Long, COLD run

RUN: 11 miles, 1hr 46mins. COLD and WINDY. 9:36 pace in the snow and ice. High 20's but unknown windchill. Ran up to school road, then to N25th and to park entrance. That was the outbound, I then turned around and came back. I had very few troubles whatsoever--brief pains would come and go as I warmed up, and the right ankle was out of place a few steps, but other than that the only problem was some left foot numbness. It's likely my orthotic needs adjustment.

Once again, I got halfway thru a workout and was presented with the opportunity to cut out halfway. I could have easily come home along the highway and ended with a 6.5 mile run. My hands were so cold I couldn't eat my gel (mint chocolate!). The wind was cutting through my gloves, I ended up putting my water bottle under my arm. With the windout of the south, I knew my homebound route up the school road hill was going to suck. And did it ever. Up a long, long hill into a cutting wind, one step at a time.

I'm still enjoying the benefits of long distance training, as demonstrated by the fact that I felt no pains or aches afterwards. My ankles are doing great, I have limited flexibility in the left is all.

NEXT: Likely nothing for 2 days. My visit at home is wrapping up, and I have no bike or trainer. Maybe a run Friday morning, but it's supposed to be even COLDER!

Tuesday swim, gotta kick a little

SWIM: 1750y 49 mins, 2x600 intervals. Plan said to do 1st 600 swimming and 2nd 600 pulling, I didn't have a pull buoy so I did no kicking on the first and kicking on the 2nd. I was definitely faster on the second 600. My hips were higher and I didn't rely so much on my arms for propulsion. My arms wore out in the first interval, I actually debated whether I should do the second one! Part of my mind tried to say "but my form will suffer, it's not worth it" and the other part said "oh suck it up". In the end, the fatigue wasn't there in the second interval. So maybe one goal for an upcoming swim lesson is to review the best kick technique for me.

NEXT: A run, either a 5 miler or my long run of 10-12 miles. Maybe the canal path?

Monday's Swim/Run

SWIM: 1750y 50 mins 2x200 main set. Although I don't normally swim 2 days in a row, I didn't feel the previous days swim at all. I love this pool, with the sunshine coming through the windows. I focused on an even pace while swimming. The last 200 was weak compared to the first, but all I needed was a brief rest to get form back. I need to work on my endurance in swimming.

RUN:5mi, 45 mins 2x1600 @ 7:30 on a treadmill. Yeah, I swore I wouldn't treadmill but I had 3 good reasons: just swam so wet, just swam and popped right ankle, and sidewalks weren't clear yet, and wanted to do controlled intervals. OK, 4 reasons. The 1 mile intervals were pretty easy especially after I warmed up (>20mins) and I sped up a bit more. No problems at all with the ankles! They just hurt when I overextend.

I'm sticking so far to my healthier goals and keeping even energy levels. No soreness or fatigue yet, but my lungs and back of my throat hurt a bit--dry air maybe?

NEXT: I'm bikeless, so just a swim. Keep it easy so as not to push the 3 days in a row of swimming I'm doing. Bike for a bit on the stationary?

A journey of a thousand miles....

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. --Lao Tzu,
Chinese Taoist philosopher

I found a silver ring with a similar saying engraved in it. (Must a copyright issue?). Looking up this quote took me to other relevant Lao Tzu quotes:

He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you
are heading.

And so tomorrow it begins. Sometimes I would tempt myself to think that I could start the day after Christmas, but I held out and waited until tomorrow. Even though my training will still be light with the FBR coming up, tomorrow is it! I can't help but wonder if I'll somehow change tomorrow when I start training--I'll be officially "training for an Ironman triathlon". Not getting ready to, and not planning to, but actually Training For An Ironman Triathlon. Yikes!

Another plan of mine was to make each training session count, to have a goal. To help with that, I'd planned to review the next day's training while recording the current one. Some schedule switching will be needed with the holidays and travel, but here goes....

Monday Dec 28th (Thurs workout): 45 min swim, main set of 1200y continuous; 45 min run, 15min at 65% and 20 min at 75% with perfect running form. There are 2-3 5 milers in the marathon training plan, this is one of them.

A squeezed-in swim

SWIM: 1500y in 36 minutes. Just swimming, no drills.

Mayhaps my best swim yet. And I keep saying that, sooner or later my swimming's gonna peak. I have one more lesson, but would like to get another set of 3 to work on the speed and refining the technique.

IM starts tomorrow!! That will get a special post. :-)

New numerics:

SWIM: 1500y / 26449

BIKE: 43 m / 421.2

RUN: 16.3m / 220.65

2009 RUN: 1035.5 miles

Christmas Running!

RUN: 6.5 miles ~58mins in FP, xmas eve run

RUN: 4.5 miles 42 mins at home, 26th Dec

The 4.5 miler run was in snow and ice, cold and windy. Tried the YakTrax for the 1st time and liked them! Also the first run in a long time in which neither ankle hurt at all. Not sure why--if I'm finally healed or just had a good day. Maybe the cold numbed them.

Ended up skipping the marathon plan 10-miler due to a busy schedule, I'll get it later.

Picked a plan finally

I've settled on the TriFuel Plan. It has a similar structure week to week and allows me to schedule into regular group runs and events.

This will have to combine with the RW marathon program I've picked. I've printed out both a 20-25 miler and 26-30 miler marathon plan, the goal is to do at least the 20-25 distances, and use the 4th run in the longer plan when I can. No need to overdue it now.

The overall for the TF plan is:
Monday: swim ---Will be able to use Masters swim in summer
Tuesday: Bike/Run--- Back to the old tues brick!
Weds: Swim/Bike
Thurs: Swim/Run --- Run first, thursday group run
Fri: Swim or off --- For now, do the sunday here
Sat: Bike or Bike/Run
Sun Run/Bike ---For now, switch the Friday swim to Sunday at crestview

Sounds like a plan! Marathon training starts this week, IM next week. I'm excited to get started, less excited that it's starting over the holidays. Luckily running is easy to do anywhere. I'll miss a few early bike sessions maybe, and that's all.