Sunday, May 21, 2006

Week 17

Monday - day off. I like this taper off period, great excuse to stay in bed. Actually, I did about 1/2 hour stretching, hanging upside down and my 46 gut crunches on a ball. There, nice workout.

Tuesday - walk, well, that was different. 5.185 miles in 1:09:55, 4.4 mph (13'33" mile) @ 106 bpm. I like running better. Got blisters on my feet. Strange, I had the same shoes I run in, I don't get blisters running. Hmmm, it does use different muscles or at least uses them differently. I felt it in the evening.

Wednesday -
Bike to work, 1:15:09, 23.78 miles @ 18.9 mph @ 162 bpm. The bpm is unreliable, too many HR failures along the way. It's just too damn dry here and as soon as the wind blows through my jersey, the HR goes to 240 bpm. Took off CatEye in the morning, decided to go with GPS only.
Run at noon - 4.510 miles, 40:44.17 @ 6.6 mph (9'01" mile) @ 157 bpm
Bike home - 23.87 miles in 1:18:33 @ 18.2 mph @ 143 bpm. For once the wind was blowing almost in my direction. Nice.

Thursday -
Bike to work, 1:15:38, 23.78 miles @ 18.6 mph @ 155 bpm
Run at noon, 40:19.18, 4.526 miles @ 6.7 mph (8'54") @ 157 bpm
Bike home, 1:24:42, 23.87 miles @ 146 bpm (GPS gave up on me, crap)

This concludes my training. It's been fun. Next time I'll do Maffetone method.

Friday - Nothing
Saturday - Nothing
Sunday -

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Week 16

Week of May 8 - May 14

First week of tapering off, slowing down.
Monday - run 41:26.36, 6.1 mph (9'48" mile), 4.228 miles @ 153 bpm
Tuesday - run 51:01.54, 5.8 mph (10'11" mile), 5.0 miles @ 150 bpm
Wednesday - run 45:33.49, 6.2 mph (9'32" mile), 4.778 miles @ 156 bpm
Thursday - bike to work, 23.77 miles in 1:16:25 @ 145 bpm (GPS ran out of battery)
run 38:11.04 @ 6.0 mph (9'55" mile), 3.845 mils @ 147
bike home, 23.72 miles @ 15.6 mph @ 136 bpm
Friday - day off
Saturday - leasure bike ride with Nancy, 2.5 hours, 15 miles
Sunday - bike 3:18:34, 55.22 miles @ 16.6 mph @ 141 bpm. This time I drank 3 x 24 oz bottles, ate 2 power bars, 2 gels and a handful of nuts. Felt pretty fresh after the ride.


Things learned this week:
Went to a doctor on Wednesday to check me out before the race. My resting heart beat is about 54 now, they clocked my blood pressure at 90/52. Steadily declining, hmmm. How low is too low? Other than that, I came back with an 'Incomplete right bundle branch block' on my EKG. Aparently this is not a problem by itself, but it could mask other problems if there are any. Googled an article at American running association on it. Have an appointment for a cardio clinic where they'll fit me with some kind of a monitor I'll wear for 30 days. That is after I come back from Brazil. The receptionist didn't know what a triathlon is. Funny. After I explained, she said no, you can't wear it in water. OK.

Yup, it was the battery in the HR belt. Radio Shack batteries do suck. Put a Duracell 2032 in it, it works OK again.

Saw a bike in the bike shop I started salivating over. Carbon frame Lapierre. Hmmm, if I do well in Brazil ...

Speaking of bikes, I put a last finishing touch on the bike - an Orca whale squeeky toy. I need a horn for those times when I'll be passing other people. Or attract attention to me when I need someone to call an ambulance. More likely.

Eating a lot of nuts, coconut oil, hemp protein, shreaded coconut and other fatty foods. I never thought I'll worry about loosing too much weight. I clocked the real scale in the doctor's office at 179 lbs, wearing my clothes. Not too bad. That puts me at about 176 real weight. Just about where I wanted to be for the race.

New stuff:
Put new set of tires on the bike, Continental Force (23 mm) in the back, and Attack (22 mm) up front. They seem to be running softer than my regular Conti 4season. I like them, although the front is a bitch to put on.

Put a new chain on the bike, cleaned it up, I think it's in good running condition.

Learned that it will cost us at least an extra $100 to travel with the bike on the same plane. Crap. Each way. Hmmm, how do I pack a bike into 62 linear inches? There is something to think about.

Booked a place to stay at in Florianopolis, about $25 per night for both of us. Sounds like a nice and friendly place, read some good reviews about it on the web. Got email from the innkeepers offering to pick us up at the airport. How nice. Pousada Marujo

Did a lot of web reading on Brazil. I am pretty glad we're not going to Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo. I like low key.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Week 15

Week of May 1st - May 7th
So this was the final week of training. The most intense, most demanding. Well, not really. I am beginning to believe that I am learning to listen to my body and my body was basically telling me to leave it the hell alone.

Monday, May 1st - day off after the Tinman on Sunday. Feeling pretty good, eating like there is no tomorrow
Tuesday - swim 42 laps, no wetsuit, 43:37.17
run 4.356 miles in 43:37.17 @ 6.1 mph (9'44" mile) @ 153 bpm
Wednesday - day off, lunch at Indian buffet, loaded up on chicken and spinach
Thursday - run, $1M loop, forgot HR and GPS at home, however, I know it's 6.515 miles, did it in 56:33. Got our passports back with Brazil visa - cool. Now we need to find out where to stay in Florianopolis.
Friday - run, $1M loop, 6.515 miles in 55:57.21 @ 6.9 mph (8'35" mile) @ 163 bpm
Saturday - day off, gave blood.
Sunday - day off, just went for about 1.5 hours 16 mile bike ride with Nancy. Easy going, no rush, my heartbeat got over a hundred just once in a while. Not really a workout, just a long warmup. Felt pretty good.

Things I learned this week:
Swimming: comparing Tuesday swim (43:37.17, no wetsuit) to Sunday Tinman (39:37.19 in wetsuit) means that the wetsuit buys me about 4 minutes on half swim, should total about 8 minutes savings in Florianopolis. Also probably less effort, that is likely even more important.

My body is telling me to lay off a bit so I didn't push for the final week. I think it's a good thing. It's probably more important to be in tune with my mind, muscles and skeletal structure than to push it beyond the exhaustion point. I still did some good long runs at high bpm. Didn't do any biking at all, the weather kind of sucked - cold and rainy, screw it, I am not going out in that, not worth hypothermia.

My left hip is still bothering me a bit. Not during running which is a Good Thing (TM) but after the run or when I get out of bed. I'll see if I can nurse it to perfect health before the race.

Gave blood on Saturday (another good reason to lay off over the weekend). Vital stats: Temperature: 97.7F (36.5 degrees C), resting heart beat: 60 bpm (I like this, I clock myself frequently now in about 57 bpm range), 50% red blood cell count and blood presure 110/54 - compared to about a year ago, my cell count is up from 47%, my systolic is up from 98 to 110, my diastolic is down from 70 to 54. Hmm, don't really know what that means, I'll start keeping track of it from now on. The good thing is that 110/54 seems to be in an 'optimal' range, so I do feel pretty good about it.

I was experimenting with hydration on my runs. I have a couple of 4 oz cute bottles that just fit in my hands and are pretty comfortable to run with. It does make a difference when I drink before the run and then periodically just sip during running.

On Friday I ventured into 7'10" mile teritory once in a while, got the heart going (never crossed 170 bpm), then stopped running and walked fast (convenient time to take a drink) until my heart beat dropped below 150. This seems to work pretty well since I still averaged 8'35" mile. I kind of like it, this looks like a reasonable backup plan for the marathon.

Put a new battery into the HR belt. Radio Shack batteries suck. We'll see whether it was the battery or the belt just going south. My bets are on crappy battery. Got Duracell this time.

Got Brazilian visa - wow, that was quick. I used a place in Texas called Visa Express, obviously with great results. It costs $29 extra (per visa issued), I'd say well worth it.

Started thinking about the life after the Ironman. Well, first I do need to finish it. What am I going to do next? I am thinking about buying Timex' latest and greatest toy HR with GPS and data collector and reverse engineer their data download protocol and write a workout application that works on Linux and Mac. Everybody is writing their stuff for the freaking Windblows only. Morons. Maybe I'll just write it for Linux and Mac only, screw the freaking Windblows. I have been a Linux fan for over 10 years now and this kind of attitude still pisses me off. I have been known to return products because they didn't work with Linux. I am fed up with them creeps.

Other ideas are writing a web book about this last year. I would give it a catchy title, something like: "From FatBoy to IronMan - an impractical guide to handling midlife crisis while stroking male ego and severely punishing the body".

Hmmm, maybe I should really start paying attention to my pet project I wanted to do for a few years now. I could probably make a living out of it too.

I am curious to learn what my reaction will be if I finish the race (I hope I will). Am I going to be totally turned off or will I want to do another one?

Started reading "The Maffetone Method" - so far he makes sense, this is one book that seems to be very reasonable and kind of in tune of where I'd like to go. I think if I'll train for another one of these, I'll start all over with Phil Maffetone's guidance.