Ok I stole that quote from my buddy at dinner last night. A bunch of us went out to a nice restaurant and he spilled the oil for the bread all over the table within 1 minute of arriving. Then he had to eat his dinner with a place mat beneath him. I'm writing this because I bruised my right hip on Friday and it's actually hurting me. How? Sliding down a banister in my apartment, of course. It looked fun and I thought I could hop off before hitting the knob at the bottom... I couldn't (or at least I didn't). I laughed it off Saturday night, Sunday it was a little sore, but I didn't workout (sigh) so I didn't really notice it, and today when I went for an hour run it started to bother me. I don't think there is any real damage done, but it is bruised and tender and was very annoying when I ran today. I'm an idiot.
The good news is that I ran for a little over an hour today. I'll head to the pool in a little while for a swim, so I'm starting off the week well. Weekly goals- a) 10 hours b) 2 am workouts c) 2 weight room sessions.
I'll let you know how it works out!
(future post coming... diets, dietary habits, when I'll get on the bandwagon)
Monday, January 17, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Just checking in.
I haven't been feeling that great this week. I've been extremely congested and overall just feeling lousy. I had a good swim early this week and a decent swim last night. I know I'm not going to be able to work out this afternoon so I managed to get up at 5am this morning and spin on the bike for about an hour. Since I took off Tuesday and Wednesday my weekly hours are pretty low right now. I have a nice long weekend with not much planned (except a TON of quizzes to grade) so I should be able to get in quite a few workouts. I'm planning on swimming and running tomorrow, then swimming and biking Sunday (or maybe the other way around). If I'm feeling better I might do a triple session one of the days.
Missing those 2 days in the middle of the week really upsets me. I'm not off to a good start at achieving my goals for the year. I knew Tuesday evening was going to be tough because Mad and I had tickets to see Les Mis so I should have gotten up early and done something. It's hard to get out of bed at 5am or earlier and workout, but I knew that before I signed up for this.
The other thing I want to start doing next week is getting some sessions in the weight room. I need to use these next few weeks to build some more strength while my workouts aren't too long. I'll try for 2-3 gym sessions next week along with a full week of the swim/bike/run.
Lots to do!
Missing those 2 days in the middle of the week really upsets me. I'm not off to a good start at achieving my goals for the year. I knew Tuesday evening was going to be tough because Mad and I had tickets to see Les Mis so I should have gotten up early and done something. It's hard to get out of bed at 5am or earlier and workout, but I knew that before I signed up for this.
The other thing I want to start doing next week is getting some sessions in the weight room. I need to use these next few weeks to build some more strength while my workouts aren't too long. I'll try for 2-3 gym sessions next week along with a full week of the swim/bike/run.
Lots to do!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Running barefoot (or in Vibram Five Fingers) - my 2 cents
Many of those that know me know that I love the vibram five fingers. I bought them just over a year ago and I give them full credit for turning me from a non-runner into a decent distance runner.
My problem was that I was naturally a heavy heel striker - meaning I would slam all of my weight down on my heel as my foot struck the ground. This I learned, is bad. By doing this all of the weight of your body shoots right up through your leg wreaking havoc on your joints. After reading Born to Run, I learned that I was doing it all wrong. The ideal running stride should land on your forefoot. Doing this allows you to compress your heel to the ground before pushing off and bend your knee which absorbs almost all the shock that would otherwise be shooting up through your leg. The problem with running in modern running shoes is that you can get away with heel striking for a little while before it starts to hurt. Then you think you need new shoes to fix the problem - not a new stride.
When I first started using the vibram five fingers I was slower and more sore than I had ever been before, but it only lasted a couple weeks. The advantage to using the vibrams instead of just trying to correct your foot strike is that since the vibrams have such thin soles, you get instant feedback. If you start heel striking or if your footfall is uneven you will feel it within a few strides. For those that are braver than I am, or more frugal, going barefoot would give you the same feedback. I like the vff's bc they protect my feet from puncture wounds and debree. But even with big chunks of salt covering the sidewalks and 3" of snow on some parts of the trail I ran this past weekend, I saw one guy totally barefoot.
I do want to talk for a moment about the advantage of modern running shoes... The thing that the vibrams don't have is cushioning. To push off hard and get the most out of every stride, this cushioning helps. I'll compare this to using wood vs metal bats in baseball. A metal bat hits the ball further, period. But training with wood helps train you to hit the ball in the sweet spot. You can get away with hitting a ball off the handle with a metal bat - not with wood. But if I were going to participate in a home run derby and had the choice to use metal, you better believe I would.
I love to train in the vibrams, but I would never race in them (if I cared about the time - which I do...it is a race after all). I think the best thing to do is most training in the vibrams and then some race specific training (ie- tempo runs) and races in a lightweight thin soled trainer. For example the asics hyperspeed 4, which I use (also Macca won Kona wearing them and famous American marathoner Ryan Hall wears them). They also only cost about $60 (http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-ASHS4.html).
I'll mention that I have no sponsors, no contracts, no relation to any of these brands - this was just my thoughts on them.
So that's all for now. I'm home sick from work right now and I doubt I'll get out of bed long enough for even a light workout today. Better to be sick in January than June or July, I guess.
My problem was that I was naturally a heavy heel striker - meaning I would slam all of my weight down on my heel as my foot struck the ground. This I learned, is bad. By doing this all of the weight of your body shoots right up through your leg wreaking havoc on your joints. After reading Born to Run, I learned that I was doing it all wrong. The ideal running stride should land on your forefoot. Doing this allows you to compress your heel to the ground before pushing off and bend your knee which absorbs almost all the shock that would otherwise be shooting up through your leg. The problem with running in modern running shoes is that you can get away with heel striking for a little while before it starts to hurt. Then you think you need new shoes to fix the problem - not a new stride.
When I first started using the vibram five fingers I was slower and more sore than I had ever been before, but it only lasted a couple weeks. The advantage to using the vibrams instead of just trying to correct your foot strike is that since the vibrams have such thin soles, you get instant feedback. If you start heel striking or if your footfall is uneven you will feel it within a few strides. For those that are braver than I am, or more frugal, going barefoot would give you the same feedback. I like the vff's bc they protect my feet from puncture wounds and debree. But even with big chunks of salt covering the sidewalks and 3" of snow on some parts of the trail I ran this past weekend, I saw one guy totally barefoot.
I do want to talk for a moment about the advantage of modern running shoes... The thing that the vibrams don't have is cushioning. To push off hard and get the most out of every stride, this cushioning helps. I'll compare this to using wood vs metal bats in baseball. A metal bat hits the ball further, period. But training with wood helps train you to hit the ball in the sweet spot. You can get away with hitting a ball off the handle with a metal bat - not with wood. But if I were going to participate in a home run derby and had the choice to use metal, you better believe I would.
I love to train in the vibrams, but I would never race in them (if I cared about the time - which I do...it is a race after all). I think the best thing to do is most training in the vibrams and then some race specific training (ie- tempo runs) and races in a lightweight thin soled trainer. For example the asics hyperspeed 4, which I use (also Macca won Kona wearing them and famous American marathoner Ryan Hall wears them). They also only cost about $60 (http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-ASHS4.html).
I'll mention that I have no sponsors, no contracts, no relation to any of these brands - this was just my thoughts on them.
So that's all for now. I'm home sick from work right now and I doubt I'll get out of bed long enough for even a light workout today. Better to be sick in January than June or July, I guess.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
And the improvements continue!
Another good swim today! A timed 500yds in 7:26!! In the past 4 weeks I have brought my timed 500's from 8:28, to 8:17 and I dropped another 51 seconds this week. I'm down to a sub 1:30min/100yd pace. I have a long way to go until I'm comfortable going this fast for 4400yds (the IM swim), but I'm starting to believe it's possible. This is giving me great confidence and a lot of motivation!
I also had a nice one hour ride on the trainer today. I'll finish the week with a long(ish) run tomorrow. A solid start to 2011.
Thanks for reading!
I also had a nice one hour ride on the trainer today. I'll finish the week with a long(ish) run tomorrow. A solid start to 2011.
Thanks for reading!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Getting faster??
Somehow I had a pretty good swim tonight. Lots of short sprints in my main set and then right in the middle was a 400...5:59!! That's the first time I've been able to hold anything over a 200 to a sub 1:30/100yd pace! The weirdest thing is that I didn't feel as smooth as I should if I'm going at that pace.
This makes me feel great, though! It gives me a lot of hope that I can start to hold this pace a solid 195 days before the race! And if I can start ironing out some more problems with my stroke I should really be in a good place come the spring and summer.
Ok enough for now! I'm finally starting to get amped up for the year ahead!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Tired Legs
They're back. I hate tired legs. And I haven't had tired legs for over a month now. But yesterday's baby brick workout made them come back. I rode on the trainer for 45 minutes (although I did get in a couple good high resistance reps and 2x 1minute with one leg) and then went out and ran in my vibrams for 45 minutes. A good workout for the first week in January, but god I hate tired legs. It's something I'll have to get used to over the next few months. Honestly I can't think of too many days between April and November when my legs weren't tired so it will just be getting used to that again. It does start to feel good when even though my legs are tired, I know I am in great shape.
The swimming is coming back around. After that 8 day hiatus after Christmas I started to feel awkward in the water, but 3 swims already this week and a nice long workout planned for tonight should help me out. The biggest problem I have been having deals with body rotation. I don't rotate enough and therefore my pull is a little weak hence making me slow. I also over reach a little bit and end up crossing my centerline which causes me to zig zag through the water instead of cruising through in a straight line. I've been swimming with Thomas, who is an awesome swimmer himself (2.4mile open water in consistently sub 45 min with relative ease) and he's a collegiate assistant coach, so he should be able to help me out with these things. The best part is that he isn't my 'coach' - he's just a buddy that's helping me out. I don't think he reads this, but if he does - thanks.
Onward!
The swimming is coming back around. After that 8 day hiatus after Christmas I started to feel awkward in the water, but 3 swims already this week and a nice long workout planned for tonight should help me out. The biggest problem I have been having deals with body rotation. I don't rotate enough and therefore my pull is a little weak hence making me slow. I also over reach a little bit and end up crossing my centerline which causes me to zig zag through the water instead of cruising through in a straight line. I've been swimming with Thomas, who is an awesome swimmer himself (2.4mile open water in consistently sub 45 min with relative ease) and he's a collegiate assistant coach, so he should be able to help me out with these things. The best part is that he isn't my 'coach' - he's just a buddy that's helping me out. I don't think he reads this, but if he does - thanks.
Onward!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Goals for 2011 (and obstacles to overcome)
Rather than trying to write this as a well written couple paragraphs, I'm just going to make a list of my goals and the things I'll have to get though to attain them.
1. Consistent training - this is something I have been struggling with lately. During the month of December I averaged only 5 hours of training per week. I missed multiple days of workouts and it was easy to talk myself out of doing something. Granted I don't have anything in the immediate future so I was not as driven, but it's still unacceptable. I need to pull it together and really focus once my training program starts. The spring is going to be extremely difficult in terms of time management (a big achilles heel of mine); helping to build this life skill is almost as important as attaining the fitness level I will need to complete the ironman.
2. Staying humble - not being (too) overly ambitious or underestimating the ironman. Knowing myself, I know that once things start rolling I tend to underestimate how difficult things will be. Even though I know I shouldn't do this, I start seeing my gains and assuming they will continue in a linear fashion rather than plateau. If I want to have the best race possible in July, I need to remember this is not a sprint nor will it be easy.
3. 10 hours at IM Lake Placid - there, I said it. I've had that number in my head for a while and I couldn't decide whether or not I should publish it, but here it is. I think I'm capable of putting down a 1 hour swim, 5:30 bike and 3:30 run. It's ambitious, but it should be within my reach come July assuming all things go as they should. Now that it's out there I need to also remember not to be upset if it doesn't happen. This year is my first ironman - it won't be my last. It took me 2 tries to break 5 hours for a 70.3 so it might take more than one try to get to 10 hours at the 140.6 distance.
4. 4:30 HIM - 30 swim, 2:30 bike, 1:30 run. I'm not even sure if I'll do an official 70.3 because of the cost, but if I do, that is the time I want. If I do end up doing an ironman sanctioned event that time should be good enough to get me to the 70.3 World Championships (in Vegas this year) which would be pretty awesome. Although I just saw that they are in September this year so doing either Syracuse or the Poconos 70.3 would be too late to get me in for 2011.
5. Sub 17 min 5k - in the fall I'm going to cut back the distance and focus on speed in my running. I'll work a lot with the Tatnall XC team and try to get into the 16's. The only 5k I've ever run was an 18:55 so I have quite a lot of work to do.
6. Get into Boston Marathon for 2012 - just make sure I don't miss the date it opens. I already have a qualifying time.
7. Have fun - I don't want to get too caught up in training that I forget those that I care about most. I'll have to make sacrifices, but I hope they don't separate me from the ones I care about most in the world. This is another area I'll need those time management skills.
Seven goals sounds good for now. I don't want so many goals that I can't realistically focus on all of them. There are other small ones that I'll need to do in order to attain the big goals (ie: get faster on the bike so I can realistically ride a 5:30 IM bike). And of course the unwritten goal is to qualify for Kona...but that isn't my focus - it would just be icing on the cake. The big seven above are my focus for 2011.
January has started and all I've done is go for a lazy swim today. I have a lot of work to prepare for school tomorrow. The pool was closed for a full 8 days so I have been off my schedule in the pool. I'll start back with my timed 500's next weekend and I think I'll stay with 500's throughout January rather than going to timed 1000's as I had originally planned. I'll switch to 1000's some time in the spring or maybe early summer. I'm also going to try and do all of my runs for the next couple weeks/months in the vibrams. My hour long run on Friday left my calves burning even this morning! I'll blog about the wonders of the vibrams soon.
Back to grading papers...
1. Consistent training - this is something I have been struggling with lately. During the month of December I averaged only 5 hours of training per week. I missed multiple days of workouts and it was easy to talk myself out of doing something. Granted I don't have anything in the immediate future so I was not as driven, but it's still unacceptable. I need to pull it together and really focus once my training program starts. The spring is going to be extremely difficult in terms of time management (a big achilles heel of mine); helping to build this life skill is almost as important as attaining the fitness level I will need to complete the ironman.
2. Staying humble - not being (too) overly ambitious or underestimating the ironman. Knowing myself, I know that once things start rolling I tend to underestimate how difficult things will be. Even though I know I shouldn't do this, I start seeing my gains and assuming they will continue in a linear fashion rather than plateau. If I want to have the best race possible in July, I need to remember this is not a sprint nor will it be easy.
3. 10 hours at IM Lake Placid - there, I said it. I've had that number in my head for a while and I couldn't decide whether or not I should publish it, but here it is. I think I'm capable of putting down a 1 hour swim, 5:30 bike and 3:30 run. It's ambitious, but it should be within my reach come July assuming all things go as they should. Now that it's out there I need to also remember not to be upset if it doesn't happen. This year is my first ironman - it won't be my last. It took me 2 tries to break 5 hours for a 70.3 so it might take more than one try to get to 10 hours at the 140.6 distance.
4. 4:30 HIM - 30 swim, 2:30 bike, 1:30 run. I'm not even sure if I'll do an official 70.3 because of the cost, but if I do, that is the time I want. If I do end up doing an ironman sanctioned event that time should be good enough to get me to the 70.3 World Championships (in Vegas this year) which would be pretty awesome. Although I just saw that they are in September this year so doing either Syracuse or the Poconos 70.3 would be too late to get me in for 2011.
5. Sub 17 min 5k - in the fall I'm going to cut back the distance and focus on speed in my running. I'll work a lot with the Tatnall XC team and try to get into the 16's. The only 5k I've ever run was an 18:55 so I have quite a lot of work to do.
6. Get into Boston Marathon for 2012 - just make sure I don't miss the date it opens. I already have a qualifying time.
7. Have fun - I don't want to get too caught up in training that I forget those that I care about most. I'll have to make sacrifices, but I hope they don't separate me from the ones I care about most in the world. This is another area I'll need those time management skills.
Seven goals sounds good for now. I don't want so many goals that I can't realistically focus on all of them. There are other small ones that I'll need to do in order to attain the big goals (ie: get faster on the bike so I can realistically ride a 5:30 IM bike). And of course the unwritten goal is to qualify for Kona...but that isn't my focus - it would just be icing on the cake. The big seven above are my focus for 2011.
January has started and all I've done is go for a lazy swim today. I have a lot of work to prepare for school tomorrow. The pool was closed for a full 8 days so I have been off my schedule in the pool. I'll start back with my timed 500's next weekend and I think I'll stay with 500's throughout January rather than going to timed 1000's as I had originally planned. I'll switch to 1000's some time in the spring or maybe early summer. I'm also going to try and do all of my runs for the next couple weeks/months in the vibrams. My hour long run on Friday left my calves burning even this morning! I'll blog about the wonders of the vibrams soon.
Back to grading papers...
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