A New High

The plan for Saturday's workout was to jog easy for 90 minutes with Annie (I wanted to keep my heart rate below 150 bpm for the duration).  I started off at 6.0 mph and adjusted up and down from there--as fast as 6.3, but mostly 6.1.  My heart rate was easily below 140--controlled mostly by hydration.  At the 45 minute mark, I began to consider running for a full two-hours.  At 90 minutes, it was on!  My heart rate was still well under 150 and I felt pretty fresh--I upped the pace and decided that I would run a full 13.1 miles--effectively another half-marathon.  As I got closer to my goal, I increased the pace again--now I wanted to not just run 13.1 miles, but I wanted to do it in 2 hours...

By minute 117 I was running a 6:30min/mile pace (9.5mph) and finished the 13.1 miles in 2:00:30.  I was especially excited because I wasn't even trying to run that far that fast when the workout began, and yet I was able to push the pace deep into a long workout.  Definitely the best ever.  I think I could easily (physically) do this run every weekend.

My hips were a little sore later in the day, and I was thankful to have Sunday off, but I was ready to go on Monday!!

Hitting a New Low

My daily ritual for the past year has been to weigh myself.  I know what the experts say, but keeping track--reminding myself, as it were, is my best tool to keep me motivated.  Although I weigh daily, Monday has always been my "official" day to record.  Monday morning's dial: 182.5 lbs.

I wanted to trim to 190 prior to the start of the motocross season--I knew that if I wanted to any chance of winning I needed to have a better grip on my cardio and a bit less weight to carry around the track.  After reaching that goal, I was happy to maintain that weight throughout the summer--that was until I started running with South's cross country team.  Running with them re-ignited the fire to focus on my fitness.  My goals now are not centered around an "arbitrary" weight, but a performance goal.  The weight will be what it will be.

I thought this would be a good time to remind myself of my journey thus far...

225 lbs Summer 2009

190 lbs (beginning of Motocross 5/15/11)

With Ethan, Kincaid Motocross Track

186 lbs (Zombie Half-Marathon, 10/15/11)

Mary and Ethan kept me motivated

L-R, Chuck Strauss, John Lynn, Niles Woods and Scott Mayfield

185 lbs (ARL Banquet 10/21/11)

Friday Night & The Feelin's RIght

Got to the gym later then I would have liked, but that's what happens when you are half of the "parental responsibility unit".

15 minute swim: shared a lane with several others and watched the water-aerobics class bounce off the bottom, while I worked on my stroke.

Planned on working the bike, then the treadmill, but by the time I got to the room, Ann had already been running for 18 minutes.  I decided to skip the bike and hit the conveyor belt: 5 minute warm up up at 6 to 7mph, then 7 to 7.3 mph for 25 minutes.  heart rate monitor worked well this time (made sure the contacts were recently moistened)

I worked to maintain a rate less then 170bpm.  When it dipped to 168, I sped up.  If I saw 171, I slowed down.  My speeds were as high as 7.3 mph (8.21 min/mile) and as low as 6.9 mph (8.69 min/mile).  According to the treadmill, my average speed for the work out was 6.9.  I felt that I could have kept that pace for another 30 minutes if needed, but the heart rate monitor told a different story...

Back in the Saddle

...or back on the conveyor belt, may be a better title.  It took almost three days for my right knee to feel better after my seven mile treadmill run Friday.  Bummer.  I didn't mention it in my weekend blog posts, but the skate-skiing Saturday gave my left knee trouble, and when I switched to classics, my right knee ached.  What to do? Take another day off. Or two.  That's exactly what I did.

I felt guilty, but it turns out I really needed to the extra rest.  I know this for sure because I had a terrific workout on Wednesday with Annie.  In fact, it was one of those workouts were I was ready to do it again five minutes after I'd finished.

We did 6x2:00 intervals with 60 secs of recovery after a 5 minute warm-up on the treadmill;  I did my speed at 7:30 min/mile and Annie did hers at up to 9:30 min/mile.  I ended up running 3 miles in just over 26 minutes, then jumped on the bike for another 10 minutes.  Can't wait to do it again!

Unfortunately my heart-rate monitor is still mis-reading my rates early in the run... This time taking almost nine minutes to settle.  I will try more water on the leads--or perhaps find a gel.

Getting Called Out

I opened Facebook this morning to find that my friend and colleague publicized my (formerly) private ambition to complete an Ironman distance triathlon in the next couple of years.   I haven't shared this desire with many people for fear of public mockery/debasement.  So let the fun-making begin--I'm ready!

And while we're at it, lets get the rest of my goals out of the way.

Spring/Summer 2012

• 25k Tour of Anchorage XC Ski Race
• Sub 2 hour half-marathon in San Diego
• Sub 4.5 hour marathon in Anchorage
• "Century" distance Bike ride (Fireweed 100)
• Race with the Arctic Bicycle Club
• Race with the Mountain division of the ABC at Kincaid
• Compete with the Alaska Triathlon Club

Cross-Training

Saturday, Simon spent the day in Eagle River with his school's DDF Team and Annie, Ethan and I took time out to dust off our skis and hit the trails.  Simon has been skiing with South's team the last couple of weeks, but I've not touched my skis in over a year.  After spending the morning and early afternoon getting Ethan re-fitted with boots we headed out to Kincaid to enjoy the fresh snow.  The temperature was about perfect, hovering in the mid 20's and the snow was soft and slow--just what we needed...

I could tell right away that my running has helped my skiing.  I knew I needed to wax my skis, (and Annie's and Ethan's) but I covered much more distance before tiring.

I experienced my first episode of heart palpitations in a long time--once again it occurred while bending down to fix my shoes.  For the first time however, I was wearing a heart-rate monitor and recorded the event.  It only lasted less then a minute, but was frustrating none-the-less

It went from 106 bpm just prior to maxing out at 187.  That was scary to see.  When the event ended, my heart rate went from the 187 to 96 bpm as quickly as it started.  Check out the chart.  I've had these events last up to 30 minutes in the past.  Yikes.  The "mountain" before the "spike" was from skiing up the hill to the parking lot (160 bpm)

Revise the Goals?

Ann and I visited the AK Club for a "Long Run".  This ended up being an hour on the treadmill at a comfortable pace.  I ended up running seven (7) miles in 1:03--pretty happy with my effort (heart rate monitor indicated an average of 155bpm).

We are still more then six months away and I'm feeling more and more comfortable at the 9:05min/mile pace.  If I can maintain my base and chip away with some interval training as I get closer, my "long-shot dream goal" of 1:50 may actually be realistic instead of foolishly optimistic--a pace of 8:24min/mile for the 13.1 miles.

Getting to the Heart of the Matter

My big purchase this Fall (actually an early birthday gift from my wife) was a Garmin GPS watch with a wireless heart-rate monitor.  I've read (and wondered) about these for a number of years--and in my desire to get the most out of each workout I treated myself with an early birthday present.  I justified it by allocating a portion of my stipend for coaching the South Cross-Country Running team.  

So far, so good...  with one exception...  according to the watch, during last nights run, my heart-rate was recorded at 160bpm at minute 1:46 and had spiked to over 180bpm at the first four minute mark.  The dip shortly thereafter was me stepping off the treadmill to check my pulse manually--it seemed fine.  I got back on the machine, slowed the pace and kept going.  Finally, after 9 minutes into the workout, my heart-rate measured a more accurate 121bpm.  

I'm attributing this anomaly (its happened to some degree the last five times out) to the chest strap.  Before the nine-minute mark I'm not perspiring to any degree and the sensors on the pad may not be reading my pulse as accurately as it could.  Tonight I plan to "spin" for 45 minutes and will be sure to pre-moisten the sensors prior to beginning.

When Black Shorts Turn To Gray

My thirty minute, 1500 yard swim turned into a seventeen minute less-then-1500 yard swim.  My desire dissolved faster then the chlorine pellets in the pool.  This after my lips began to burn.  Hmm, another day perhaps.

Mental Training

 Recently, I've spent a crazy amount of time reading about running, running form, shoes, training, nutrition, tapering, tempos, intervals and the like--this is because (obviously) I want to improve my running.  Strange though.  I suspect each of us humans on the planet that were gifted with the appropriate appendages have known "how to run" since shortly after learning to walk.  Why then so much time spent re-learning?  Without question, the answer is because we stopped doing it.

Unless you're a career criminal running from the cops (or a professional athlete) there are few careers that demand constant practice in this sport. I submit then its lack of practice in the endeavor that results in so much drama (trauma) for those of us trying to re-enter the sport.

This brings me to the basis for this post:  swimming.  I've been swimming and have considered myself a swimmer since before I knew how to ride a bike.   Growing up in California and being blessed by having a pool in my backyard as a kid--I've spent a bunch of time in the water.  I swam with some club teams and even spent a time on the high school swim team.  I was never great compared to my contemporaries, but I wasn't horrible either.  This, I think, is why I was so frustrated Sunday.  my cardio is excellent due to my running, and yet I could barely manage two laps before feeling like I would sink.  I couldn't time my breathing--heck I couldn't figure out how to breathe.  NOTHING felt natural.  I eventually gutted-out 500 yards, but I needed help.

I put some time in researching swimming.  Specifically, freestyle techniques.  The most revolutionary idea revolved around the concept of the age-old saying about the shortest distance between two point being a straight line.  Because of this, your arm-strokes should resemble an hourglass to lengthen the time/distance your hands are pulling through the water...  I also learned how far to have your head in the water (hairline--unless its receding,) the importance of rotating your body and why the standard flutter-kick isn't great for endurance swimming because of the amount of energy needed to execute it.

The last few days were spent visualizing time in the pool--telling myself its not about how fast you can go (at this point) but how long you can go, just like my running.  Tuesday, I put this in practice and swam 1000 yards without stopping.  That was forty laps (not all of them pretty) at a go, compared to two laps previously.  Success!  This afternoon I plan to swim for 30 minutes and hope to get 1,500 yards in before taking a break.