Last night, Meredith and I got to attend the OSU-Dayton game and send off the Buckeyes to the semis of the NIT. It was the third game in a row we managed to sit in the first three rows, thanks to some timely ticket purchasing, and once again the team didn't disappoint. It was a 9:00 tip-off, though, and by the time traffic cleared out and we got home, it was a fairly late bedtime.
So, 6 AM came early today (or 6:15, in Meredith's case...). I got some granola, laid on the couch to watch the news, and generally was pokey in getting ready for my 60 minute run. When Meredith left, I got down to the treadmill to finish off The Empire Strikes Back and get my run on. It didn't feel great, which I attributed to the late night and long swim yesterday. So, I cut it down to a walk for a bit after each set of strides to let my feet and legs recover before kicking it into gear again. Not my best run, but I got it in, and I already know I can run the needed distance for these races.
I got upstairs to take a shower, and went to take my shoes off. Huh. Not my running shoes. Go figure, the brand-new-worn-three-times $30 knockaround shoes I just bought the other day didn't feel good during a run.
Yeah, not so much a morning person.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Just keep swimming...
Last night, Meredith and I headed down to the gym for a 30 minute recovery swim. After a little drilling, I started in on some light swimming, mixed in with a little bit of ill-advised racing when we happened to be next to each other. :) I could keep up with her for a bit, but I knew that wasn't the best way to do a recovery swim. Also, I knew I'd be doing plenty this morning.
Today's swim was the longest in the training plan to date: 200 warmup, 2000 main continuous, and 200 cooldown. I didn't count laps yesterday, and afterwards realized I had gone close to 800m without a major break. If that was possible, why not 1000? Why not 2000?
And I did it. Continuous. I just got in a rhythm today. Yes, I'm still over-rotating to breathe. Yes, my kick is ugly at times. But I finished 2000 meters without stopping. That's longer than the swim in Muncie. It took me 51 minutes, which some might call a bit slow. I call it under the cutoff pace for IM Austria, with 15 months still left to improve.
Oh, and I forgot to add this initially...I made it to the door of the gym today, looked down, and instead of my water bottle, I had grabbed my tupperware container of apple crisp. It might not be as refreshing, but it certainly would have entertained the other folks in the pool to see me stuffing handfuls of apple crisp in my mouth between laps. :)
Today's swim was the longest in the training plan to date: 200 warmup, 2000 main continuous, and 200 cooldown. I didn't count laps yesterday, and afterwards realized I had gone close to 800m without a major break. If that was possible, why not 1000? Why not 2000?
And I did it. Continuous. I just got in a rhythm today. Yes, I'm still over-rotating to breathe. Yes, my kick is ugly at times. But I finished 2000 meters without stopping. That's longer than the swim in Muncie. It took me 51 minutes, which some might call a bit slow. I call it under the cutoff pace for IM Austria, with 15 months still left to improve.
Oh, and I forgot to add this initially...I made it to the door of the gym today, looked down, and instead of my water bottle, I had grabbed my tupperware container of apple crisp. It might not be as refreshing, but it certainly would have entertained the other folks in the pool to see me stuffing handfuls of apple crisp in my mouth between laps. :)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The Hills
Sorry Meredith, it's not about the show (or the program).
This week is the start of month two in my training plan for Muncie. Now that a base has been established, I get to start doing some more intense sessions. Today was the first "hill" ride, though it was actually inside on the trainer.
Now, I've only been on the new bike a couple times, but it's seriously uncomfortable in the seat area. I hope that's something that goes away as you get used to it, because I'm not sure I could take it for eight hours of riding. I was actually looking forward to the hill intervals today, because the added resistance meant taking pressure off the seat.
Any bikers out there that can offer me hope for what I've got, or should I be looking at a different seat?
This week is the start of month two in my training plan for Muncie. Now that a base has been established, I get to start doing some more intense sessions. Today was the first "hill" ride, though it was actually inside on the trainer.
Now, I've only been on the new bike a couple times, but it's seriously uncomfortable in the seat area. I hope that's something that goes away as you get used to it, because I'm not sure I could take it for eight hours of riding. I was actually looking forward to the hill intervals today, because the added resistance meant taking pressure off the seat.
Any bikers out there that can offer me hope for what I've got, or should I be looking at a different seat?
Monday, March 24, 2008
A Contest, Eh?
This weekend, Meredith and I stopped by McDonalds for breakfast before her audition to sing the national anthem at our local minor league baseball team. Pretty normal, uneventful meal, but we sat right by the poster for their current "Disney Princess and Pirate" happy meal promotion.
On the poster, it had all the fine print. Mostly the standard stuff, describing what happens when you find the winning piece in your happy meal. But then we saw this line:
"To win, a Canadian must answer a skill-testing question correctly."
This obviously raises many questions. Would we get to choose our own Canadian? Is one assigned to us? What kind of skill-testing question requires a Canadian in the first place? Our guess was something about hockey.
On the poster, it had all the fine print. Mostly the standard stuff, describing what happens when you find the winning piece in your happy meal. But then we saw this line:
"To win, a Canadian must answer a skill-testing question correctly."
This obviously raises many questions. Would we get to choose our own Canadian? Is one assigned to us? What kind of skill-testing question requires a Canadian in the first place? Our guess was something about hockey.
Friday, March 21, 2008
*click*
Training is so strange sometimes.
Two days after my disaster of a swim, something clicked, and today's swim (albeit shorter) was great. I did the last 400 in one stretch, and felt like I could have kept going. My concentration today was on my front arm position and my head position. By not ducking my head, I felt like air was more readily available when I needed it. I also kept my front arm at a shallower angle, which seemed to keep me from submarining after a breath.
I was even relaxed enough to breathe bilaterally today, though my left side is still almost a 90° body rotation.
In other news, the 24/7 Elton John song rotation in the pool area during the morning seems to be no more; today I heard Colbie Caillat and Sara Bareilles. For the first couple weeks of training, literally every song was Elton John. I'll probably be humming "Bennie and the Jets" all through the swim at Muncie.
Two days after my disaster of a swim, something clicked, and today's swim (albeit shorter) was great. I did the last 400 in one stretch, and felt like I could have kept going. My concentration today was on my front arm position and my head position. By not ducking my head, I felt like air was more readily available when I needed it. I also kept my front arm at a shallower angle, which seemed to keep me from submarining after a breath.
I was even relaxed enough to breathe bilaterally today, though my left side is still almost a 90° body rotation.
In other news, the 24/7 Elton John song rotation in the pool area during the morning seems to be no more; today I heard Colbie Caillat and Sara Bareilles. For the first couple weeks of training, literally every song was Elton John. I'll probably be humming "Bennie and the Jets" all through the swim at Muncie.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Big One
And out of the ashes again comes the blog. :)
As you probably already know if you read Meredith's blog, we're training for Ironman Austria in 2009.
Along the way is the first big goal, the Muncie Endurathon this July. It's a half-Ironman distance: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. For now, that distance seems overwhelming enough. Thoughts about the full race can wait till after that one. :)
I'm about 3 weeks into my training. Running is certainly the easiest right now, which is little surprise considering it's the only one I've really done over the last few years. We just got our bikes last week, so hopefully we can get outside on them once Downpour '08 finishes up.
Today was a swim, 1650 meters in all. The swim is what scares me the most about the triathlon. Now, I can already "swim". The challenge is turning it into something that I can do for 1.2 miles, and eventually 2.4. Right now my biggest problem is breathing. Just to test myself today, I tried to swim 25m without breathing. No problem. And yet, I always feel like I'm struggling for breath when I breathe every 4 (or 3, or 2) strokes. Definitely something that needs to go away by July.
As you probably already know if you read Meredith's blog, we're training for Ironman Austria in 2009.
Along the way is the first big goal, the Muncie Endurathon this July. It's a half-Ironman distance: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. For now, that distance seems overwhelming enough. Thoughts about the full race can wait till after that one. :)
I'm about 3 weeks into my training. Running is certainly the easiest right now, which is little surprise considering it's the only one I've really done over the last few years. We just got our bikes last week, so hopefully we can get outside on them once Downpour '08 finishes up.
Today was a swim, 1650 meters in all. The swim is what scares me the most about the triathlon. Now, I can already "swim". The challenge is turning it into something that I can do for 1.2 miles, and eventually 2.4. Right now my biggest problem is breathing. Just to test myself today, I tried to swim 25m without breathing. No problem. And yet, I always feel like I'm struggling for breath when I breathe every 4 (or 3, or 2) strokes. Definitely something that needs to go away by July.
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