When Did I Get So Busy?!

Holy CRAP man! I'm sick and TIRED of my job getting in the way of important things like my blog! I mean really... I need to do some prioritizing here! It's simply unacceptable for me not to ramble on and on about my training and nutrition on a daily basis in my blog! Seriously...

So a couple of things that I've been differently in the last couple of weeks:

1. No more training with the iPod. Something that they pounded into my head when I was in the military was that you train like you fight. In military terms that means you make your training as close to actual combat as possible. So I've stopped using my iPod... how many iPods do you see out on the course on race day? ZERO!
2. Riding and running on all flats! The Pacific Crest HIM bike course changed to all flats. Actually... the total elevation on the bike course is a net loss.
3. Training in the mid-day heat! Whenever possible, I ride and run during the hottest part of the day. Everyone that I've spoken with about Pacific Crest said that it was inhumanely HOT last year.
4. Finally... embrace the wind. If I'm used to riding head-first into the wind and maintaining a constant speed... I'll have less to bitch about come race day if its windy!
   

Alrighty... So I need to do some catchup here:

We last left off with my long Saturday ride! What a kick in the pants that was!

Sunday was a swim/run/family fun day! Here's what the workouts looked like:

Swim:

• 300 yd warm-up
• 900 yd main set
• Total Time Main Set: 15:00
  
• 300 yd cool down

Run:

• Total Distance: 13.9736 miles
• Total Time: 1:40 min (7:09/mile)
  
• Avg HR: 158
• Weather: cloudy/muggy

Swim was uneventful. Felt really short... 900 meters almost seemed like a waste of time... but I figured there was a reason to have such a short swim. "Just obey the training plan... obey... obeeeeeeeyyyyy" I am really pleased with the run! On the initial measurement I shorted myself by a mile... which would have meant 7:42/mile... STILL happy with that. Essentially at this stage I'll be stoked holding a 8 min mile after the bike. All good stuff!

Monday:

• Rest DAY!

Tuesday:

Swim:

• 3oo m warm-up
• 3 X 400 m on 45 sec rest
• 300m cool down
• Main Set Splits: 6:50, 7:06, 7:05
  

Bike:

• 6 mile warmup
• 30 min at 40K race pace
• 6 mile cool down
• Avg HR: 154 BPM
• Avg Speed: 21 mph
• Total Dist Main Set: 10.6 miles
  

Alrighty. So I don't really have any feelings one way or another about the last 2 workouts. This is a recovery week so I'm just trying to get caught up on some rest and let my body recover. I'll be doing the equivalent of an Olympic Distance race tomorrow... we'll see how that goes. Overall I feel pretty strong and fit. I'm a bit troubled by the run... kinda hurts a bit... I can't really control that though so I'm not going to worry about it.

So hopefully things will slow down a bit with work and I'll be able to keep things up to date here in blogland!

Breathe....

Saturday Long Ride!

Got up this morning at 4:00 am to have some coffee and breakfast and headed out for my long ride at around 5:30am. I haven't been doing that many super early mornings simply b/c I haven't found it overwhelmingly necessary. With the flexibility I have in my schedule I can usually find time during the day to get my workouts in. Today however we have big family bike-riding plans AND company coming over... so I had to get it out of the way early. I LOVED how quiet it was out. There were literally ZERO cars out on the road so you could really hear the world waking up around you. I started out in all farmland... mostly grass farms and some cattle and sheep. It was pretty funny watching their reactions... I'm not sure that they knew what to think, "Hey! JACKASS! It's 5:30 in the morning... the suns just coming up... why don't you relax?" Pretty chilly to begin with but as you can imagine I warmed up pretty quickly. Hit some rolling hills about an hour in... most of which didn't exceed 8% grade at the most. Next thing I knew I was in Monroe... a "cute" little town with a sorta small-town farmy feel... time to turn around. I headed back on the dreaded Territorial Highway... which is notorious for being a cyclist's deathtrap. Of course by that time it was roughly 7:00am and the traffic was picking up and the pucker factor increased exponentially... although it was still bearable and I only had to spend about 6 miles on the highway. Made it back to my start point with a negative split feeling relaxed and comfortable.

So here's the stats for the ride:

• Time: 3:00
• Distance: 57.7 miles
• Avg Speed: 18.2
  
• Avg HR: 144
• Fuel: 2 x 24 oz bottles Hammer Nutrition's Perpetuem

Overall I'm pretty happy with the ride. To date... that's the longest ride I've ever done. Yeah... so I'm wondering if I'm actually prepared to ride that distance, get off the bike and immediately run 13.1! I'm guessing that I am but I'm also guessing that my dreams of holding a 7 min mile over the course of the 13.1 are just that... dreams. It occurred to me that my days of running really fast might be over. For one thing... in order to be fast at any distance you have to train very specifically for it... so in effect I have gotten slower b/c of cross-training for triathlon. But ya know what? TOTALLY WORTH IT! Jeah jeah jeah. Besides... at this point I don't know JACK about this amazing sport called triathlon. I think that's part of the appeal... I'm constantly learning.

Long run and swim tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to get out to Dexter Reservoir for an open -water swim! AwwwwwHELL JEAH...

Breathe....

If you just read this... leave a comment damnit!

Pole, Paddle, Pedal Race Report!

Geesh! Its about time that I got to this! I know that you've all been waiting with bated breath to hear the results of this awesome event! For those of you that don't know, Pole, Paddle, Pedal is held in Bend, Oregon every Spring. Its a HUGE event that the entire city seems to turn out for. There are a number of ways to participate: individuals, teams, or pairs. The race starts out with a 100 yd sprint up the side of Mt. Bachelor ski area where you immediately transition into downhill skis and BANZAI down the mnt on a giant slolum course for about 300 yds. This is a mass start so it can be a bit chaotic. That is followed immediately by an 8k skate ski, a 25 mile down-hill bike, a 10k run, a quick kayak on the Deschutes, and a sprint to the finish!

Before I get to the results... I should mention that 3 out of the 4 team members didn't train a single day prior to the race. Team BatYo consisted of 3 of my buddies from college and myself. Both the downhill and the skate ski were done by Wombat (Mark): A genetic freak that could probably smoke most Olympians in pretty much any sport if he'd apply himself. The bike was done by Foam (Dean): An ex-SNAG (Sensitive New-age Guy), with legs the size and texture of tree stumps and a pink road bike that hauls ASS! The run was done by myself: Formerly known as Niedermyer and also known for my practically non-existent ass. Finally, the paddle was done by Estebablin (Steve): An avid paddler with a fast boat and a torso the size of Michigan!

Team BatYo! made a good showing placing 5th in our age group in a field of 19 with a total time of 2:28. There are no timing chips and no way of knowing what our individual splits were, (No one but me wore a watch!). My split for the 10k was 38:14 which is pretty good for an old skinny guy like me... but I'm not convinced that its a true 10k. I'll have to ask Drew if he has a good read on the true distance. Regardless the whole thing was awesome and I can't WAIT for next year! I'm convinced that the exact same team can take our age group... we just need to get the other guys to lay off the beer and Fritos 4 weeks prior to the race and no one will be able to touch us.
Big shout out to my buddy Jim and his awesome wife Jen! They were the home base for the entire crew and without them and their hospitality the weekend wouldn't have been half as fun!

ALRIGHT! So since the race on Saturday... I came home on Sunday and immediately went to the pool and knocked out 2,200 yds. Splits were good and I averaged 1:25/100 yds. Not too shabby.

Monday was a rest day. YAY!

Tuesday consisted of the following:

AM Swim: Amazon pool is FINALLY OPEN! YES! It is an Olympic sized outdoor pool! SO nice to get outside and swim... a bit cold at 5:30 am... but oh well. Here's the workout...

• 300m w/u
• 4 X 400m intervals on 45 sec RI
• 300m cool-down
• 1:25/100m

Felt good. I was weird to go from a 25 yd pool to a 50m pool... I thought I never get to turn around! Although... I will say that its helpful for those of us that are math impaired... less counting.

PM Bike: Flat and windy!

• 9 mi w/up
• 35 min at 40km speed
• 9 mi cool-down
• Main set distance: 12.4 miles
• Avg speed: 21 mph
• Avg HR: ? (I screwed up and erased the data... although I believe I kept it right at 145 BPM)

Felt really good! Started the main set into the wind... which sucked! The good news is that I turned around at a little over the halfway mark (in terms of time) and got to have the wind push me. Just getting to hear my tires humming along at an occasional 26 mph was just awesome!

Wednesday RUN!

• 1 mile warm-up
• 22 min at 10k pace
• 1 mile cool-down
• Total distance: 3 .24 miles

Alright! ENOUGH! I'm tired and need sleepy! Much more later!

Breathe...

Quicky!

Pole, Peddle, Paddle totally ROCKED! Team BatYO kicked ass with 3 out of the 4 team memebers not training at ALL! Whoop Whoop!

Swam 2200 meters on Sunday.

Rested yesterday.

Swam 4 X 400m on 45 sec RI this morning.

PPP race report comin up soon!

Flippin FAST!

Yesterday was my first official day back into training! After a 2 week hiatus due to illness I've been pretty stressed about coming back... how much fitness have I lost? Are my lungs going to recover adequately to perform? Now that the Willamette Valley Pollen of DEATH season is upon us, will I be able to train adequately? All of these are complete unknowns for me... I just don't have the experience to predict what's going to happen. I did get some very simple and sage advice from CoachAdam on Triscoop: "Listen to your body" In other words, just pay attention to your body and obey what its demanding of you. Basically, if you feel good? Train. If you don't? Take it easy. Pretty simple!
So here are the workouts I got in on Tuesday:

AM Swim:
- 300 yd warm-up
- 3 X 400 yd repeats on 45 sec RI
- 300 yd cool-down
- 1800 yds total
- avg 1:32/100

Overall purty good! One of the things that I noticed is that b/c I'm taking Albuterol for the time being, my HR is elevated between 5 to 10 BPM even at rest. In addition I feel like I can't quite get a complete breath. Not fun. Having said that both the swim and the run felt good overall. The discouraging thing about the swim splits is that I know if I had been able to be in the pool for that two weeks... they could be faster. Oh well... can't control what happened two weeks ago right... movin on.

PM Bike:
- Easy spin warm-up
- 30 min @ 40K race pace
- Easy spin cool-down
- Total Distance: 31.7 miles
- Total Time: 1: 45 min
- Avg HR: 148 BPM

GorJESUS day out so it was really nice to be out on the open road. The 30 TT was really fun! Here's the thing... I took off and was holding between 23 to 25 mph the entire time and barely breathing! When I got done, flipped around and started heading the opposite direction... that's when I realized that during the entire time trial... I was running WITH THE WIND! Bah HA HA! That's just hilarious! I was like, "Man I'm such a STUD! Look at me... yeah yeah... I gots mad cycling skills yo!" What a joke! As soon as a turned around my speed dropped to 16 mph! Yeah, I'm a chump... but I still had FUN!

Off to Bend this weekend for the Pole, Peddle, Paddle! Its gonna be SWEET!

Breathe...

Who you callin CHICKEN!?

YES! I FINALLY got out on the bike! AND I almost killed a chicken AND a rooster! Life is SWEET! K is still out of town and I had arranged for a sitter to come and watch the heathens while I went and got some sort of workout in. I really wasn't sure what I would do but I truly felt that my lungs were healed up enough to put in some light cardio effort... plus... mentally I HAD to do something! The weather was cooperating today so I figured it'd be a perfect time to take the bike out for a spin. Did I mention that I don't have my own road bike? Well I don't so all the riding I'm doing is on my TT bike... yes... I'm the dork down in the aero-bars truckin around Eugene! ANYWHO... Here's the stats for todays ride:

• 1 hr. 55 min
• 32.16 miles
• 16 mph avg speed
• 140 bpm avg HR
  

The picture on the left are the chicken and the rooster that were hangin out in the road! They seemed a little put-out that I had the nerve to almost tear through them at 20 mph... so I had to pull over and grab a quick pic of em!

Ride felt pretty good. Legs felt really fresh. HR was a bit higher than I would have liked it. I don't know if that's related to being sick for so long or the fact that my Zone 1 or 2 always seems to be a bit high. I felt good the entire time was was giddy with joy to be out again!

The challenge over the next few days is to take it slow in coming back... don't get carried away... and listen to my body. If I'm tired... I need to ease up on the throttle... if I'm feelin good... I still need to keep things in check for at least another week.

Pole, Paddle, Peddle is in less than a week! I'm PUMPED and so is my team! It's going to be a really really FUN event!

Until later...

Breathe...

Will it EVER end?!

Yeah... you guessed it... I'm still sick! I can't believe it man! I swear that God Himself is sabotaging my training! Am I missing something here? Am I neglecting my family, my job, my responsibilities and this is HIS way of letting me know? Nah... I'm not that important. It's just a freakin pisser that the weather has been absolutely AMAZING and I haven't been able to get out in it and sweat. I think that my bronchial symptoms are exacerbated by the hideous pollen counts here in Eugene. My allergies are just not letting up at ALL! I went to the MD today and he said that my lungs are on the road to recovery and he doped me up with allergy meds... I should be good to go!

OK! So this weekend K is taking off and I'm hangin with the 3 chillins! That means JUNK CEREAL for dinner! YES! I am hopefully attending a bike-fit seminar on Saturday morning and getting my swim AND run workouts in on Sunday! We'll have to wait and see how I feel but at this point I'm going to be positive and say YES... I'm working out this weekend!

Pole, Peddle, Paddle is in another week in Bend! Team BAT YO is going to be in FULL effect. Those guys won't know what hit 'em when we post record times on the course!

Breathe...

BronCHITIS!

I'm stuck at a meeting in Seattle AND I have bronchitis! Isn't that the BEST!? I went to bed Saturday feeling like I was going to be at about 80% in the morning... instead I woke up shivering and having a hard time getting a full breath. Took my fanny to the urgent care (what a pleasant place on a Sunday morning) and got some chest X-rays. The good news is that its not pneumonia! The doc was really cool and gave me a Z-Pack and sent me home. I spent the rest of the day in bed. Luckily my wife turned on the "mommy" switch and took really good care of me. I got up this morning at 4:30 am... not to train but to get on a plane up to Seattle... about an hour flight. These meeting always drive me crazy! It seems to me that we could accomplish much of what we do in 3 days in a day! Grrrrr... but... such is life! Ultimately its probably a good thing to be out of town... I need to finish my antibiotics and rest and get healed up! I've missed way too many days of training and its driving me CRAZY! I'm actually starting to freak out a bit. Everything that I've read says that you begin to loose fitness after a week of not training! Do I have that right? Or is it two weeks? Anyway... its been 7 days since I last trained and beyond the bronchitis my joints hurt from the inactivity... I know that doesn't make any sense but its true!

Alright! Sorry... I'm a freakin ungrateful BABY! I'm lucky to have the job that I have that affords me the living that I make which supports my family and my triathlon habit! I'm blessed beyond belief and I shouldn't complain... its all about keeping it in perspective isn't it?

Can't WAIT to get back out there!

Breathe...

sick, Sick, SICK!

Boy am I tired of THIS! Essentially my entire family has been sick for the past 4 weeks... including one bout of pneumonia with Tom. I guess I was bound to get something but I didn't think it'd last this long. I've been out since Tuesday... haven't done a single workout! I have zero energy, my sinuses are plugged so badly that I can't draw a breath nor blow one out, and my lungs feel completely trashed. I'm a terrible sick person too... pretty miserable to be around b/c I'm a big grouch... add to that not really being able to work out and you have a raging A-Hole!

It's supposed to be sunny this weekend which will be a nice break from the HORENDOUS weather we've been having! My Training schedule calls for a 3 hour ride on Saturday with a shorter/moderate run. Sunday is a 1:45 min run and a 2,000 yd endurance swim. I'm really hoping to be able to do all of that! I'm especially pumped about the swim b/c I was going to head out to Dexter Reservoir with my buddy WOMBAT for the first open water swim of the season! YEAH BABY! Keep your fingers crossed for me...

After listening to Drew's interview with Vanessa Vargas on Zen and the Art of Triathlon... I got inspired to put together an endurance nutrition talk at one of the local bike shops. I think that's where most of us get confused in this sport... there's just so much information that it can be overwhelming... and we begin to loose sight of some of the basics! I'll be posting dates, times, and locations, as things come together!

Pray for clear sinuses!

Breathe...