To flip turn or not to flip turn...

That was the question today...actually, it really wasn't so much a question as it was a direct ORDER from Scott for all lanes to practice throughout our long, steady sets--he literally paced alongside the pool to ensure execution (loosely defined), so we were forced to oblige (ARG!). If you're not privy to the voices in a triathlete's head already, allow me: You don't flip turn in a triathlon, so why fret over practicing them? Well, APPARENTLY, maintaining momentum improves efficiency and cutting the breath of air you get from open turns out of each turn increases lung capacity over time. I've been dodging such debate/muting the voices since my last attempt to concur the world-o-flip turns last year resulted in me pushing off of the wall into ANOTHER LANE...I thought that was a clear indication that I should just cross out the idea all together.

But today was a new day (thank you, Suzy Sunshine). I fought my aquatic demons and gave it my best shot. Ali led the lane because she doesn't need to breathe when she works out; she's so "elite" that she just holds her breath for an hour and exhales when she sips her protein shake afterwards. The pace was fine, but I'm saying, this tummy tuck/roll over thing underwater takes the O2 out of you and is VERY dissimilar to the front flips I did as a kid in the above-ground pool in my backyard. Nonetheless, I pushed. I didn't make every turn (in fact, I missed the wall once), but I was stoked that I tried--so much that I spent 600 extra yards swimming after the team left to better my technique. I will continue to tri (get it? knee slapper) until I take 1st place in the FLIP TURN OLYMPICS.

New York Road Runners Half-Marathon

NYRR Half-Marathon | 13.1 Miles | Central Park

I didn't really know what to expect in my first half-marathon race, and had no idea what pace I should run. When I started training at the end of November, my goal was to break 1:23:00 (6:20/mile), but it had become clear that there was no way that was going to happen for this race. I was just as likely to set a new world record, so I decided that I would take this race as a training run - an opportunity to set a benchmark for myself, hopefully without blowing up. I picked 7:30/mile as my pace for the first mile or two and decided to reassess the situation after that.

Unfortunately, because I showed up pretty late as I didn't want to be standing around in the cold, I ended up getting stuck near the back of the corral and found myself "running" with the 10:00/mile pacers. Not ideal when there are 5,000 other runners and no where to pass except outside the race course (and on the outside of all the turns). I'm not sure how much distance it added to my run, but I was having too much fun passing people to really notice. 7:30s felt really easy - thanks to training runs with Tommy - I decided to try and negative split each mile to the end, really dropping the hammer after mile 7. Looking back on my splits, that's not exactly what happened, but the second half of my race was faster than the first half so overall I'm very satisfied. I'm really looking forward to the NYC Half-Marathon in March.

Distance: 13.1 Miles, 21.1 Kilometers
Date/Time: Jan. 24, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
Location: Central Park, NYC
Weather: 37 deg., 76% humidity, wind 5 mph.

Finish Time: 1:34:33
Pace/Mile: 7:13
Overall Place: 607
Gender Place: 539
Age Place: 110

I ran with RunKeeper, but the pacing and distance was a bit off. Still, it give a general overview of elevation and pacing changes throughout the race. For details, click on the link in the upper left hand corner:



Full Throttle was well represented by Charles Howe, Colin Stewart, and Maria Mahn. Unfortunately, I didn't know anyone else was racing until after checking the results and searching for Full Throttle Endurance Racing on NYRR's results site. Hopefully, they'll share their race experience on this blog or in the comments section below.

And then there was my ego...(not for long)

One of the most important things that the sport of triathlon forces you to learn is how to be prepared. With three sports, the amount of gear you need to train/race is remarkable; every gadget, gismo and garment is essential, so there's no room for error. I'm not exactly a veteran, but coming up on my 4th season, I was quite surprised this morning when I opened my gym bag to get ready for the swim: Speedo--check. Goggles--check. Cap--check. Skills--oh SNAP!! That's right, ladies and gents, I apparently forgot how to swim today. The workout itself focused on longer sets with hand paddles, so the lane lovelies and I agreed that we would slow down the pace and work on our form(s). Little did I know just HOW slow I would go--seriously I kept checking to see if a HEFTY bag was suddenly tied to my feet acting like a parachute/drag. I checked my ego at the door and held onto the end of the line (by a thread). That's something everyone comes to accept: you can't always be on top of your game...certain days you're just "garbage," as Scott likes to put it.

The spin leg of our workout was all about keeping our cadence at/above 90, which I'm proud to say comes naturally to me now. I kept the resistance low mostly because my legs refused to acknowledge any hard sets I tried to introduce them to, but also because I knew my body was trying to tell me something: "You will always lose in an argument with me. Keep it steady." Dagon IT...

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Today being the "long run" day, I did not feel obliged to go to Chelsea Piers at the pre-crack-of-dawn. This was a very good thing not only for me (nice to "sleep in" until 5:30) but also for my seven year old, who's been a little teary about my not being around in the mornings. I ran seven miles in Central park at about 8:30 pace. This isn't long for me but I do my long runs on the weekend. On the bridle path I ran into FTE's own Mikael Hanson, who turned around and ran with me for about a mile, until I exited the park. Was great to catch up.

I ran a few errands on the way home. When I got in the front door, I called out, "Kieran, I got you a blueberry bagel and ginger snaps for your lunch." Whereupon Kieran came running at me from the living room, grabbed me around the waist, and said, "Best of all, you brought your own self." Did I just enter a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie?

But the headline of the day should go to Kieran's dad, Stuart. today marks the 23rd anniversary of his running streak. For 23 years, he's run at least 1.25 miles every single day. No days off--not for anything. Most of our runner friends are more critical than admiring of this streak, but Stuart started it for laudable reasons--at least I think so. Twenty-three years ago he was coaching his high school cross country team (ultimately, to be state champions in California) and he realized that his own running was vanishing. He decided that he needed to choose: was he in or out? He opted in and figured he'd need a somewhat radical commitment to make it stick. so he decided to run every day--at least one continuous mile. To make sure he got a full mile in, he soon made the requirement a mile and a quarter. And so he's kept that commitment for 23 years now. Of course there have been some streak-threatening scares and some hilarious streak-preserving runs resulting from this vow, but I'll save them for another post.

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Swim/Cycle | Chelsea Piers

This morning was supposed to be a recovery day. It sure didn't feel like one. I'm not sure if it's because it was such a long, hard week or if my body is still getting used to 4:45am wake-ups followed by 2+ hour workouts. Or maybe I'm just a baby. Your pick.

Workout of the Day:

SWIM

Warm up - 300 pull / 200 kick / 100 swim
Tech - 100 backstroke kick / 100 backstroke / 100 Butterfly kick / 100 Breaststroke
Mainset

• 2 x 300 swim steady with paddles R=20
• 3 x 200 swim steady with paddles R=20
• 4 x 100 swim solid; no paddles
• 5 x 50 alt. kick/ hard swim

Cool down

CYCLING

5 min ez intensity effort
25 min steady effort aero
5 min climb steady effort
25 min steady effort aero
3 min ez effort cadence at 105

(For effort/intensity zone definitions, see the Full Throttle official website)

This morning was the first day I used the Suunto heart rate transmitter belt in the spin room. While probably not necessary (as most of the FTE athletes already own a heart rate monitor), they sure are fun. Every athlete wearing a belt has his/her heart rate and percentage of maximum H.R. projected on a screen at the front of the room. This way, you can see who's working hard (CheChu) and who's dogging it (Scott - he's gawbage).

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

NYAC Cycling | 24 Miles | Central Park

I think I may have mentioned in an earlier post that I going to do some racing this summer with the New York Athletic Club and I'll be joining them in Central Park for team rides twice a week - Thursdays and Saturdays. The team is composed almost entirely of former rowers so we're excited to see how we stack up against other amateur cyclists. Other than carryover thunder thighs, I'm not sure how well rowing translates over to cycling. We'll soon find out...

Only a small group showed this morning. It was a bit colder than it has been for the past few weeks. I don't mind the cold so much now that I have the proper clothing for cold-weather cycling. It keeps most of the riffraff out of the park. (Did I really just use the word "riffraff"?) I did happen to spot a very large TriLife peloton this AM. I'm not sure if it's because they're tougher than Full Throttle or if it's because they don't have sweet indoor training facilities like we do. Wait... just checked race results. Definitely the latter... oh, BURN!

NYAC ended up riding four laps of the park, about 24 miles. I think our average pace was around 22 mph. It wasn't particularly hard, nor was it easy. Click on the link embedded in the map below to see details. Note that the average pace is off because I forgot to stop the gps after I finished the final lap and spent 10 minutes chatting with a teammate at Columbus Circle (hence the 14 min mile vs. 3 min for the others):

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Only three weeks into FTE training and I'm already semi-dreading Wednesdays: the day we do speed work in the pool and then on the track. But today's swim session wasn't too terrible. In all honesty I think it was easier than last Wednesday's swim speed session, and that is fine with me. Ten x 50 alternating hard and easy on the one minute seemed to be the "meat" of the workout. The little rest on the easy laps and the longer rest on the harder laps seemed to make the two speeds a draw in terms of difficulty.

As usual, I was more comfortable once we were sneakered-up and back on dry land. Even though I've competed in triathlons for many years now, I consider myself a novice at both swimming and cycling. Not so with running. The track feels like home turf--with the possible exception of the non-banked turn at Chelsea Piers.

The on-land speed workout was 4 x 800 with only a 200 recovery--pretty short and therefore pretty toughening. I ran with Tommy, Bobby, Joe, and Jose. I suggested that we take turns leading the intervals. My track team observes this tradition to prevent people from "racing" the workout. It's also a great study in pacing. The idea is that each person take a turn leading an interval. No one is to pass the leader. My team established this tradition after too many guys in our A group (the fastest one) raced the workouts to the degree that they left it all on the track; they were road kill by the time the weekend race rolled around. So in order to race better, and blow out fewer hamstrings, we take turns. The idea is to really stick to the goal pace, not run seconds under it.

I led the first 800, Bobby led the second, and Tommy led the third. I could just barely keep contact with Bobby and Tommy; it was nice to feel pulled along by them just slightly ahead. I ran the four 800s in: 3:08, 3:06, 3:06, 3:05.

My ultimate goal is to sneak back to the hot tub after some of these sessions, as I've seen other teammates do. But today wasn't my chance.

In the evening, I finished up the day with an hour-long spin class with Chris Griffin at Equinox.

I'm relatively certain that my shoulders think they've done something to upset me, because after today's swim, they're SCREAMING. But it's the kind of scream that's synonymous with the bark of those mighty muscle men you hear in the gym slamming down their 8740-lbs dumbbells: SOMEthing just got a whole lot stronger. Ali (a great friend of mine/the best female athlete on the team) and I traded off taking the lead of lane 4, the second fastest lane in the pool. Our crew was 6 people deep and we were cruising through the main set, which consisted mostly of intensity changes. Alternating between slow and fast efforts helps me get reacquainted with what Scott calls "active recovery." Basically, you can't stop in a race to catch your breath, right? So we train our bodies to function despite fatigue, which could be a result of heat, overexertion or in this case, a lack of oxygen. It's not a pleasant process, but it's a necessary one for endurance racing.

I was particularly pleased with my (our) times during the main set because they show that my swim has improved from last year. The times I'm seeing now (so early in the game) are consistent with what I was holding at the end of last year. Most people stopped swimming during the off-season (FOR SHAME!), but Scott led an unofficial, show-up-if-you-want group swim that I went to on an average of twice a week. We cut out intensity and lowered the volume, but I think practicing my form and making slight changes really contributed to the jump. I also focused on weight training this winter, which is something I never did and vow to never stop.

Coming off of an ITB issue last season and having just started to run again, I participated in speed work for the first time this season during the run leg of our practice! Side note: holy monkey we have some SPEEDSTERS on the team this year. I watched them flash by on the track in front of me while I jacked up the speed of my treadmill's conveyor belt to an alarming....10-minute mile for 3 miles with a few 2-minute 8:30 intervals interspersed throughout those 3 miles. Patience. Patience.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Today's spin session featured 15 to 20 minute seated steady intervals with 5-minute climbs in between. The seated steady intervals were to have a cadence of 90 and we were to pick a resistance level that was challenging but that we could sustain for the duration. Then the climbs were to be 3 to 4 notches about that. Scott and Dan were hooked up to the cool new Suunto monitoring system, so we could see their heart rates and intensity levels at all times.

I picked level 10 for my seated intervals. It seemed reasonably challenging to keep the cadence at 90 but I noticed that my heart rate wasn't nearly as high as Scott's or Dan's. The room was on the warm side but I'm very used to a hot spin class since Chris Griffin--my Equinox spin class guru--likes to keep the spin room really warm for his sessions. No AC and usually no fans either. We call it Bikram Spin Class. Definitely an acquired taste--and there's no acquiring Chris's musical taste, in my opinion--but his classes are the absolute toughest so Stuart and I are regulars. Anyway, I was trying to convince myself that my heart rate wasn't as high as Scott's or Dan's because I'm more acclimated to the heat, but I think this was bs. Scott confirmed my suspicions when he quizzed us about our heart rates and I had to confess that mine was easily a good ten fewer per minute than his at any given moment. So next spin I'll ratchet it up to 11 or 12 and see how it goes. I did go to 15 for the climbs, but maybe I should go a notch higher there, too.

I was tempted to do the core work after the spin but the treadmill called. I run every day and I really wanted to knock out my run. This new FTE schedule is causing trouble on my home front. Stuart, who is not a morning person, has to get Kieran ready for school and take him to school solo--something we always used to do together. And Kieran had a melt-down one day last week when he realized that he hadn't seen me all day; I'd left before he woke up, of course, and then an author reading and dinner kept me out until 11:00. So the last thing I want to do is get home from work and announce it's time for my run. I'm already looking forward to the warmer weather which will mean not just riding in the park but also getting home by 7:30 or so and not heading straight to work from Chelsea Piers. It's funny that what I thought would be toughest about joining FTE in the morning (getting up so early, getting down to CP) is already not so tough, but these other factors that I hadn't considered are--and I'm not sure they'll get better with time.

Monday, January 17, 2010

Ran an easy 8.5 miles in the Wissahickon in the morning--slower than the last two days, just slightly over 9:00 pace.

Made it back to NYC in time to do Chris Griffin's hour-long spin class at the 92nd Street Equinox with Stuart, followed by a very speedy transition home to watch "24."

Sunday, January 17, 2010

I got up early--well, not early by FTE standards--but early for a weekend so I could beat the rain. I had a wonderful long run--15.25 miles--along the same dirt train in Philly that I'd run on the previous day. My average pace was 8:49. Felt great.

Saturday, January 16

It was so nice not having to get up at 4:45 today--although of course I did wake up then. But I just rolled over and went back to sleep.

I was going to run 8 miles on a wonderful winding dirt trail along the Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia's largest park, but my weekly mileage jones got the better of me so I did 10 to cap off a 55-mile week. My pace, my trusty Garmin informed me, was 8:47.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Although today's swim was theoretically an easy day, it was challenging for me in that if featured the use of paddles and later fins--neither of which I'd ever used before. I was comfortable with the paddles but they definitely slowed me down more than they slowed down my lane #3 mates--to the degree that the paddle portion of the workout became one continuous swim for me. But the pace wasn't bad so I didn't feel anxious or exhausted--I just had to keep going and going without any rest.

After the swim--and a transition that was long even for me--we headed to the spin room for two 25-minute rides with 3-minute climbs after each. Continuing in the easy mode, Scott had us dial down the resistance two notches from normal for the longer intervals. Cadence was to be at 90 or just above. We got a preview of the very cool Suunto monitoring system that will eventually publicize everyone's heart rate and "zone" while we're cycling. We'll also be able to know our heart rates while we're in other areas of Chelsea Piers--like on the treadmills.

I went for a run in Central Park around 7:30in the evening. It was such a lovely night and the temperature was in the mid-forties. I ran 7.25 miles at a comfortable pace. The park was pretty empty. I always find that when the park is at its emptiest, and there's maybe only one other runner out there besides me, chances are I know that runner. Tonight was no exception, for one of the two or maybe three runners I crossed paths with was Warren Street's Stephan Bois. I think Stephan gave me grief because I had headphones on and was listening to music--something very new for me--but frankly, I had the volume up so high, I couldn't quite hear him. But from the gleam in his eye as he passed me, I know he was razzing me about something.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

It was great to be able to stay up late Wednesday night as I didn't plan to head down to Chelsea Piers so early in the morning for once. Since the workout was a long run, I decided to do that in nearby Central Park. This meant no 4:45 a.m. alarm, no lugging three changes of clothes on the subway with me, and best of all: I could check up on my old morning crew pals on the bridle path.

I left my apartment around 6:20 and jogged the two blocks to Central Park. I'd had trouble with my left Achilles starting last summer, and I was feeling it a bit thanks to Wednesday's track workout. But by the time I got to the park, it felt okay. I still decided not to push it. So I ran two laps of what my Central Park Track Club friends calls the bpn--for "bridle path north" at a little slower than 9:00 pace. This is a 2.5-mile dirt lap that goes around the southern part of the reservoir and then through the 102nd Street Transverse. That, the run to the park, and my bagel run on the way home got me 7.15 miles--not at all long by my standards, but I'll get a true long run in this weekend. It was nice to have an easy day, both with regard to waking up and with regard to effort.

I loved seeing my old gang. In the mornings, people tend to run like clockwork, probably because everyone needs to get to work. So I often see the same people in exactly the same spot day after day--or I used to! I wonder if they wonder where I've been. And of course I wound up wondering what the Full Throttle Nation was up to just then.

I happened to squander my late Wednesday night on work. I was going back and forth with a writer until 1:00 a.m. regarding revisions to a certain chapter of his book. That book is called LATE, LATE AT NIGHT and I've decided that if I got to name this blog, I'd want to call it EARLY, EARLY IN THE MORNING.

BTW, if you're interested in keeping track of your mileage online, I can recommend a terrific website that a friend of mine designed. It's free, and it's very easy to register. The site is: www.therunninglog.com.

Wednesday, January 13

I was semi-dreading today's workout. The prospect of double speedwork (swim, then run) was unnerving enough. A work commitment kept me out until 11:00 the night before, so I was also worried about sleep--as in lack thereof. But I woke up ahead of the alarm and got up at 4:45 as is now usual.

The swim workout was challenging but I definitely drew strength from the camaraderie in our lane--although it was alarming to lose Don, our usual lane #3 leader, to lane #4 in a last-minute shuffle by Scott.

In recent days, I've discovered that my kick is weak relative to the rest of my swimming. Definitely something to work on. But as a result, my kicking laps leading into the intervals was sort of endless; I finished too late to get much rest.

My old running coach used to refer to the most important part of a particular session as the "meat" of the workout. Not the aptest metaphor for a vegetarian like me, but it's always stuck . So today's "meat" was 10 x 100 steady followed by 50 hard with 30 seconds rest after both the 100s and the 50s. Somehow after the fourth set, I knew that I would make it through. The feeling came as a real sense of relief. I'm not one of the stronger swimmers in the group so I was especially pleased to take out the 4th and 9th sets. Another thing my other team (Central Park Track Club) does is share the load of intervals this way by having everybody take turns leading. So it was nice to see this same tradition observed in the pool.

I came to triathloning from a running background, so I'm always most comfortable in that leg. But last June I got a partial tear of my Achilles in the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon and I hadn't done speedwork since then. So I was both nervous and excited to be back. The 6 x 400 workout with a 200 "Kumbaya" recovery was a perfect re-introduction for me. I ran with Tommy, Bobby, and Joe. As in the water, the best way to be pushed to faster speed is to be able to attack the challenge with teammates.

This evening I took an hour-long spin class at the 92nd Street Equinox with Chris Griffin, my favorite instructor there.

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Swim/Run | Chelsea Piers

I had a small issue with turning my alarm clock off this morning instead of hitting the snooze button. When I woke up again it was already 6:00am and I knew I wouldn't make it in time for the swim. I got over to Chelsea Piers as quickly as I could and stretched until the rest of the team finished up swimming and joined me on the track for speed work.

With fresh legs, I ran in group 1 (the fastest group). We were supposed to run a 90" split for the quarter mile intervals, but Tommy pushed the pace and we ended up running 82-85" splits. I didn't think the pace was too challenging (I wasn't bent over dry heaving after the set), but to be fair I didn't swim before the run.

I did the swim workout by myself after the run and it wasn't fun. There's a reason why I'm on a team and that reason is to train with others, more specifically, others who are faster than I am and can help me push myself to make huge improvements in my technique and fitness. I ended up pushing myself really hard in the pool today, despite not having a lane full of teammates, but I'm not sure how many days a week I'd make it to the gym without my teammates and coaches. The solo swim reinforced how great it is to be a part of Full Throttle.

Workout of the Day:

SWIM

Warm up - 200 swim / 200p / 100 backstroke
Tech - 100 each rlcsw / 3-stroke / 2x scull
Mainset

• 10 x (100 steady / 50 solid-hard) R=30
• 5 x 100 steady pull R=15

Cool down

RUN

1 mile warm up ez
6 x 400 at RP w/ 200 down ez
1 mile cool down

(For effort/intensity zone definitions, see the Full Throttle official website)

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Today Scott had us do two longer spin intervals: 15 minutes and 20 minutes with a 3-minute standing recovery in between. Not two minutes into the ride Scott noticed that my seat was set too far back and I was too stretched out. I adjusted it and instantly had more power. I upped my resistance from 10 to 11 and was able to keep at the desired cadence (90)--with some effort, but the right effort.

I take a lot of spin classes so I felt in shape for this but it was a new challenge to have that cadence number right in front of me. I kept my eye on the dial and also on Scott, figuring that he was doing the right cadence. The second interval was actually much easier for me because the music got faster and because I started chatting with Dave, who was on the bike to the left of me.

After spin I headed for the treadmill. Stuart is hugely amused by the fact that I've become a regular treadmill runner when I'm on record as hating it so. But given the circumstances, it's a great option and I'm actually getting more into it every day. Seeing my pace right in front of me keeps me even more honest than my Garmin does outdoors. I put in 6.1 miles, averaging about 8:00-8:15 pace.

One thing that's already hard for me as I advance into triathlon training is seeing my weekly mileage dip down. For the nine weeks leading up to my FTE morning debut, I was logging in fifty-plus to sixty-plus miles a week. Last week I ran forty-five. I know I don't need to run so much given all of our other training, but the mileage junkie in me is already disappointed. Just another thing I'll have to let go--along with The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Bike/Strength Work | Chelsea Piers

Today's spin workout was exactly the kind of work that I hate doing: long intervals. In my former life as a rower, I used to dread any erg workout that included pieces that were longer than 10 minutes (6k, 10k, and the "hour of power" being the worst). I have zero interest in dull pain for extended periods of time. I much prefer quick, intense bursts of speed such as climbing hills on the bike or any anaerobic work on the erg. My preferences probably stem from the fact that, compared to the rest of my crew team, I was always much faster/stronger on a relative basis on the shorter pieces. Today's steady effort intervals (15 and 20 minutes, respectively) were out of my comfort zone (probably slightly above what would be considered "steady" for me), but exactly what I need to work on at this point. Building a strong base this early in the season will pay dividends come race day and set the team up nicely for blazing lap times around the park.

We had a smaller group doing strength work today, so the team went up to the strength deck to use dumbbells. After hitting our shoulders, lats, legs, bis, and tris, Scott has us do a few monster ab moves.

Workout of the Day:

CYCLING SET

5 min ez intensity effort
15 min steady effort aero
3 min climb solid effort
20 min steady effort aero
3 min climb solid effort
2x (1 min seated hard effort aero / 2 min steady effort seated)
5 min steady effort aero
3 min ez effort cadence at 105

(For effort/intensity zone definitions, see the Full Throttle official website)

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Swim/Run | Chelsea Piers

I stayed up pretty late due to the Arizona-Green Bay game going into OT and struggled waking up this morning. I'm not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination so it's never easy to just jump out of bed when the alarm goes off at 4:55am. After snoozing once or twice, I did manage to drag myself out of bed and put on all my cold weather cycling gear. By the time I arrived at Chelsea Piers and changed for the pool, I had already missed the warm up and tech work. I jumped right into the first set of 200s and felt really strong for the remainder of the practice. I don't know if my swim fitness is coming back quickly, if dropping the tech work gave me an extra boost, or if it was a combination of both, but today's swim was much less difficult than last week's.

I only managed to run a mile and a quarter before my left knee started to hurt. I ran 14 miles in Central Park yesterday so I'm not surprised it felt a bit shaky. I decided to do the smart thing and stop running, and stretch/ice it before I put myself out of commission for the next few weeks or even months.

Workout of the Day:

SWIM

Warm up - 300p / 200k / 100sw
Tech ("work on power") - 2 x 100 scull / 100 backstroke
Main Set

• 2 x 200 steady effort R=20
• 3 x 150 swim solid effort R=20
• 4 x 100 kick steady effort R=20
• Combo set - 3x (150 steady pull / 100 solid swim / 50 hard swim), R=30 at the breaks

Cool down

RUN

3-5 miles at a steady effort (2nd mile 2% grade down to set the body position)

(For effort/intensity zone definitions, see the Full Throttle official website)

Monday, January 11, 2010

I've noticed that the swim days are harder for me than the spin days. It's just a little tougher to get in the water than on the bike. I'm sure I'm also feeling this way because I have a lot of spin classes behind me but no swimming--not for months.

That said, I'm loving my lane #3 teammates and the solidarity I feel training with them. The toughest part of today's session was definitely at the end: 3 x 200 pull/150 solid swim/50 hard--all with 30 seconds rest in between. It was exciting as well as challenging to see what I had left for those hard 50s, especially the last one. Just enough to get through the workout, it turns out. Also, a set or two before we had to do 200 kicks and I discovered that my kicking is noticeably slower than the rest of my group's. I can pretty much keep up with everyone for everything else, but not the kicks. Scott shouted some kind of encouragement to the effect that I'm a runner and should therefore have a kick, but my legs must not have been listening.

Hit the treadmill again afterward. One of my many New Year's resolutions is that I won't be such a techno-moron. I had been calling myself a Luddite, but Stuart tells me that Luddites want to destroy machines. I don't want to do that; I just want to learn how to use them properly. So don't laugh, but Sunday night for the first time I downloaded music to my iPhone. It took me a phone call to Apple but I finally got it to happen. So I had music for the first time for my run! This could be a mistake. I was so excited, I ran 8:00 pace for the first three miles and 7:30 for the second three--much faster than usual. Shows what a little "Boom Boom Pow" and a lot of Rick Springfield can do for you. (I'm doing books with one of the Peas and with Rick so this could actually be considered work in the traditional sense, not just as exercise.)

Finished out the day with an hour-long spin class with Chris Griffin at Equinox. Guess that means I'll have my next spin class in less than twelve hours from that one. Maybe not smart. We'll find out tomorrow.