Monday bike

5 min on, 2 off, 4X. Rode down to Hains Point as a warm up, and set in. Avg speeds:

1) 23.8mph
2) 24.9
3) 25.2
4) 24.7

Overall I can't complain with the effort- traffic was fairly light, and I was only held up a bit on my 2nd and 4th laps. Rode back along the mall to take advantage of the first nice afternoon/evening we've had in a while.

I have noticed that my legs have been more fatigued than usual the past week or so. They don't have their usual spring in them when I'm walking up steps, and I'm almost always just a bit sore. Gonna have to take a look at my diet and see what gives. As long as it's not the coffee... :-)

Sunday's WOD

2X through: 50 step-ups, 40 lunges, 30 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, 10 dips. Total time of 10:20, including transition from the "functional training area" to the dip machine (about 50 ft), and having to screw around with the pin on the machine so as to negate the "assist".

Missed my swim yesterday, but will try to make it up at some point this week. Bike (weather permitting) tonight.

Longish ride

Drove down to Quantico w/the wife and a couple friends to get away from the DC traffic and ride. This place really is a cyclists heaven- good roads, respectful drivers, and once you get away from mainside, almost no traffic. The intent was to test my foot over an extended(ish) ride, as well as get a feel for my nutrition plan. Overall we rode about 50 miles in 2.5 hours over rolling terrain with a few fairly significant climbs/descents. I had pretty decent ride, with the exception of a little residual chafing issue left over from the previous days intervals. I wasn't really sure what to expect since I gave myself a good thrashing 14 hours earlier during the intervals. The good news is that my foot felt fine. I'm feeling a little less confident in the nutrition at the moment. Using the 70-75% of 165+10 as my max hr, I did a good job of keeping my bpm below the 132ish mark, only exceeding it on the climbs. During the time on the bike I consumed an eGel and salt-stick cap every 30 min (separated by about 15 min so I wasn't overloading my stomach all at once) for a total of 300 cal/hr, and about 20-24 oz of water per hour.  For most of the ride I had a a little of a "empty", almost burning feeling in my stomach. Not sure how else to describe it, but by the end of the 2.5 hours I was craving some solid food. Given that nutrition was my limiting factor the first time I went to CdA, I'm a little concerned.

Also, dropped my Zipp 808's off at the shop to get re-glued, and have them pre-stretch, glue, and prep my spare. Need to clean the bike, pick up my cork brake pads (for the carbon rims), and get a bracket for my aero-bottle since my awesome cycling wife wont give up the other one. I heart cycling gear :-)

Bike Intervals

3 mi, rest 1 min, 6 mi, rest 2 min, 9 mi, rest 3 min, 12 mi.

Rode down to Hains Point as my warm up (~ 3 mi). The wind picked up noticeably throughout the ride, as well as the tour bus traffic. As I'm sure you've noticed, I have a litany of issues that annoy me and tour buses are near the top. They drop their passengers off and then park at the Point for hours with their engines idling (which is illegal), and they often pull out of their spaces with no warning. They drive slower than many of us cycle, and ride in the middle of the 2-lane road due to the tree branches on the sides. I had a moment with one of them today where he was driving very slowly and moved to the right, so I started to pass on the left, and what he was actually doing was swinging wide to make a left turn. As he turned into me I had enough run off to get out of his way. When he finally noticed me in his mirror he clearly didn't care. If I wasn't in the middle of my 12 mi interval he would have lost a mirror. It might be time to start carrying a cement filled water bottle.

3 mi- 7:40 (23.48 mph)
6 mi- 15:50 (22.74 mph)
(eGel and 1 salt stick cap)
9 mi- 24:30 (22.04 mph)
(eGel and salt stick cap)
12mi- 34:20 (20.97)
(salt stick cap)

It was fairly hot out today, around 85ish with matching humidity. I saw a max HR of 165, which is interesting because that is 10 full beats faster than I got during Cindy. I've also started adding my race nutrition in to test out the plan. I drank about 35 oz of water during the ride, and I think that might have been a bit on the light side. Here I am 1.5 hours later and feeling a bit dehydrated. Nice easy spin home along the Mall (~4.5 miles) for a total ride of 37.5mi.

4 hour ride tomorrow morning to continue nutrition testing, as well as make sure my foot can handle the stress. 37 days and counting...

Even Moose doesn't like being up this early

Fridays are rough. I attend a seminar on Thurs night, and then have a standing meeting Fri morning at 8am which I can only prep for the morning of, because I have to leave early Thurs to make it to the seminar on time. So... fast forward to 4:59am this morning as I was standing outside the door waiting for the gym to open to get in workout #1. 21burpees, row 500m, 15 burpees, row 500m, 9 burpees, row 500m. The last 500m row my legs felt like jello. I assume this is a good thing. Finished in 7:59. At the office at 6:30, and all set for the meeting by 7:30 with a full 30 min to spare. I rock.

Ride tonight.

My wife is super hot.

While thinking about a title for today's post, she suggested this one. Not being an idiot, I realized that it wasn't really a "suggestion".  Plus, she kinda is :)

Last night I had a 800yd swim. I realized shortly after starting that I did not drink enough water during the day, and was more sore than usual from the last couple of workouts. I wound up finishing in 13:55 (which is really not a bad time for me), but I feel like I could have done better.

This morning I had a 200m row, 1 min rest, x10. I finally took the time to program the ERG, which made doing the workout mentally easy (not trying to look at my running stopwatch and remember rest periods, as well as count the intervals). Finished in a total of 16:30 (avg'd 1:42ish per 200).

Thought for the day: if you think your Jammers are getting a bit see through and nearing time for replacement, they probably are. (I'm talking about you, heavyset hairy guy in lane 3).

No one remembers the 80's? Seriously people...

Since no-one ventured a guess yesterday: "Four in the Morning", by Night Ranger. My new morning theme song.

This morning: 500m row, 50 KB swings (20#), 500m row, 40KB swings, 500m row, 30KB swings, 500m row. Total time 14:10 (taking into account I had to move to another room to do the KB swings)

Swim tonight.

4 in the morning, it came without a warning, everybody's got a place to be...

Can anyone name the song in the Title? Hint- 1980's.

Last night- 45 min bike TT on the trainer due to the rain. Fortunately I have the Tour of California TiVo'ing, so it's almost like I have someone to ride with.

This morning- Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats, AMRAP in 20 min). 14 rounds. Stupid non-kippable ergo pull-up bar.

So last night I was having a race day nutrition/strategy chat w/Max. In doing so I realized I haven't worn a HRM in a long time, so I decided to see where my HR wound up on both the bike and during Cindy. During the TT I got up into the 160's, and the most I saw w/Cindy was 155. Crazy- I was expecting higher numbers. Apparently Cindy doesn't excite me the way she used to. Oh well...

Busy weekend

Sat- Deadlift 1/2 bodyweight 30X, then 1000m row for time (3:34)

Sun- Swim 8x100 on 4 min rest. Times: 1:27, 1:22, 1:23, 1:23, 1:25, 1:23, 1:25, 1:27.  Immediately after the swim I pedaled over to the gym for workout #2: 21 KB swings (35#), 42 situps, 84 squats, 2X, for time. Total time 7:05 (I think it would have been a bit faster, but there was a little extra transition time as my gym is not exactly set up for this)

I think I ate something on Sun morning that didn't agree with me, so the entire Sun workout almost didn't happen. That said, I'm happy with the swim times- pretty sure I've never gone quite this fast before. Inside 5 weeks to race day- nerves are starting to build...

1000yd swim

Went straight from work to the pool to try and get there before closing. Made it just in time. Finished in 17:45. Not sure why but this just felt slow. But, tomorrow is another day...

Row, Tabata, Coffee, and Moose

Last night- 10k row. Felt a little better than the day before, but still not completely 100%. Warmed up by gradually building for the first 5 min, and finished in 41:23. Meh.

This morning- First, let me just say that 0430 just comes way to early. This feeling is only exascerbated (sp?) when the grinder part of the coffee maker gets all wonky, forcing you to unclog it with your eyes only partially open. Warmed up with 5 min on the ERG (oddly enough, no one had used it since I left it last night :)Then, Tabata of box jumps, push ups, lunges, and sit ups. 8 min of glorious pain.

Afterwards I took Moose to the park to throw the ball a bit before leaving for work. I'm not sure if he appreciates the effort I go through to ensure he has a good romp before I have to leave him, or if he is just pissed at me for getting him up before the sun? I'll just assume he is appreciative. While 0430 does come wayyyy to early, there is something to be said for getting to the office at 7am and leaving by 3pm.

Swim later this afternoon

Fran did not go well

Started with a 5 min warm-up on the ERG, and then found my spot by the stupid ergo-pull up bar with a 95lb straight bar. I don't know if it has been my lackluster sleeping the last few days, going too long without food, not being hydrated enough, or some combination of the 3. Halfway through the first set of 21 pull-ups I knew it wasn't going to be a good performance. Finished my first round of pull-ups/thrusters in 3:45 and was extremely light-headed, almost falling over. Stopped the watch, drank some water, and sat down for a few minutes before continuing. Never started the watch again, just did the remaining sets in as long as it took- probably a grand total of 20-25 min.

Saturday Recap

Had to get my 20kTT in early on Sat to head up to spend the rest of the weekend w/my wife, mother, and daughter in NJ. Hopped on the bike and headed out to Haines Point. Holy wind, batman! Of course, the way the point is set up, you get the full brunt of the wind when you are heading into it, and only half the benefit when you have it at your back. *sigh*. There were times when I was pushing 30mph plus with the wind, and 17 or 18 going into it. Grr. Wound up finishing in 34:55.

Another 20kTT this afternoon, followed by Fran. This should be fun...

ERG (excruciating rowing getup)

21 situps/500m row, 18 situps/500m row... 3 situps/500m row. Total time 17:36.  Followed up by an awesome post-workout massage courtesy of Emily Jacobs. Note to all my other friends, if you are not in massage therapy school and in need of friends to practice on, you should be.

Deadlifts

I was lucky enough to be right next to skinny-white-weightbelt & backwards hat wearing-plateslammer-guy this morning. Such a pleasant sound at 5am. 5 sets of 3 max deadlifts. Warmed up for 5 min on the ERG, did one set of 5x135, one of 5x205, and then did my 5 max sets at 255. And now... coffee!

Swim Swap

Missed my swim on Sun, so I swapped today's 500yds for 4x400yds. I rested 2 min between sets and tried to stay within the proscribed 4 seconds, but I came out with some weird times: 6:50, 7:11, 7:16, 7:20. The 6:50 was blazingly fast for me, but I swum my little heart out on the others and couldn't seem to keep pace. That said, it was definitely 100% effort...

Miss me?

So, it's been a few weeks. A new role at work combined with training, school, and Reserve duty has me busy from morning until night and is SERIOUSLY cutting into my social networking. Without trying to re-cap every workout, the big news is that this past weekend I had to take my physical fitness test for the Corps. Normally it's just another day, but since my foot is still broken and I haven't ran in several months, I was more than a little concerned about aggravating it 7 weeks out from the race. So... good news: while I can still very definitely "feel" the break when running, there was no pain and it held up just fine- although I did adjust my gait to run heel-toe (gasp!) Finished the 3 mile run in 21:45 (7:15/mi), and although it's not my best time, I really can't complain. Knocked out the 20 pull-ups, and then the 100 crunches in about 90 sec.  I took a few hours off and then did a 1 hr TT on the bike to get my hydration requirements. In one hour in 85 deg heat I covered a little over 20 miles in hilly Quantico, and lost a total of 3.5 lbs through sweating (need to do the calculations and take into account the sodium in my eGels to get a better grasp on my fueling strategy). And with that... back to work!