TR:EPIC Vermont

Yesterday, did a fun and hard workout, Chris posted a challenge on FB and you really get to pick your own poison from the list to complete the 1000 reps. I pick
50 pushups
50 jumping jacks
50 situps
50 Burpees
50 jump rope  Repeat 4x

After the first round drop to my knee on pushups and the burpees really kick butt, was a complete sweaty mess when done.

being having some tightness in my left butt and with my "A" race coming up Saturday, I decided to do some yoga to stretch it out. Yogamazing:Yoga for Butt and Thighs

Today:
I think I am going to give running a break to let the left butt cheek and right ITB recover not sure what trigger the pain, so until after the race lots of swimming/bike/strength and the bike will be  on the sweet spot side.

Biking on the trainer today did EPIC:Vermont

Ride one of the best rides in the Green Mountains of beautiful Vermont. Climb 1,500 feet over legendary Appalachian Gap. Finish with a fast spin into the gorgeous village of Bristol!

Got a new 15 mins(179 to 181) and 20mins (175 to 178) PR on this ride.



RKS#9 afterwards which included a ladder of push press 1,2,3,4 repeat for 15mins alternate between the 15#, 6Kg and 12Kg kettle bell then that was followed by 1 hand swing L,R two hand swing repeat 2 times, Cool down.

Made it to the pool today and just decided to work on gliding and learning to stay slimline. No flippers, did a couple of laps on my back to under how to kick the legs and some fun other stuff, know the life guard was just wondering what the heck am doing.

A bit convern about the 24hour race, I haven't really done that much running especially on trail and I really will have to pace myself so as not to bonk and be able to get the miles in, really excited about it and so lookin forward to it. BRING IT.....  Goal 100 miles :)

TR:Beacon

With Beacon this morning that complete the Trainer Road Intermediate base 1 Program, so in total for this plan did 18 workouts, am planning on going on to Intermediate Base 2. Am not 100% sure what my cycling plan is for the year except to get better at it both indoor and outdoor, also learn to proper change tires and do simple maintenace. Still need to get it out to practice clipping in and out and schedule a bike fit.

TR:Beacon although all I think about is bacon

6x8-minute Steady State repeats with 4-minute recoveries. Work intervals are spent very close to FTP/FTHR without exceeding it. Cadence should be in the 85-95rpm range



Still quite a bit of residual fatigue in the legs from the HM, I guess it has been a while since I really pushed in a race for that long, hard time maintaing power as you can see in the graph. Stayed on the small ring for all the workout and didn't quite make the cadence range for all the interavls 80-89.

Continuing on with RKS, did workout 7 today basically half way into the program not sure am going to get through the 15 workouts this month, so will finish up in May before starting Athlean XX.

Squat/Press + 1 legged Deadlift ladder - 10mins 12kgKB - Got in 7 rounds
1 min rest
30sec tactical lunges +30sec swing+30sec rest, 5x-12Kg KB
1 min rest
30sec Russian twist+30sec plank+30sec rest, 3x 12kg KB
1 min rest
Cool down

Went to swim lesson last night and stayed an extra 30mins, I love being in the water and so determineto get the whole swimming thing, went into the deal end for the first time yesterday, just will need to learn to et go and relax. Did not attempt the diving, baby step. My whole focus will just be gettinghe kicks down, so confuse and how it is suppose to go but I know eventually it will click. I love teh Twinsburg pool and not crazy about the Solon one not much room for laps/adults.

Still going through the why for Boston, just still having a difficult time with that.

TR:Ebbetts

The legs are still not 100% from the race on Sunday and with the event in Boston still heavy on my heart I really just needed a very good workout, to celebrate living. Picked trainer road Ebbetts, just perfect to get the heartrate spiked with those anaerobic jumps.

4x8min intervals @ 88-94% (Sweet Spot) with 5-second Anaerobic Capacity (AC) tags at 150-180%. 4-minute recoveries separate sets.

This was just perfect, sweaty mess when done but just what the body and mind needed, not perfect since the legs are still fatigue.

 

After the ride, moved on to RKS workout #6, this was a circuit 40secs ON/20secs OFF, 1 min rest between circuit, using 12kg KB. Repeat 3x

 

2 hand swing

1 hand press, L for 20sec/R for 20sec

side to side lunges with KB

1 hand row 5/side keep changing till time

Burpees

 

Started PIYO #7 did the warmup but decided to fo swimming instead, got in 20mins of swimming before heading to work.

 

Still can't wrap my mind around what happended at the Boston Marathon, so senseless and the loss of life just makes it more painfully. Running is just such a beautiful/peacefull sport and to be tainted by this evil just seem unreal.  #prayfor boston

 

 

TR:Tallac

Went to swimming class Wednesday night and it went pretty good, had two high school swimmers as teacher and they did pretty good still a lot to do, I know I just have to be patient and pratice often.

Thursday didn't get a good night sleep so decided to stay in bed later than usual, after the kid left to school, decided to head to the pool to get a workout in. Did 30 mins and felt good, thinking I should limit the use of the until I am more comfortable kicking and moving on my own but need to start practicing hand and breathing.

Today still feeling tired, got in just the bike ride, did the next workout in the training plan which is Tallac "3x15-minute Sweet Spot efforts; 3 minutes of recovery between intervals." struggle to keep cadence above 85rpm

Name           Time       kJ/Cal    TSS    Power    Target     HR        Cd
Interval 1     00:02:00    19          2        160       164        97         102
Interval 2     00:15:00   147        20        163      166       138          78
Interval 3     00:15:00   142        19        158      165       139          83
Interval 4     00:15:00   144        19        160      165       140          84

TR:Carillon + RKS

Started week 5 of the Trainer Road Intermediate Workout today, on the schedule Carillon "2 sets of 2x10min Sweet Spot criss-cross intervals where 1min surges are spent out-of-the-saddle; 1min rest between intervals/5min rest between sets of intervals." my speed is getting better at least I am now at the upper end of 14 or low 15 with the heart rate staying low.

For April I picked RKS for strength training and workout 1 was 20mins swing, 30secs ON/45secs OFF, did 10mins -8 rounds and called it a day using 12kg KB

Swim class starts today not really sure am looking forward to it, didn't get in the pool all of last week, oh well

TR: Eclipse

Sunday - Woke up in a whole world of pain but it was expected, went to a free 1 hour yoga class and that helped alot, right ankle still not very happy. I really need to find someone to really address the issue with the right foot
Today - some lingering pain but felt better, may wait until later in the week to run to give the ankle a rest, but Coach Troy had 90mins ride on the schedule so I went ahead and did trainer road Eclipse which is 3x20mins in sweet spot, I was about 10watts off per segment on the target which I thought wasn't too bad considering, then finish off with 20mins in the pool, being in the water felt great so glad I didn't blow this off.

In the pool today, decided to swim with 1 fin ON and it was interesting to find that I can swim across still harder than with both fins on when the fin was on my right but had a really hard time swimming when I had it on my left. Not quite sure what it means but I think I will try to do the one legged drill more often should help.

Ordered the Total Immersion DVD off of ACTIVE gearup since they are on sale there, found one of the books at Hlafprice books on Saturday.

Cyclo Hit Series 4 #10 Z5 Power Drop

Cyclo Hit 30 Series 4 Zone 5 Power drop (30mins) this was actaully fun, it is 4 x 5mins-stay in zone 4 for the 1st 4 mins just below threshold and then for the last minute spin really fast to get into zone 5 but then with no recovery you go back to zone 4 and start the 4 mins all over again. Really neat to watch in trainer road especially the heartrate then S90:Tabata Inferno + 15 mins of yoga.

I swam across the pool today, multiple times, ok still not breathing or using hand but I decided to just take them out and work on just getting across. All I can say is that my hips are sore, I will work to at least get the legs going properly because it really took everything in me not to stop in my usual spot then maybe add breathing next. Signed up for a swimming class in twinsburg starting 4/3.

I think training is so much fun when there is no pressure to meet any time goal or even compete, this is probably the best I have felt in a long time but I do miss competing so races coming up soon.

Chapin Forest

Great run today and the weather was perfect, met up with 4 of my BGR sisters to preview the Outrun 24 loop since they are planning on signing up for it. I love the location Chapin Forest is another one of those hidden gems of the MetroPark Systems. I mean it has a real working bathroom.

1 hour of swimming with Coach Tim at the Twinsburg Rec, got a bit more confident today and got further down in the deep end, they have  an adult swim class starting April 3 in Twinsburg, I think I am going to sign up for it.

Made  a quick stop at the Grand Opening of Portage Cyclery, it is now a one stop swim, bike run stop, great times, wishing them the very best, they did an awesome job with the remodeling.

TR: Ericsson

So technically, today I started week 2 of Trainer Road Intermediate base 1 training plan, goal for this week "allow you to target your leg speed and allow you to begin to build your aerobic engine. The long weekend workout affords the opportunity to home in on a cadence that best suits your riding style and/or personal physiology" 

On the schedule for today was Ericsson which is a ride in the sweetspot zone, "4x8-minute intervals in the Sweet Spot power range (88-94%FTP)"  I had done Ericsson earlier in the year (2/6) so it was interesting to see the difference in performance, I was really quite happy to see that even thou I was working at a higher power output my average heartrate was lower 129 to 137, max was about the same but that was probably because I put the power output for the 4th 8 mins cycle just for the fun of it seeing if I could hold a higher power.

Ericsson TSS - 64, IF=0.8

3/8/13 Ericsson Workout FTP = 182

Name          kJ/Cal    TSS    NP      Power   Target P    HR     CD
Workout       493        70      152        137          128        129       81
Interval 1       80          11      167        168         167         137      79
Interval 2       79          11      164        165         167         136      79
Interval 3       80          11      167        168         167         135      80
Interval 4       91          15      190        191         167         145      85

2/6/13 Ericsson Workout FTP = 166

Name      kJ/Cal  TSS    NP      Power    Target P    HR       CD
Workout   449       67     135       124         117           137        80
Interval 1   73        11     152       152          152          147         82
Interval 2   73        11     152       153          152          148         84
Interval 3   73        11     152       153          152          147         84
Interval 4   74        12     155       156          152          148         84

CD = Cadence  HR = Heartrate
Functional Threshold Power, or FTP is the maximum average power you can hold for one hour, higher is better.
Normalized Power or NP gives you an average power number if you would have ridden at a constant power output.
Training Stress Score or TSS is the amount of training stress generated from a workout. The higher this number the more potential fitness you earned from a workout.

Intensity Factor or IF is how intense a ride is. A ride with an Intensity Factor of 1.0 would equal an all out effort for an hour. If you did an hour at .8 IF that means it was about an 80% effort.

After riding, got in Supereme 90 Ultimate Ball, how many ways can you work your core in 30mins on a stability ball, lets just say I am going to be sore tomorrow, did the cool down. Love the pigeon stretch, really hit the butt muscles, not sure why they are still so sore, all I can think of is major DOM from the leg workout, which also targeted the butt and hamstring.

Skip swim today since I was running late, amd always have to leave work early on Friday to get my son from the library before it closes at 5:30pm. Plan on attending the swin class with Coach Tim tomorrow but I may just save the rest of the punch for next, need to check to make sure they don't expire. Right now I am thinking of signup for a 6 weeks - twice a week lesson for adult beginners at a local university, am sure the student needs someone to practice on.

Soaring Heartrate

45mins easy on the schedule today, for some reason I am struggling with running seem all I want to do is ride or play in the water. I started this workout easy enough but for some reason my heartrate was climbing and at a very slow jog I was pass my max and was reading 210, so turn off the treadmill and let things drop down to 100 before starting back up on , initially took it to a slow work and that didn't do the trick.

After gettign back on the treadmill and restarting, HR over around the 140s, not really sure was cause it to spike, I did feel fine, no light headedness or anything when it happened. Got in the required 45mins for 4.65 miles.

Strength workout for today was S90: Chest and Back and then quick change off to the pool, my life guard adviser came in towards the end of my session, only got in 20mins this time around.

TR: Baxter

Baxter was next on the trainer road intermediate phase 1 training plan, it looked easy enough since I was only at a FTP of about 148 since my max FTP is 182 but there was one catch, pick a gear and stay there for the whole 90mins, the power is changing and I can ride fast, faster or slow to make sure I stay within said power, really love the workout, great way to build leg speed, ended up small ring/18

After the ride was Supreme 90 Legs, the hamstring was on fire, doing the hip raise on stability ball roll out, pack a punch for 30mins.

Quick change and off to the pool to get in 30mins of water play, on the way to the airport to pickup hubby, stop by Half Price Books and sold the cookbooks and misc others ended up with $40 and I spend $6 on a triathlon book.

5x5mins

Since I didn't get all the running workout in for week 2, I decided to repeat the week, so today was the 5x5mins @ threshold pace with 90secs recovery. Started out with a 10mins warmup, then did 5mins at 6.4mph except for some reason instead of present the lap button I pressed the stop button, when I then press lab took me to recovery, so at the end I ended up taking 5mins from the coold own to make sure I ended up with 5x5 on record, yes quite anal.

I decided to check out swimming in the morning since kids are not allowed until after 10am, this actually worked out much better, so I only have the Silver Sneakers (senior citizens) and SHM (they come onces the kids get on the bus) to deal.

Still not making that much progress in the water, just too many things to think about, like I said before I am probably over thinking it but now the older life guard is taking an interest in correcting me, will see how that goes.

Swimming Fears

Well, I made it to my swim lesson on Saturday after running 10 hilly miles probably wasn't a brilliant idea but I know I will not run nor did I have the time to run after swimming, jam packed day. I still did not get into the deep end but did eventually go half way to the 6ft section and swim back, panic and froze the 1st time in, sat out for 10mins then decided to try it again. My confidence grew in the 6ft section and I was able to swim back and forth a couple of times. After the 1 hr class when back to my swimming pool (the pools are about 15mins apart didn't shower, put wet running top and pant back on and left) since it has no deep end and practice for another 30mins. Swimming with the fins make a big difference, coach said most runners have poor flexibility in the ankles, so using it help build much needed strength. I paid for 5 sessions determine to stick with it for now. It was great seeing all the little kids swimming and having no fear of the water, at some point I will have to get over my fear but I think I have come along way considering I won't even get in the pool initially. While in the 6ft section, I was able to see how deep the deepend really is and how people are gliding across the water and the little kids feet learning to tread water. It did occur to me I need to learn to tread water, since I have never been in a deep end, except when I was thrown in I don't know how and that is probably another source of my fear, what do I do when I get tired and I am in the deep section, right now at my pool since it is left than 5ft, I just stand.
I have been watching some videos at www.enjoy-swimming.com and it has really been very helpful in expalining what to do and what I am doing wrong, oh well the battle continues. Focus is just develop a stronger/better kick so I can get through the length of the pool without stopping, then work on breathing.

Weekend Review

This was a jam packed weekend that made fitting in training very hard but I did the best I could and I think it was that bad, didn't achieve the goal to do Spinerval 26.0 Hardcore 100 which is 5hrs and 45mins just not enough time in the day.

Saturday, up by 7am to get son to school for Academic Challenge, then back to the house to get hubby ready to leave the country and take to airport, drop off at noon, back to pick son up and take to a party at 12:40pm, drop son off then off to 2pm USATF rules training. Great info at the rules clinic free event, that ended about 5:15pm then back home to drop dinner off to son then off to Portage Lake Tri club monthly meeting. Finally got back home about 8:30pm with a headache, crawl into bed fully dressed and was promply asleep. Plan was to do the ride after the meeting there was no way that was happening, I was bone tired.

Sunday up at 7am to start the ride, then friend text she is doing her 1st tri nearby and need support, so off I went, got there about 8:30am left about 10:30am, stop at the rec center to get a swim in but it was packed so went home and got on the bike for an hout plus (started HC100) before I had to meet The Ohio Runner's Network menbers for a 1pm run. Got in 10+miles in ankle deep snow, had some great snack after the run, thanks to the members, then back home I went, stopped on the way to pickup dinner, got home got back on the bike for a quick 40mins ride before church. Shower went to church, got back, did a quick round of Yogmazing: Yoga for triathletes, check email and FB then it was bed time.

Had a great time but boy amd I tired, did decide to sign up with a local caoch to help with my swimming< i need to get in the deep and I am not going to do it on my own.

Threshold Test / Sufferfest

Woke up later than usual today since hubby and I were talking about our future, looks like we both agree we need to move to a warmer location. Since I am back to running  which is what is schedule for tomorrow, I had to move the Spinerval 27 Threshold test to today. I decided to not working about the speed and just focus on the cadence, this is a hard workout, because once you burn out the legs, you proceed to hold a hard cadence for 20mins, yep 20mins, my goal was to keep cadence above 70 riding in big chain/15. The only mishap is knocking my glasses off at 8mins in and since I didn't want to stop had to go in a drop and squirt to the the Garmin # attached to bike. It felt awesome and I got it done, oh what a feeling.

Day 2 of Xfactor ST Week 3 today, stick a good kick in the pants, but much better than day 1, weight is coming off slowly but I feel better and eating not as bad as normally when working out this hard.

After work and dinner for the family, headed to the rec center and got in 39mins of swimming, well this is going to require a lot of patience, but I am feeling much better about being in the water.