Jim's Guts

August training update...

As expected, totals for run and bike miles both went up a far amount. Included in the totals are a 10+ miler a couple of weeks ago which I think puts me in good shape for the upcoming Half. July totals in parentheses...

Swim - 0 - Woohoo!
Bike - 71.28 miles (26.54)
Run - 65.51 mile (42.64)

Next stop - Disneyland!

Intervals are hard...

I know, that's not exactly news, but still... Workouts for this week included two different interval workouts. As Steve In A Speedo (Steve writes one of the funniest blogs on the Interwebs) might say, I was working on my speed...

On Wednesday it was 4x800 meters at 10 seconds faster than my 10k pace, with 400 meters recovery in between. After that was finished, it was a straight forward 2 miles. Not fun, but not too bad.

On Friday (I pushed it back a day because I wasn't feeling well Thursday), Coach T really turned up the pain with "Pyramid Intervals"... Run the following distances at 5 seconds faster than 5k pace, and then recover for half of the distance you just ran (i.e. if you ran a 400m leg, you recover for 200m). The pyramid starts at 200m and then it goes up - 400m, 600m, 800m, 1000m. What goes up, must come back down - 800m, 600m, 400m, and finally 200m.

The good news is that I am getting faster! The last 400m & 200m legs felt great, with what I think was pretty solid form and cadence. The Disneyland Half is 3 weeks away, we'll know for sure then...

July Training update…

I went on a long training run on Saturday (part of which the L&T joined me for). In total I went 6.58 miles, which makes it over half the distance I'll be covering on the 6th, and the longest run I've made since my Navy days. Overall I'm pretty happy with the run, it was a little slower than my target pace (by plan and terrain), but I felt okay after and the next morning. The next couple of weeks should tell the tale, but right now I'm cautiously optimistic.

Here are the July Totals;

Swim - 400yd (and probably the last appearance on this list for a while)
Bike - 26.54 miles
Run - 42.64

Not great totals, but not too bad as I was just getting back into it. I expect to see those go up a bit in August...

What’ll the neighbors say…

We live in a cul-de-sac in a nice neighborhood that has a great mix of families and retired folks. Suffice it to say that there’s almost always someone around. I wouldn’t say that we’re all friends, but everyone is friendly and we all keep an eye out for each other. We’re not having block parties, but if you need something, you wouldn’t hesitate to ask, that sort of thing. Anyway our cul-de-sac is at the top of a small hill, which came in handy when I got today’s marching orders from Coach T (who correctly noted that she got no link love in the last post, which was totally my bad. T is fantastic, and I highly recommend her as a coach. Seriously)…

Today’s workout was to run downhill at a good pace for 20 seconds and then walk back up the hill, and hop on each leg 30 times. So it was that I was out in front of our house this morning (hoorah for work from home days), in running shorts and singlet (too hot for a technical-T, even at this hour) jumping up and down on one leg at semi-regular intervals. I began to wonder what the neighbors must be thinking if they saw this and then I realized – They’ve seen the Lovely & Talented Mrs. Smith and me leave at ridiculously early times on the weekends only to come back a couple hours later sweaty and laughing. They’ve seen us take our bikes out when we probably should be working on the yard. They’ve seen leave for runs/rides when it’s way too cold (or way too hot) to be doing that sort of thing. In short, I figure that if they saw this, they’d probably think what they always think – Those guys are crazy.

And you know what? They’re right…

"Embarrassingly slow"...

With the Disneyland Half Marathon 37 days away I thought I’d post a little training update… Coach T’s instructions for yesterday seemed simple enough - “(45 minutes) Run with heart rate in zone 1 on a flat, soft surface. VERY easy. Embarrassingly slow. Best alone” but honestly it wasn’t. First off, it’s very hard to run slowly, I have a pretty standard pace and running slower than that is hard to do. Then you add the heat (it was about 90 degrees when I started my workout) and the fact that I was supposed to be in zone 1 the whole time (which for me is a heart rate below 134 beats per minute), I spent most of the run just trying to balance the three. I will say that it did make the time go faster…

Other than that training goes well. The back is doing okay under the strain of running and thanks to the help of my acupuncturist (Nicole at 7 Dragons. She ROCKS), the numbness in the leg is starting to go away as well. My IT band acted up a couple of weeks ago so I’m doing the “foam roller” thing as well as some needle work on that too. Overall, I think I’m on track, but we’ll know for sure in 37 days…

Yum...

This sounds like a great recipe for homemade energy bars, prepared here by Leah Vande Velde (wife of Garmin Slipstream professional cyclist Christian). Funny to think that it's difficult to find chocolate chips in Spain...

Ingredients list is at the end of the video. Mmmmm...Applesauce...

My nemesis...

The L&T and I are getting ready to head to Vancouver for the 25th Annual Sun Run (I think it's our 8th or so) and I thought I'd share my personal kilometer long hell with all of you. May I present -The Burrard Street Bridge;

From the Sun Run course description;

5 TO 6K - The long, steady, uphill push towards the crest of Burrard Bridge is accompanied by the sensational city views and the knowledge there's a nice long downslope coming. You're more than halfway home.

It's the longest kilometer I run all year...

Back in the saddle again!

Woohoo! I just got cleared to get back on the bike! My PT still wants me to limit my time to 30 minutes or so every other day, but I can get back to riding and seriously training again, no more just spinning while sitting upright.

If there's been one bright spot to this whole thing it's really made me fired up to get back to riding. I don't dread the trainer like I used to, now I'm looking forward to it. I've still got a long way to go, but I feel like at least I'm moving forward now.