety and chronic fatigue, or the 45 year old who suffers from frequent night time urination. I have seen all these conditions and many others get well, but it is important to remember I don't treat or correct any of these conditions, I simply adjust their spines to improve the function of their nervous system and let the body do the rest. For more testimonials from some of my patients click here.

I am showing you this article not for my benefit but for you and your families benefit. In hopes if you or any of your family memebers are suffering or wanting to be healthier that this may trigger for you to send them to get a check up by a chiropractor, who practices with the right intent and the right vision for his/her patients.

The Vital Signs of Wellness?

As a society, we continue to struggle with the topic of wellness. We are desperately seeking to find new information and technology that will help us age gracefully, limit our dependency on prescription medications, avert surgeries and elude the confinement of a nursing home. We want to be self-reliant in our old age, and we don’t want to be a burden to our families. We want to enjoy our retirement, stay active and avoid the health pitfalls we have witnessed in our own families. In this attempt, we get our yearly check-ups. We have our cholesterol evaluated, blood pressure checked, heartbeats listened to, and our blood evaluated. However, when we consider wellness as a level of vitality, emotional stability, and physical harmony we have to question how to measure it.

Is it not true that our health and life are more than our physical being? Obviously our day-to-day activity is carried out in our physical being, but what about the underlying systems which create life in our bodies, repair damaged tissues, and perpetuate our organ function? What force turns the bread we eat into living thinking matter? It’s the same force that joins two cells together in the womb and divides those cells into trillions of cells and into the living, breathing, and thinking being who you are today. The force that emanates from your brain down your spinal cord exits the spinal column and enters into the body and stirs the cells into life. Completely disrupt this flow of energy, this force from your brain into your body, and you die instantly. Diminish or weaken the flow of energy from your brain to your body, and you die slowly. With a compromise in this force, you live a life far under your potential until you die before your designed life expectancy.

Each system in our body must work in balance with all the other systems. We can no longer just look at heart disease as a disease of the heart. How does emotional stress affect the heart? How does the diseased heart affect your emotions? Obviously, we must have a better understanding about how all the systems of the body interact with each other. We can no longer compartmentalize the body into a heart patient, bowel patient, low back pain patient. We have to understand how emotional, physical, and chemical stresses affect our health and our nervous system. These stresses adventitiously damage our “balance,” “equilibrium” or “homeostasis.” The systems must work in perfect harmony in order for the body to express itself at its maximum potential. This is the balance we refer to when talking about wellness.

The medical profession, with regard to the state of homeostasis, are truly only concerned about homeostasis when there are severe life-threatening events taking place. At the time of an emergency, the “vital signs” of an individual are measured. These vital signs include blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, body temperature, and brain activity (which has recently been added). In fact, the definition of death has now changed from “no pulse” to “no brain activity.” If these vital signs are so important in a life and death situation, why don’t we look at them to measure our current level of health? Well, we do to some extent. We take blood pressure readings and listen to our hearts but only from a view of normal versus abnormal. What about the harmony between the systems? Do we measure these signs?

Seldom, if at all, do we measure the harmony between the systems in our body. How can we measure this harmony between the systems of our body? We can measure the system that is responsible for the harmony between our systems, the nervous system. How valuable would the measurement of the nervous system be? Extremely important, considering the nervous system’s design is to coordinate, regulate and control every cell, tissue, organ and system in the entire body. The nervous system allows all our body systems to be coordinated between each other. The heart can’t and doesn’t work separately of the lungs. Breathe fast and your heart rate will speed up and your digestive system will slow down. Close your eyes and think of a field with green, flowing grass as the sun sets over the horizon and your heart will slow down and your blood pressure will drop. On a deeper level, in an ideal state, every cell, tissue, gland, organ and brain function are all linked in harmony. In perfect harmony your body will be at ease, “wellness.”

Fortunately, we now have the technology to measure the communication, the flow of energy from our brain to our body, to determine if the nervous system is working at an optimal level of 100%. The Insight Millennium Nervous System Scan allows us to see a snapshot of the health of your nervous system. The nervous system, for simplicity purposes, is divided into 3 departments. First is the sensory department, which registers things like pain, touch, and changes in the environment, internal or external. The next division of your nervous system is the motor nervous system which coordinates the movement of your body, balance, and is the primary initiator of bowel and bladder movements. The third division is the autonomic nervous system which controls the function of your organs, glands, tissues, and is basically in charge of all your involuntary health functions. Examples of these involuntary functions are sleep cycles, digestion, immune system function, hormone levels, artery dilation/constriction, respiration and thousands of other functions. The divisions of the nervous system are estimated to be around 10% of the system is dedicated to sensory, 45% motor, and 45% autonomic.

The Insight Millennium scan is designed to measure the motor and autonomic portions of the nervous system. It’s important to understand the scans performed do not tell us where you may hurt (the 10%), but more importantly, it measures the 90% that controls your autonomic (health) and motor (or muscular) system. The test detects if there are imbalances to your nervous system affecting your “perfect equilibrium,” which will lead to a disruption in your homeostasis and lead to disease or poor health. Because every thing in our life affects and impacts our nervous system, it is important to have it checked and balanced for the remainder of your life.

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Knee Update

2008-11-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

The knee feels as if its almost 100%. Today as I walk around and go from sitting to standing I can occasionally feel some inflamation in the joint, but I feel fortunate to have come this far so quick.

The ways we spend time when we can't train.

2008-11-22T08:08:00.001-08:00

Chondromalacia, characterized by pain or crepitation in the retropatellar area, is described as a grating sensation with anterior patellofemoral discomfort that worsens with climbing, squatting, or prolonged sitting. The condition may be caused by articular cartilage breakdown or chronic synovial inflammation. Excessive patellar shear forces (ultimate intervals on Wednesday night) over the femoral condyles and patellar groove with malalignment of the patella contribute to cartilaginous breakdown. During cycling, the pain is precipitated by riding up hills or when the rider pushes higher gears with a slow pedal cadence. When asked "where does it hurt" the patient often cannot point with a single finger to a specific location but will classically move their palm over the entire anterior knee or patellar area. Another clue is that the knee will often hurt after prolonged flexion (the theatre sign).

Yep, that's me. Crackling of the knee, diffuse pain in the knee, pain when driving or sitting at computer (theatre sign) and increase in pain walking up the stairs and cycling up hills. The good news is the knee was 90% this morning and I went for a run but at 8 tenths of a mile in I called it a day. As the day progressed the knee has declined to about 70%. I believe it will be 90% again tomorrow, I will have to try and do the long run on Tuesday if all goes well.

These two pictures are the before (the first picture) and after (the second picture). I slid my seat as far back as I could, I also slid my cleats as far back as well in order to get more of the cleat under my foot and away from the end of my shoe. I am hoping to reduce the shearing force in the knee by reducing the angle between the knee and ankle. If you look closely at the lines drawn you can see the shifts in the position of the cleat. Also if you look at the knee at the where it is crossing the top tube you can see in the 1st picture it is at the A in Caliente, the second picture it is at the I. That is a shift of almost an inch. With the cleat being shifted to be more directly under the foot instead of the toes and the knee being brought back an inch it appears I have reduce the shear angle about 5 degrees. I hope that's enough, if not I will have to buy shorter crank arms (recommended by the article) or raise the seat a bit (also another recommendation). But actually it appears shorter crank arms would create a larger angle between my knee and ankle. It looks as if I were to get a longer crank arm it would actually bring my ankle more forward and under my knee a bit more. If I were to raise my seat some it would bring my knee back even further and that would decrease the angle even more. I guess that would be my next step, I think I have about a quarter of an inch to 3/8 of an inch I could go up. What do you think?

But as far as Ultimate intervals go, I will probably have to rethink my jump back into intensity on the computrainer for a while. At least next time I will ease into the harder stuff a bit slower.

Winter ride #1 complete

2008-11-21T16:53:00.000-08:00

B, Robyn and I headed out today in the gusting 21 degree temperature. We looked as if we were playing strip poker as a teenager. You remember when you put on everything in the house to ensure you wouldn't have to be naked. We had long johns, over a base layer, over a flannel shirt over a, well you get it. Robyn had wool socks on over her tights, she looked hot. I had 3 pairs of gloves on. I had so many on that my hands went numb actually from the loss of circulation, which was easily rectified by removing one pair of gloves. But we hardly had one complaint the entire ride. The sun was out, the wind was blasting and our spirits were high. It really was a great day for a ride. We only managed to average 17.2 mph, the same course I avg 19.7 mph by myself last week. But the wind was constantly battling us. I found if you have descent ear warmers on you can't hear the wind and for some reason that makes the wind a bit less annoying.

I did manage to irritate my knee while riding. It seems that if I was pushing a big gear or climbing while upright my knee would hurt, then as soon as I would go aero the pain would be reduced by half. It is quite swollen now, but I feel like it will be back to normal by morning. I did some research and it appears to be chondromalacia. Maybe changing seat position, cleat position or shortening my crank arms could prevent me from having this problem in the future. I am trying not to put to much worry into this pain in hopes it will flee from lack of attention.

I have a 17 mile run scheduled tomorrow, I am not sure if I should even try it. But I will decide tomorrow and if I have any pain at all while running I will bail at the first sign.

Peak power output

2008-11-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

Well I did my ultimate interval last night and my peak power output is 350 watts. After I discovered what my peak power output was I skipped the T-Max test, the amount of time you can hold your peak power. I went ahead and did 4 ultimate intervals, the first interval I held for 2.5 minutes and the last 3 for 2 minutes. Great workout, I could really feel the affects immediately. I felt as if my thighs were going to explode. The feeling was familiar, it was the same feeling I had when I first got the computrainer.

This got me thinking about my efforts as of lately. So I looked back at my critical power numbers and they were higher back in April. I can't hold some of the numbers I set back in April right now. Even after my semi-bike focus over the last six weeks. Which leads me to question, why? I was riding less back then but I was more powerful on the bike than I am now. It has to be the intensity on the trainer that got me there. When I first purchased my computrainer I didn't truly understand power and therefore I would get on it and crank it up as high as I could. I had no expectations other than the fact I wanted to hurt myself. I only had a couple of months to get ready for St. A's and I had to go ahead and get serious.

Well now that I seem to understand power and my abilities at certain powers, I think I have limited my expectations of what I can do. I have intentionally kept my power outputs over the last six weeks low in hopes of building a solid bike base. But if you look at the numbers, it really hasn't helped me as much as the harder intervals I did back in April. I guess to push big gears you have to push big gears.... Now its time to start adding some intensity back to the ole trainer and see what comes out the other side.

Here is a real coach's perspective on the topic.

Ultimate Intervals!!

2008-11-19T15:17:00.000-08:00

Check it out, I like the idea of this workout. Chuckie V basically says "toughen it up or try a new sport like badminton".

Legs of Steel!

2008-11-19T06:13:00.001-08:00

I can't believe how great this mornings tempo run felt on the treadmill. I ran 4 miles at 6:45 pace and the legs felt great. It seems the speed work yesterday made this workout seem like a piece of cake. I really feel like I am benefiting from doing the two hard days back to back. Normally when I would wait a couple of days my legs would feel heavy, tight and slow. But doing these efforts back to back doesn't allow enough time for the legs to tighten up and I get a better workout in.

Friday looks to be a bit cool but mostly sunny. So if you want to come out and see how well your winter gear works meet me at my office at 11 for a 56 miler.

Totals for the morning: 6miles @147 avg hr.

Serenbe 15K Trail Run

2008-11-15T10:51:00.000-08:00

Doug, Ryan, Steve, Bryan and I were there representing!! We ran about 4 miles to warm up and get our mileage up. This race course was a killer, there were several long climbs and one of them was at least a 15% percent grade. And to make things even a little bit more challenging some of the runners had to dodge bounding bucks!!! That's right, we actually saw a buck run out into the road and into a woman. We were running 10 feet in front of these two ladies when from our peripheral view we saw a large buck run out into the road and hit one of the woman. She wasn't injured but she stopped running and started walking in a bit of a daze. She kind of had that look, you know the look in the movies when someone gets shot and they are still alive but they are definitely going to die. I don't think she was injured but she was probably in shock and amazed that she was just side swiped by a deer. It was kind of funny and shocking all at the same time.

I haven't done much trail running but I loved it, especially the part about being out in nature, even if we had to be cautious of the wildlife. Bryan, Doug and I all managed to hold our goal pace of 8 min miles which was pretty good considering the elevations spikes. I let it go for the last 1.3 miles and had a blast flying through the woods, dodging and weaving through the limbs. The extra vegetation and narrowness of the trail makes it feel like you are going that much faster, what a rush. I felt like I was a kid again, imitating Rambo running through the woods.

I definitely felt strong on this run. Maybe its the strength training or maybe it is the 3 days a week of running. I am not sure, but I am feeling like I am on track for a 3:10 marathon. My knee feels a bit sore today after this run which concerns me, but next time on the long run I'll take it easy and keep it flat.

We were a bit short of our 15 mile goal but I have a feeling that the extra work up the climbs made up for our being short.
Total: 13.25 miles 154 hr.

2 hours on the trainer

2008-11-14T15:38:00.000-08:00

It was a nice afternoon to watch a movie and do some computrainer. I performed a benchmark test for the first hour. I immediately started out at 200 watts and held the intensity for 1 hour. The average hr was 113. I wish I could say it was that low when I finished. At first I thought I was having a major breakthrough, because after the first five minutes my heart rate actually dropped to 95 for 5 minutes and then it eventually came back up to 110 area. When I finished the ride it was hanging around from 122-128.

Its Raining, it must be Friday!

2008-11-14T05:31:00.000-08:00

Well once again mother nature is laughing at me. Not one Friday since October has it not rained since I started my bike focus. It may not have rained the week I was in Orlando but I didn't get to enjoy it.

Tomorrow is the Serenbe 15K trail run. Bryan, Doug, and Robyn are supposed to be there also. I plan on this being a straight up training run and try and hold around 8 min. miles. I will try and run 4-5 miles before the race begins to bring me to the 15 mile mark for the day. This will be a good test on the knee. I have been back in the Newtons since October and I haven't had one twinge, so I hope my knee continues to hold up.

'Toughening it Up'

2008-11-12T16:59:00.000-08:00

I've had some time to think about my training strategy for this year. And the theme is going to be "Toughen it Up". I remember when I used to visit the gym in an effort to build bulging biceps and how it was almost impossible to get my body to perceive any soreness after workouts. I had trained so hard at times trying to tear the muscle fibers so they could grow that any effort less than epic couldn't make me sore.

Well the last few years it seemed every time I did any difficult efforts I would be sore for days if not an entire week, so I would back off and wait to do it again. Always telling myself, "don't do to much today because later in the week I still have that x workout coming up".

Well not this year. I plan on killing my muscles and building muscle strength and stamina to the point that when the season gets here I will be able to do a speed workout, then a tempo workout and a long endurance workout in all 3 sports every week. When I look at how these pros and even elite athletes are killing themselves 20-30 hours a week, I question why can't I do the same intensity with only half the duration. I think the answer is because I have conditioned myself to be a "mansy pansy".

I have developed a new strategy to break this "mansy pansy" cycle I have been in. Over the last 4 weeks I have slowly added and increased my efforts in the gym and on the road. I have measure my outputs and have slowly tweaked them every week. For example this Tuesday I had an intense circuit training with some moderate strength training and speed work on the treadmill. About 3.5 miles of running in zone 5. Then I went home and spent almost 2 hours on the trainer with exactly 37 minutes in zones 3-4, 240-280 watts.

Wednesday I woke up and did some muscle endurance work on the bike intermixed with some squats and isometric squats, for a total of 19 minutes of squats and 12 minutes of muscle endurance on the bike. Wednesday afternoon I did the programed FIRST marathon training plan tempo run with 4.5 miles @ 6:45 pace. I can't ever think of anytime in my triathlon career where I have run so hard for so long other than in a race. I have always run 800's for speed and long runs for endurance but I have skipped on the tempo runs of this length. And I have to say OUCH. Why haven't I done this length of a tempo run before? Probably because my old "mansy pansy" self would make up an excuse as to why I shouldn't run this hard for this long. You know the excuses, "I should be building base right now", "Save it for the speed workout later this week", "my calves are pretty tight today" or "5 intervals of 6 minutes in the tempo zone is equivalent" and so on.. And according to how I felt during the run its no wonder I haven't done this before in training, it sucked..but I took one step away from the old "mansy pansy" self.

I ask myself now as I write this, "am I absorbing it", "is this doing me any good", "can I keep this up and still be a functioning human being in 3 weeks'? And the answer I tell myself is, "I don't care as long as I am 'Toughening it up' ". Train hard!!

Weekly Training Schedule

2008-11-08T14:58:00.000-08:00

This is going to be my basic week until February. Next year I am goaling for a Boston qualifying time of 3:10, a sub 4:30 half ironman time and 2:05 Olympic time, and break an hour at the sprint distance (maybe John Tanner State Park in Carrollton in April). More than anything I want to feel the speed on the bike this year. No more people blowing by me like I am not moving, I hope.

Monday AM
1-1.5 hour swim

Tuesday AM.
1.5 hours of Circuit training with Speed work on the treadmill thrown in. For a total of 4-6 miles of running.

Then 1.75 hours on the Computrainer with several intervals 6 minutes @ 40-60 watts above aerobic zone 2 wattage. Tuesday is one continuous workout because I don't have to work till noon.

Wednesday
Computrainer and off the bike squats and Isometric squats 1.5 hours

Wednesday or Thursday Second workout of the day: Tempo Run- Very solid effort. I will probably choose to do this Wednesday before the soreness sets in from Tuesday and Wednesday's efforts.

Thursday AM
Swim 1-1.5 hours

Friday
Long Ride 3-4 hours

Saturday
Long Run 1.5-3 hours

Sunday
Ride 1-2 hours
Run .5-1 hour

This schedule will still keep me around the 8 hour mark on the bike and between 28-45 miles per week on the run. If swimming 3 hours a week doesn't get me where I want to be then I will have to start with Friday morning swims again.

Clearwater Finished!

2008-11-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like we have a new contender in the 35-39 age group. B slapped down a 5:08. He will definitely break 5 hours next year in Orlando, and give me a run for my money in Augusta. Robyn finished with a 5:33, which was a couple of minutes slower than her last Half in Cancun. I haven't talked to her since the race so I am not sure what happened. They did say this race was awesome. I can't wait to do it next year, God willing!

Getting faster!!

2008-11-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I rode 56 miles solo, with just a little rain at the end but it was actually very nice with some moderate wind most of the time, maybe next Friday it will actually be nice... I averaged 134 bpm (low zone 3) at 19.7mph which is a tad harder than I would normally ride but I wanted to push it a bit. I have been thinking about how I got faster last year on the run and it wasn't just running aerobic zone 2 all the time. It was solid efforts in zone 3 and 4 and even some 5 that helped push me to the next level. I have been staying mostly in zone 2 for a couple of months now and I feel like my base is ok, not great but good enough.

I know there is a lot of debate about this strictly zone 2 base training, but I do feel everybody has different physiological requirements to build speed. If you average zone 3 for a workout, you will have times where you are in zone 2 and zone 4. Which are all aerobic fat burning zones, from what I understand the danger is going to the anaerobic zone because your system will not switch back to the fat burning system. I think I have read once you go anaerobic you stay in that zone for up to 3 hours. So is it really necessary to train all the time in low aerobic zone 2? I think for me because my focus is the half and olympic distances I probably should mix it up, with a slight tendency towards the harder zones more than easier zones. Now if my body can just hold up!!

I also went out for a 13 mile run and paced it according to the First workout, I ended up being a bit faster than I was supposed to but I felt great and just kept going. Today I averaged 7:50's which is 25 seconds slower than planned marathon pace (PMP: 7:15) and held the pace the entire time with a average hr of 144. At the 9 mile mark the heart rate finally came unhinged and it started to swing upwards a good bit. But overall I could really feel the strength training paying off, the hills just seemed easier. I could really feel the extra power on the bike as well yesterday. Lesson learned, Strength training GOOOOD...

I am watching B and Robyn right now in clearwater and they both seem to be killing it. B is actually off the bike in a time of 2:35. He has a shot at the 5 hour mark, we will see. I am also watching Dylan Rist and Matt Hanson. They are neck and neck right now. 33 place and 37th place. GO, GO, GO!!

Change of Plans

2008-11-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about this run focus and bike focus strategy, and I have come up with a compromise I think. I am going to try and follow this FIRST program, designed by Furman. They basically say they have research to show that they can drop even the 3 and a half hour marathoner times with only 3 focal runs a week and some crosstraining. If this is true then I will still be able to do a bike focus (now only 7-8hours a week) and prepare for the marathon at the same time. Here is the plan I am going to try, I will probably start at week 14 because that's how far out the Marathon is. Has anybody had any experience with this type of training? If so was it effective? http://www.furman.edu/first/Marathon%20Training%20Program.pdf

Myrtle Beach Marathon

2008-11-06T05:09:00.000-08:00

Just registered for the Myrtle Beach Marathon in February. This race will sale out before Thanksgiving, if you want to do it register now. Hope to see you there!! I will start my run focus training block the week of December 13th. I wanted to get a bit more bike focus in than this but I really would like to get a marathon under my belt. Maybe my knees will hold up this time, I'll go into my training a bit slower than last time in hopes my knees will adapt.

Good luck and Good training!!

Ironmen

2008-11-05T13:18:00.000-08:00

I would like to shout out a couple of congratulations to the recent Ironman finishers in Florida. Joe Reger busted out a new PR and studly time of 10:06, Doug crossed the line with a respectable first time ever ironman time of 11:29, Steve finished 11:36 in South Carolina, and Clifford Hynson (Hawaii Ironman finisher) smashed Florida with 10:06. He qualified earlier this year for the big race in Lake Placid. Congrats guys, all of you are superheros in my eyes. I don't know how you guys do it. 26 miles after a 112 mile bike ride. You're all insane.

Are my legs getting bigger?

2008-10-29T08:21:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been asking my wife this question about every other night. She is a bit done with me right now and my obsession to build big crank arm bending leg muscles. For which I can destroy my new age group (35-39) with next year. Check out Matts Fitzgeralds blog @ http://mattfitzgerald.org/blog/?p=164, he pretty much describes the off season I am goaling for in his recent blog "Controlled Fall".

My focus has been functional strength training to improve my endurance and power on the bike. I am mixing it up a bit with weighted squats, timed interval squats, isometric squats, slow ME sets on the bike, hard 1 minute high power spins, box jumps, incline treadmill runs, burpees, bounds, and other strength builders. I am really enjoying the shift to strength building. Its very clear and objective data you can see improvements in every week.

Its been nice to take a break from heart pounding intervals, I am going to try and save any high heart rates for the airport ride which I will do every 3 or 4 weeks this year. I was actually able to do the first airport ride this weekend. I opted for the 63 mile option and I was a bit worried about getting dropped but I hung in there pretty good for 40 miles of the ride. Then when I went to stand up and deliver some force to the cranks my back wheel went a little crooked and the tire started to rub against my frame and I had to pull over to align it. I knew my day with the boys was done but I didn't think my entire ride was over, but when I went to tighten up the skewer it broke, so I had to call my wife to come to my rescue. I didn't do the airport ride once last year and I feel like I missed out on some good training. I look forward to the next time I get out there.

Totals for the week: 9 hours total, 6 hours of biking for only 118 miles. Still no week during this bike focus totaling the 180 mile mark....YET.

Good training and good luck!!

Training got you a little crazy!!

2008-10-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

He's got a Endless pool, a StarTrac treadmill and a Computrainer all down in his basement. He can do an Ironman down there. Longtime triathletes hate racing him. In the early season, he emerges from his training lab in his basement like an axe murderer--not having been seen by any living soul for three months--fit as a fiddle and ornery from cabin fever.

This is something B got from some magazine or something like that. I think this describes what my dream basement and off season would be like. This is a video of how I want to come out of the basement this year in April...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV4xo_rF-oo

A wise man once said..

2008-10-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

most successful men do 2 things in life well- not 3. For most, it's Family, Work, Hobby-the order is up to you. Scratch golfer, killing it at work... Family suffers. Great family life, superior at your hobby.. Work suffers. You get the picture.

This was a comment that someone left on my blog a few days ago. This seems right, but like he said later in his comment, I'll probably just have to learn to except it. But can't I be it all; great family man, kick ass triathlete, booming business owner, and a committed christian.

But with greatness there is often imbalance. Have you ever met someone who scored a perfect score on the SAT, don't they usually lack some other very normal human characteristic. The only perfect SAT'er I knew in high school, shart his drawers about once a week and had troubles carrying on a conversation. Michael Phelps is probably not much of a partier, but get him in a pool and he is the center of attention.

I sometimes thank God for not making me too good at any one thing, a middle of the packer.

Great Day for a ride!

2008-10-26T17:58:00.001-07:00

Today was one of those days you are glad you live in Georgia. 70 degrees and blue skies. B, Robyn and I went for a ride on some new routes out in Senoia. It was awesome! Good intervals and good times. They look ready for Clearwater.

7.5 hours of riding 155 miles. Real good strength sessions on and off the bike. 12.5 hours total. Not to shabby for off season or on season for that matter, still not quite the 9 hours of riding I am looking for but Friday's weather the last 2 weeks hasn't helped my cause.

Were traveling to a conference on Thursday and I'll probably be no where near the 9 hours of cycling. But I'll try to get some extra in somewhere.

Excuses are like dirt, they can cover up your potential and bury your dreams!

2008-10-24T05:27:00.000-07:00

I think I may have been looking for excuses to reduce my training load. I had mentioned family time, chores, and other obligations I have been neglecting. But now with some time to reflect I think the real reason for my want to reduce my training is me. I was and am feeling a bit fried. I don't necessarily like grinding away 2 hours on the computrainer even if I am watching a movie. I sometimes think to myself how nice it would be to just lie there and watch a movie in a vegetative state on the couch. And how nice it would be to sleep in till 7 am instead of 5:30.

But last night on the trainer I had one of those breakthroughs you live for. I was pushing 220 watts for the last 40 minutes of my hour ride at the hr of 125. Just a week ago it was 200 watts at the same hr. Its nice to see that the work over the last 2 weeks is paying off, a 20 watt payoff.

Also some of the comments that were made after my last post have actually made me reflect on a comment I sometimes use with my patients, "don't look for excuses, look for solutions". I am not sure where I got this quote but its not mine to claim. So what if I stopped doing the 2 a days and just had one longer workout earlier in the morning, what about swimming only 2 days but for an hour and a half, what if I could actually have a day off from training. Just kidding about that day off comment. Raymond Britt may have it right, when you do it do it, and when your not doing it relax or something like that. Streamline training, that's what I am talking about. Out of the pool straight to the weights, on to the treadmill, and done for the day. I am going to delve back into Raymond's website for a couple of days and be a bit more open minded. This time I want to believe that he isn't just a genetic mutant but his plans can really work for the average athlete. If you have any ideas on short cuts or better more effective workouts let me in on them, PLEASE.

Middle of the pack?

2008-10-22T08:36:00.001-07:00

After yesterday's blog I went home and talked with the wife. She wants me to continue with triathlon, but she asked if I could be happy with training less and finishing in the middle of the pack instead the front of the pack? Good question, would I be happy with the middle of the pack? Isn't one the points of life and athletics to strive to continually improve? Could I improve slowly over the next 10 years, even if I trained less? I want to be great, but at what cost is great? I have asked myself this question at work and now I ask it in triathlon.

Training and Family

2008-10-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

Its kind of funny how things work, I just finished Reger's blog and couldn't believe the relevancy it had to my thoughts today. I was grinding out a 2 hour ride on the trainer and I pondered the question of what would or should I be doing right now instead of training. I have spent countless hours training for triathlon, but why? Shouldn't I be helping my wife organize the house today, or couldn't I be attending to the honey do list that continues to grow. Should I be focusing on family more and work more.

Then I read Reger's blog which made the point that if we don't have hobbies in life to occupy our spare time we would be unhappy and one dimensional. But am I to triathlon focused, obsessed? Is training taking up to much time? I feel that I train about 6 hours a week when I could be with my family or doing other important things. I often find myself torn between a 3 hour ride or time with the family. A one hour ride is no problem, no sacrifice. But 3 hours is where it gets tuff. My wife loves me doing triathlon but at the same time she doesn't love the 3 and a half hour rides on Friday, or the 2 and a half hour brick on Sunday. She wants me to do well, but she also wants me to be with her and Nathan. Does anybody have ideas on how to become a kick ass triathlete and still be a great husband and father?

Off and cycling!

2008-10-20T12:55:00.001-07:00

First week complete of my cycling focus. Not as good as I wanted but not as bad as it could of been. 8.5 hours of cycling, 168 miles and some good strength training. Total was 12 hours of training for the week. My average hr for 200 watts for an hour is 124. I would like to see this number go up to 240 watts at the same hr. I am not sure if this is even possible to accomplish in 8 weeks, but I can't wait to find out.

2 hour ride in the rain and PTC 15K

2008-10-18T13:00:00.001-07:00

Friday afternoon I did another stupid. I rode in the rain with Fred for 2 hours, it was windy, rainy, and cold. I could really feel the fatigue from the weights and MEs on the bike.

A few hours had gone by after my ride of misery and Bryan called and asked if I wanted to race with him today in PTC, the annual 15k. Bryan said I could have Robyn's number because she had gotten ill. I wasn't to terribly excited, I was tired, fatigued, still cold and out of run shape. Also not to mention my nutritios 4 pieces of fried chicken and 2 plates of mac and cheese at Mothers kitchen. I needed some warm comfort food after a ride like that.

I knew I couldn't race it well but I figured I could pace Bryan and see what he could do. We were standing around at the vendors booths at the start of the race, so we started a bit late and had some time to make up. We wanted to get closer to the front where it was a bit thinner of a crowd. We started at a 6:45 pace for the first mile. A pace that would normally break B, but he has come a long way. We settled into a 7:25 pace and held it for the first 6 miles. And B tried to get a negative split the last 3.3 mils and ended up averaging a 7:20 pace for the entire day, and B gained some confidence in his run. His best run in years. I surprisingly felt great, I averaged 157hr for the day, 2 beats below my threshold. All in all, a great day for both of us.

Augusta 70.3

2008-10-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

If you are thinking about going to the 70.3 in Augusta in September you better hurry up and book your room at the Marriott today. They only have about 300 rooms, the athlete rate of $112 is gone, but they still have rooms for $139.

Training is going awesome, I am trying to log at least 180 miles a week on the bike and do a ton of strength training. If I can average 180 miles and still hit some bigger weeks here and there (when the wife permits) I think I will make some good improvements over the next 2 months.

During my circuit training yesterday I have added a 10% grade for 3 minutes @ or below threshold on the treadmill, then a minute recovery then a threshold or above run owith no grade for 3 minutes. I'm not pushing to hard this time of year, I am trying to gain some strength and maintain a bit of the speed. Overall it was 28 minutes of treadmill work and 40 minutes of strength training.

Its funny, I have been reading a bit about how others are trying to get ready for next year. It seems the off season allows for even more variances on how to get better. I hope I am doing the right things, I guess only time will tell. I'll blog more on the details of my plan later, probably when I figure it all out.

Jason Schott wins Nationals

2008-10-13T08:21:00.001-07:00

I just pulled up the National Age group results from September, the race I bailed on, and was very surprised to see Jason Schott at the very top of the results. That is an amazing accomplishment, those guys are fast. The other good news is the Age group nationals will be in Tuscaloosa next year on August 22nd, on a Saturday. Following the race will be the elite women's and men's race at 12 and 2. A full day of triathlon and a great race. I will definitely be there, hope to see ya.

I am working on some slow base mileage right now. I will have a bike focus for 2 months, then a run focus for 2 months, and then back to triathlon focus before St. A's. I might not do St. A's and opt for Orlando or Panama City's 70.3. I am leaning towards St. A's though.

Dougs first explosion

2008-10-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

Doug just finished Amelia Islands 70.3 and he has had a new experience, one that I have had quite often, an explosion. Doug's goal for the race was to break 5 hours and even better if he could break the 4:55 mark. He was confident as well as I was that he had the fitness. He already proved himself in Vineman this year busting out a 1:35 on the run course out there.

Doug has been training for Ironman Florida and was using this race as a speed and strength building workout. He had tapered some and was feeling ready to go. The plan was simple, go hard on the swim, bike and run. With the first two objective complete, he had one objective to go.

He got off and ran the first mile at 6:50. He knew he couldn't hold that so he backed it down to a 7:15 the second mile, then he backed it down the third mile to 7:30, then boom...... Nine miles of hell. He says he was running 9 min miles and felt like he was running sub 7's. His heart rate pegged no matter how fast or slow he went.

My favorite story he told was his experience at the 12 mile aid station. He stopped and asked if they had a coke, they replied with a "no", he then asked if they had a car, they replied with a "no, its only 1.1 miles", Doug replied "But do you have a car?". Frustrated with the aid station and his day he took off out of the aid station and busted out the last mile at 7:40 pace. Today Doug showed me something new, he is human. It always been a bit frustrating to here Doug tell stories of 130 mile bike rides, 3 marathons and 2 half ironmans and not even a crack. Finally, Doug joins the club, the big fat explosion club!!!! HERE YOU GO DOUG, HERE IS YOUR BIG WHITETRASH TROPHY FOR YOUR FIRST EXPLOSION EVER!!!

I had some interesting thoughts after talking with Doug about his experience. I realized the most I have ever learned is when I bonked or exploded. We never know how hard we can go until we go there. In all seriousness, I believe Doug probably gained more from today than he could have if he nailed the race. He probably will go at Ironman Florida with a strategy that is a going to be bit slower than he had originally intended which may not be a bad idea. He has 26 miles of a run to prove his abilities in Florida. Which makes me understand a bit more what Gordo is always preaching about on his site. Why go hard on the swim, and bike, when you have plenty of time to make it up on the run. Its a good strategy, but its probably harder to execute than it sounds.

Talking with Bryan last week, he questioned if he gave it his all on the bike in Cancun. I responded with a question "Did you have any left on the run?" I think in any distance half or above you truly have plenty of time to destroy your self on the run, and to ponder the question if you could of gone any harder on the swim or bike is really irrelevant. Did you give everything you had on the run, and did you have enough to give on the run? Those seem, to me at least, to be the better questions?

Training log for 2 weeks; 4 hours and 8 more pounds.

Race Report Cancun

2008-09-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

First off I would like to start by mentioning all the people I got to meet and chat with. I met local Atlanta triathlete Matt Hanson (friend of Dylan Rist. I saw Amy Kloner several times but never actually got to speak directly to Amy because she was very busy with her duties as announcer and unofficial assistant race director. I talked with two pros, Justin Parks who DNF'd and Caroline Smith who placed 2nd. Justin was extremely nice and we talked about his triathlete journey. He finished law school and figured he could do some part time law and full time training so he went for it. He is currently thinking about the 2012 Olympics and ITU primarily. I hope he makes it. I also met some amazing age groupers and had a lot of fun at the pool bar hanging with them.

I was feeling good, absolutely no fatigue or soreness, and I felt springy when I walked. I still had troubles sleeping the 2 nights before the race. I had only slept about 12 hours in 2 days. When we arrived race morning and I did a little test run and I knew I was going to be changing some of my goals for the day. I was running 7:40 pace with a heart rate of 153. Normally my heart rate at this pace is about 134-138 especially when just warming up. My initial goal was to run a 7:40 for the first 8 miles then drop it down as low as I could the last 5 miles. I figured if I could run an 8 minute mile after the bike that would be good for the day and then drop it down at the 8 mile mark like planned.

20 minutes before the swim I was ready for the pre race duke. After I took care of business I realized there was no toilet paper, nor was there any in the stalls next to me. So there I was, jumping in the stall in hopes to shake any unwanted hangers. Then I resorted to opening the door and sticking my head out of the porto poty and asking mexican ladies if they had any toileto papero. Eventually Bryan found a very large leaf and I was able to get a good couple of wipes in, now that I think about it maybe that's why I have a little extra itch today.

I was in the third wave to start on a two lap swim course. I headed out and managed to start drafting with the 26 minute guys. We were hauling ass, I wasn't sure how long I could hold the pace without completely wiping me out for the day but I was willing to find out. As we came into the first turn I got caught behind a guy who I thought was in the lead pack but he turned out being a guy from the group ahead who we were passing. By the time I noticed and looked up the pack had 15 yards on me and I knew I couldn't catch them. So I fell into my own rhythm and waited for the 30 minute guys to catch up. Eventually I found a good group to swim with and we swam together most of the way then I dropped them with about 300 meters to go. When I came out of the water I felt good, I grabbed my jersey from the side of a trash can where I had stored it because the bike sherpa jerseys are not swimmer friendly. It was a long beach run to transition, I looked back and I couldn't see anybody from the group I was drafting with so I knew had a good lead on them.

Going into the bike I felt real good and strong, but my heart rate was too high (160bpm) but I figured it would come down. Eventually I was caught by 3 riders, two were staying legal and one was a wheel sucking cheat (whom was in my age group). I rode off the back staying within reach, I was riding way to hard but I just couldn't let them go, I didn't want to be out in the middle of Mexico by myself. I pushed it, I averaged 158 for the first 40 minutes, I wasn't supposed to go over 152 (my lactate threshold). I was surprised how high yet how slow I was riding. It felt easy to push the heart rate up to 160. But after 45 minutes I could tell I was starting to build up lactic acid so I backed it off and let them go. At the turnaround I was averaging 23 mph but then as I headed back down towards the start line I realized we had the wind behind us the first 45 minutes. Uh oh, now I was out in the middle of Mexico no one near to keep me focused so my avg speed started to plummet. A couple really strong riders passed and I had to let them go. Way to strong for me. 30 minutes back down towards the start line they had us loop back around and head out again which was a real nice treat with the wind to my back again. Another rider passed and we rode together for a while, being very careful not to draft I stayed back a good ways, I just needed a carrot. We crossed over some chunks of dried cement on the road and I lost a water bottle as I turned around to see what I dropped I drove my bike into the ditch. I almost came to a stand still in the ditch and I felt like I had a flat or something, my bike was making all kinds of noise. I pulled over and checked everything and it appeared to be ok. As I started out to ride again I heard and felt the noice in my bike again, I continued to speed up then I realized it was the bumpy road that was vibrating my bike. When I got back to speed everything settled out thank God.

After my almost crash the first giant draft pack finally caught me and I rode off the back of them for 30 minutes. I felt like a dumb ass, wearing an aero helmet, zipp wheels and I was being sucked along by 40+ riders. I was staying the correct distance back but because the peloton was so large I was definitely being helped. I started to become upset with my free ride so I dropped the hammer. I flew by the huge pack head down just giving it everything I had. After a couple minutes I looked back and I had been cleared. I couldn't let the peloton catch back up. I didn't want to be that guy who tried but failed. Shortly after my break away I noticed one guy who was half way between who was riding hard, he rode up next to me after a very solid effort and said "thanks for making the break I was tired of pulling all those people the last 30 miles." This guy could ride. I told him to hop on and I'd help him out until we were clear. We eventually took turns rotating and we rode all the way into transition together and we gained a minute or so on the peloton. Yes I was cheating, but it had to of been the dumbest race move I could of done. But I just couldn't let those guys suck me back in, DAMN THE EGO. I held an average heart rate of 163 for the last 15 minutes, well over my goal of 152.

I came into transition a little foggy from the effort and couldn't find my rack. I eventually got my bearing and found my bike place and took off on the run. I started out on the run feeling great, I was running 7:05 easy, but I knew better. I forced myself to slow down and run the planned 8 minute mile pace with a heart rate of 154 (5 beats shy of my threshold of 159), I was getting passed left and right by the guys who were in the peloton. But I knew I would see all of them again. It was way to hot and I knew if they were behind me in the first place they probably weren't going to be that much stronger than me on the run and I was right. I eventually started picking them off one by one. I passed everyone of them back. I was having a great run.

The aid stations were amazing, they had these huge 10 oz bags of water that were chilled perfectly. I would run through the aid station dunk my hat into the ice water and have a cap filled with ice ready to go. I actually was cold at one point during the race, ice in the pants, on the head, in both hands, and in the tucked in jersey. They also had guys in between the aid stations handing out chunks of ice. The bags of water could be torn at the corner and you could either drink them or squirt off your entire body with almost perfect accuracy. One bag for the body and then one to drink and one to store for later. It really was amazing. I think every race in the heat should offer these bags of water, instead of the 4 oz glasses of water they offer now. It would help prevent a lot of troubles. Write Ironman and let them know.

I was having fun and smiling the entire way....almost. At the 8 mile marker I decided to let it go and see what I could do the last 35-40 minutes. The heart rate climbed up from 158 to 164 and it started to hurt. The aid stations didn't seem to cool me down as much. Ice was melting extremely fast now and my mood was changing. At the 11 mile marker I was done, I didn't want to run this hard anymore but I had no choice. It kept getting hotter and hotter, I felt twinges in my hamstrings, but I still felt strong. What seemed an eternity was finally nearing the end, I had one last push and finished strong. I finished the last five miles with an average pace of 7:44. If I had just maintained my pace of 8 minute miles I don't think this run would of hurt at all, but I guess thats not racing.

I was 13th in my age group and 49 overall. I ended up qualifying for Clearwater but decided not to take a spot. Which turned out to be fortunate because we had showed up to the roll down late. The race director announced the roll down was going to start at 9 after the awards, I was not feeling well so we went back to our room as well as Bryan and Robyn. I had decided before the roll down I didn't feel like going to Clearwater but I still wanted to go see if Robyn and Bryan were going to make it. So we showed back up at 8:45 and they had finished with the roll down. Robyn and Bryan had missed it as well as several other atheltes. After some arguing with the official, Robyn and several other athletes were permitted to go. Bryan was offered a spot but he refused to pay until he was certain Robyn was going to get to go. After she was allowed he tried to get his spot and was denied. He is going to appeal and is waiting to hear from Ironman.

Here is the data and the official results. 30 minute swim, 2:34 bike- avg hr 151-21.9mph, 1:44 run-avg hr 161-7:52 pace.

Comparing this race to Orlando is interesting. It was a hillier bike in Orlando but I managed to hold 22.5mph with a much lower average hr of 143. The run was much faster in Orlando (7:40 pace) but I melted down to 8:20's at the end, my average hr in Orlando for the run was 162 very close to Cancuns average hr of 161. In Cancun I averaged 7:43 for the last 5 miles, thats almost 40 seconds faster per mile the last few miles compared to Orlando eventhough my entire run was 2 minutes slower in Cancun. But I would do it this way anytime, Orlando sucked the last 5 miles, this was fun.

Whats with the bike in Cancun? Was the wind that much stronger in Cancun? Was the lack of sleep responsible for my higher heart rate? Ah the questions of triathlon, so many factors. I think a power tap is in order.

Next year 28.5 swim, 2:20 bike, 1:33 run on a similar flat course. Maybe Panama city in May. Base and strength training starts now.

Back in the states

2008-09-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

Had a great trip to Mexico. Bryan and Robyn nailed the race. B passed over 20 people in his age group on the run and Robyn improved her time by 45 minutes. I finally negative split the run. Although it was a slow run relatively it was still nice to negative split that run in the heat. More later. Thanks for all the emails and calls.

Bike packing party!

2008-09-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

Because packing your bike is so much fun, Robyn wanted to make a party of it. 2 hours later and tons of fun we finally have our bike crammed into a small box ready for travel. Its kind of scary, B's box is a cardboard type box spray painted black. Hope they get there in one piece.

Dylan Rist Rocks 70.3

2008-09-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

Atlanta local triathlete Dylan Rist killed the 70.3 last weekend in Muskoka Canada. He placed 1st in his age group and was the third overall amateur. I visit his blog frequently trying to get some good training sessions from his site. Some of his workouts appear to me as an impossible task but it is interesting to see how hard an elite athlete trains. I can't seem to handle the intensity this guy can do. One of his workouts he rode hard for 2 hours then grinds it out on hill repeats for the last hour. If I were to do a workout like this one I wouldn't be able to walk for 10 days. Dylan is able to this kind of crazy workout and still log 20 hours for the week. Which has me thinking, "Am I getting to old for this kind of intensity?" or "Am I a wuss?".

Have I been to conservative on speed workouts, should I increase the amount of speed sessions per week, should I go harder, can I go harder, will I break down or get stronger? I was reading triathlete magazine the other day and it was saying that a competitive athlete should consider 2 or 3 speed workouts a week per discipline in his/her speed building period. I am good if I have one speed session in one discipline in a week. I can't see me doing 2 speed sessions on the bike and run per week. I would be toast. But if I steadily increased my intensity over a few months I wonder if I could then be able to do 2 speed sessions per discipline a week? Maybe next year.