Saturday, April 17, 2010

triathlon WODs

Bike 38 miles, 2:20
360 and Bee Caves Route, ending at Pure Austin north (pool)
MS: 2 x [15min hard, 10 min recovery],  3 x [15min moderate, 2 minute recovery]

Swim 2500
MS: 3 x [100 hard, 200 hard, 100 easy]with negative split
100s=1:29, 1:28, 1:25, 200s=3:01, 3:00, 2:56
47 min total time
The bike to swim transition was harder than I thought it would be. My legs felt like jello in the pool and my upper body was tight. It took about 1000yd to feel normal.

Bike 5 miles, 27 min - pool to home, easy riding in traffic

Run 3.5 miles, 28 minutes
These brick runs are always a bit torturous. They don't feel like running as much as just trying to move one leg in front of the other and get through the time. My legs started feeling marginally more alive in the second half of this.

This was an interesting workout today with the biking-as-transportation and multi-transitions. I wore my swimsuit on the bike and put my goggles and swim cap in my back pocket. All I had to do was take off my shorts and jersey and I was ready to jump in the pool. It was raining on and off all morning, so I was already wet when I got to the pool.

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This workout got me thinking about how I could put together triathlon workouts as though they were Crossfit WODs (workout of the day) in order to keep things fresh. Crossfit WODs consist of multiple movements put together in various combinations, with systematic numbers of repeats and rounds, and are usually named after someone. Off the top of my head, a triathlon WOD could be something like this:

3 rounds for time of
[Run 2 miles, Swim 1000 yd]

OR

On bike trainer and treadmill for total distance:
21 min - 15 min - 9 min
Bike hard, Run hard

These are fun to come up with. I could also imagine mixing in actual Crossfit weighted movements between the swim-bike-run. I can't wait to give it a try... perhaps in the off-season so I can experiment.

Friday, April 16, 2010

swim TT improvement

Swim 3000yd [52 min]
MS: 1000yd time trial => 14:32 = 31 seconds faster than 6 weeks ago when I tested :) That comes out to an average 100 pace of 1:28.5.

Run 3 miles recovery on treadmill, 29 minutes. Slooow... my legs weren't into it, at all.

Push up test: Max= 35 knee pushups in one set
No improvement there since a few weeks ago. I haven't really been focusing on it though.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

long run

Run 16 miles [2:23]
Route: 2222 to Balcones Dr, Pecos, Lake Austin Blvd, Town Lake Trail, Lamar, Shoal Creek trail, back to 2222.
I've said it before and it's still true... long runs are my favorite workout of the week. I left the house at 7am and enjoyed this early morning foot tour of Austin. It was cloudy and cool and the spring flowers are out.  This was a hilly course through some really nice neighborhoods. I even discovered a new part of the Shoal Creek trail that I didn't know about. Bonus! It got a little tough on my legs near the end but I pushed through and was able to finish strong.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

favorite things

Strength Bands
These bands from muscledriver.com are the key to getting strong enough to do unassisted pullups. I loop the band through itself around overhead bar, then grab the bar and stick my foot in the loop. The resistance of the band provides pullup assistance and I do pullups as usual. Now that I can do 100 pullups fairly easy with the green one, I am ready to move up to less assistance. I just ordered purple. Yay!


Coconut Water
Is this a gimmick for people who have extra money to spend on health and fitness stuff? That's what I was thinking before I tried it... and then I tried it. Super tasty after a long workout! I treated myself to one of these yesterday after my interval run. At $1.59 for 6 oz, these will remain as treats.


Tuesday, April 13, 2010

glycogen depletion

I read an article in the recent issue of Outside magazine about how sled dogs that run 100 miles day after day in the Iditerod are primarily using fat for fuel. Dogs don't use carbs for energy like humans... but could humans train to have their physiology work more like that of dogs?

Then, my Running Times magazine arrives and answers my question... enter article about low-carb training and how you can increase your long distance endurance by training your body to use fat when glycogen stores are low. Professional marathon runners have already found success with this. To teach the body to use fat, the key is that you need to train in a glycogen-depleted state.

The author gives three suggestions on how to do this:
  1. Workout before breakfast on an empty stomach, two days per week.
  2. On a double workout day, eat primarily fat and protein between the workouts and don't eat carbs during the workouts.
  3. Do long runs up to 20 miles with only water.
She suggests to work into it gradually and not do all your workouts like this because it is stressful on the body at first. This all makes sense to me. If my body can use more fat stores during an Ironman, then I will have even more energy by supplementing carbs. I'm going to experiment with this a bit in my upcoming workouts and try to get my body as good at using fat as possible. I started this morning with a pre-breakfast run.

Run 7 miles with 4x800
[1:02 total time, 800's@3:16, 3:14, 3:19, 3:20]
Wow, those 800 splits amaze me. 3:14 might be a PR.

Strength Set #1
100 Pushups (knee)
100 Pullups (green band)
100 Situps
100 Squats
Broken up as sets: 10-10-13-13-10-10-9-25
[21:07]
 Strength Set #2
2x10 Single leg step ups with 25 lb plate
2x10 Side lunges with 10lb plate
45 leg press (9x5 reps starting at 110 and adding 10 lbs to failure at 180)

Swim 2500yd [47 min]
Recovery workout, nothing too hard or fast

Monday, April 12, 2010

good swim

Swim 4000yd [1:10]
Main set: 4 x 650 as (50 fast/150 mod/100 fast/100 mod/200 fast/50 mod)

I felt great today and was able to hit my threshold pace on the fast sections of these 650's. I couldn't be more thrilled with the fact that I am not tired after that ginormous workout yesterday. (Bison burgers and spinach to the rescue!) I am also very happy with the fact that these longer swims aren't feeling mentally long or boring anymore. I'm used to the time in the water and able to focus through to the end. The endurance has come back like I never took any time away from the water.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

weekend 9: 5k and race rehearsal

Saturday
Tiger 5K Run, Dripping Springs TX
[22:24 with mile splits 7:17(HR 157), 6:50 (HR 164), 7:34 (HR 165)]
1st in age group, 4th female overall

It was time again for a lactate threshold run test, and this small race was a good place to do the test. It was a benefit for the high school marching band so there was band music at each mile mark. The whole thing was charming and well organized so it was fun, but the course was challenging and not a great place for a PR. There were a lot of gradual inclines and a massive mountain in mile 1. I was 60 seconds slower than when I did my 5K run test last month.  I still managed to win my age group and bring home a locally-made jar of black bean and corn salsa as my prize :) George was a good cheerleader.



Strength workout
50 Manmakers (5lb dumbbell and knee pushups) - 13:19
3 rounds Bear crawl: front, back, right side, left side

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Sunday - race rehearsal day
Swim 3200m (1:04) - open water with wetsuit at Barton Springs
Bike 60 miles (3:31) - rolling hills, rode tri bike
Run 7.5 miles (1:00)
[5:35]

Nutrition
Breakfast - 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 scoop protein powder, 1 banana, omega-3 pill (about 400 cal)
T1 - 1 Nutrigrain bar (130 cal)
Bike - 30 oz water, 2 Nuun tablets, 2 fig bars, 1/3 cup raisins, 12 almonds, Justin's nut butter packet (about 600 cal)
T2 - 1 Nutrigrain bar (130 cal)
Run - water

It recently remembered that I am doing the Lonestar 70.3 in Galveston TX in two weeks. Yikes, where did that come from? I was glad to have this training day to practice execution for a long day. Everything went very smoothly for the most part, and I felt great on the run. A good run is concrete proof that execution was good. I was a bit low on calories and water the whole day, but I had enough just to slide by without bonking. The day was cool with a light mist, so I didn't need as much as I would have if it were sunny. It was a long day mentally. As I think back, I'm not sure what I thought about that whole time. I think I keep my eye on the road ahead and keep my mind focused on having my body move as quickly and efficiently as possible at all times.

When I was done with all this, I scarfed down some leftover veggies and fajitas that I had waiting for me in the car. It really is all about the food.

Week 9 of 20, complete!