Training Log Archive: O Steve!

quick bike including testing the race wheels and set up...

First Triathlon of the season....

Swim...I feel I am prepared, I got in just enough training to be solid with the hopes of turning up the speed after the first two early season triathlons...

Run....I know I prepped well here...could not have done much more....ready to go and see what I can do...

Bike....here is where I feel I have come up short....I would have liked to have gotten more interval sessions on my Triathlon bike on the roads.....I did do some good session on the exercise bike but I worry with the perceived exertion being higher indoors I did not get enough hard efforts in....I got one good intervals session outside and noticed I was able to push my HR up higher.......wish I could have done more of that.

on the plus side, I did experiment with 6 HIIT sessions on the bike for the first time ever...I will see if it my helped my performance...tomorrow and next weekend will give me some indicators...

I also have had good luck with biking single track on the Mt bike as a natural great hard/easy workout in the past but with all the rain Mt bike single track has been almost non existent this year.

But the one thing I have going for me is that my competitors have had to deal with the same crappy biking weather and are likely singing the same tune which will create a level playing field?....we will see...

Snap Plymouth...

mild workout to sharpen and keep loose...

2 min at 5 mph
1 min at 7.6 mph (7:53 pace)
2 min at 3.5 mph

x 4

warm up and cool down...

taper workout with burst of speed to sharpen....

:30 at 200 watts
2:30 at 100 watts
2:00 at 85 watts

x 4

warm up and cool down...

the plan now is to do some maintenance workouts/active recovery with a bit of speed here and there and to race a sprint triathlon the next two weekends....the priority is to allow recovery for two hard efforts over the next two weekends....one exception will be one more good swim workout today...

after these two races I will go back to some interval training for some triathlons i mid to late July.....

looks like I have been running my 400 meter intervals just a bit fast....5-7 seconds or so...so I will factor that it when I get back to it.....

C • 400s 2

tired from yesterday but decided on a maintenence swim effort....

warm up with 5x50 w :45 rest (lots of rest here...)

:45/:44/:45/:45/:46

1:43 rest

main set 5 x 200 on 5:00 (so about 1:47 rest...extended the rest interval to make the entire effort more mild)

3:14/3:14/3:12/3:11/3:12

wanted to be a bit quicker...was at 85% on the first two but ramped up to about 90% on the last 3....

varied mild effort just to keep moving....

Brian Kraft 5K certified...my self declared "all in" road race....I wanted to go 24:40 but had an ultimate goal of 24:20 that would age grade to be my best ever....

put on race singlet, shorts, and yellow mayfly racing flats....
get there early...
warm up like I am going to go sub 15...strides and short bursts of speed...
Ipod on to ramp up my enthusiasm in warm up....
had worked weight down a couple lbs to 175 (hardest thing to do)

I worry that my back will cramp as I have had lower back spasms the last few weeks so I focus on stretching that out....I can feel the tightness but hope it doesnt cramp....but who knows what is going to happen at full speed..

See Crusher and wish her well and allow her her warm up...

temps are about perfectly cool and no wind...if its going to happen this is a perfect day....


competitive field...I start back at about 2/3rds.....

We start....starting back was a big mistake....I need a quick start and I am blocked so I run the first 1:30 of the race on top of the park road curb....I realize this will jack up my Heart Rate to early and I need every single beat....

pop down on the road from the curb and establish a pace...wondering where I am at and and I have already gotten my HR to 157 2 minutes in....

...and old guy who looks pretty good seems to be pacing along well and knows what he is doing so I stay off his shoulder.....just past the road intersection the first mile rolls up at 7:32....I need to average 7:50 so I figure its my typical fast start...now its time to try and relax and hold....

latch on the tall skinny girl in gray and black and thought about moving around her as we hug the curb....but realize its likely futile...stay behind her and let her pace me....

a glance at my HR in mile 2 reveals I am at 171 which is a bit low for the effort I am feeling...cool weather is nice...not allowing me to overheat....

finally cut a tangent on a curve and I am in front of tall and skinny

2 miles rolls up in 7:55....dang!....I am not maintaining but nothing to do but keep at it....I figure I will just have to gut it out and go for a strong finish...

tall and skinny was pacing better than me and she gaps me and moves away....I figure I can get my goal if I just gut it out......I remember looking and my watch and saying "just 5 minutes of pain"

punched my watch at mile 3...8:04....my pace is caving.....run as hard as I can on the home stretch...see Kari and Sydney who showed up to surprise me...cross line 24:19!.....beat my ultimate goal by 1 second......

Best age graded road race of my life....

it feels good to train hard for an event with lots of speedwork...
prepare as best I can...
and meet a challenging goal....

Crusher did awesome .....i will let her tell it....

lots of Minnesota age records set.....a 50 year old guy went 16:04.....boom!

HR avg was 168 (I figure it would have run about 174 or so...) max of 178 (again a bit low...)

332 of 474.....fast crowd...many fast older runners...

236th out of 292 men and 47th out of the 63 Men 50 - 59

C • Way to go! 4

2 separate warm up sessions.....

3 x :30 surges with 4:30 rest....

last run workout before the Stephen Bullard Intergalactic 5K personal world record attempt tomorrow....

legs are ok....not springy but I have learned that doesn't mean much....

I plan to do everything I can with prep and warm up to race as fast as possible.....

Event: The Black River Navigation Challenge
 

taper workout....did 5 x :30 surges with 3:30 rest....keep in a bit of speed.....legs are feeling ok but not great...

bike over and back to St Louis Park high track.....added a bit on the way back...

at the track for some last minute sharpening

2 x 200 w/ 200 walk recovery

1:08/1:42/:55/1:47

1x 400

1:59

1:25 rest

6 x 100 w/100 walk rest

:25/1:09/:26/1:14/:24/1:11/:25/1:11/:24/1:12/:26

easy spin with Kari and Syd in the buggy....barely enough effort to log but good for my taper...

taper workout with speed....

Snap Plymouth...

4 x 1:55 @ 7:47 pace w/ 3 minutes at 3.5 mph (extended rest a minute from normal to allow more recovery....)

HR at 145? on last one...

warm up and coold down with easy running and walking...

did 2 minutes at 193 watts w/ 3:00 rest x 4

just keeping a bit of speed....but not enough to ruin taper...

To the pool with the classic and telling 10 x 100 yds w/:15 rest...on the 1:50

warm up with 7 x 50 w/ :30 rest....on the 1:15

:44/:46/:46/:46/:47/:46/:46

2:43

the main set...10 x 100 on 1:50

1:30/1:33/1:33/1:34/1:35/1:35/1:35/1:35/1:35/1:34

averaged just under 1:34...took a second off the 100's from last time...encouraged.....

warm down...

ran 5 x1:55 @ 7:47 pace (always 0% elevation unless noted)

taper workout for 5K next monday.....effective 5K tapers call for keeping speed just reduce the repeats, hence the 5 repeats...

felt a bit rough....7:47 is a tough pace for me...HR hit 151 on the last one....I am going to run close to this for 3.11 miles?...I hope race day adrenaline will carry me a bit....

...the challenge this week is to taper for the 5k and still keep up some speed in biking and swimming for my first two triathlons on 6/2 and 6/9....its a delicate balance....

long warmup and cool down with quite a bit fast walking (keep HR above 100)

steady mild effort with 3- 1 minute 200 watt surges thrown in for a bit of speed.....

Snap....w/ my Hoka's and no socks...

last full interval workout before my goal 5K next weekend....taper next week....

1:55 at 7:47 pace (HR at 153 on last interval)
2:00 at 3.5 mph walk

x 8

(on 5th interval treadmill shut down and I had to go to another one....since that interval was cut a few seconds short I ran the next one at 7:41 pace....)

same HR as last time I did this workout....but the pace did not feel real difficult....

easy warm up and cool down.....ramped up with some running bits and a few :15 surges at interval pace to get the legs ready.....

I purposely skipped a swim workout to try and let my left shoulder bursitis heal a bit....it started feeling better and I did not want to stress is again...

....this is part of the delicate balance of hard interval workouts and injury prevention. I have my swim speed at a decent pace...I want to push it up just a bit higher for this season but thought the possibility of reinjury outweighed to possibility of shaving a second or two off my 100 times at this moment....my plan is to swim 2/3? times more before my first tri on 6/2 (and one the following weekend) and then try to go for more speed in the water on my last 3 Triathlons with more interval training....if it continues to improve I can do more but that is the plan right now....

HIIT session.....

:30 all out w/3:30 rest x 5 (HR at 148 on the last one)

easy to moderate effort spin for the rest...

quick run to test my new Hoka run shoes....

note: I have run in cheap road run shoes for 29 years...my last pair were $44...rarely injured so whey pay more?....

BUT read that the new Hoka run shoes have extraordinary cushion and older runners raved at how they minimized "jarring" on the roads and their legs felt great the day after.....at $160 a pair I thought I would give them a try since leg fatigue/recovery is a major issue for me on runs....

this was the first outside run...I did my last treadmill run with them but the treadmill has natural cushioning.

run 8 minutes on our hard concrete street....

impressions: you can feel the cushioning in a major way...will that translate to fresher legs the day after?.....stay tuned...

repeat workout from 5/4..... 3 mile intervals at high tempo pace at Snap...w./3min recovery....

8:27 (HR at 152)
3:00 at 3.5 mph
8:27 (HR at 156)
3:00 at 3.5 mph
8:27 (HR at 162,,but at 160 at int end)

interesting note....my HR was 2 beats lower on every interval end from the 5/4 workout...I think that is progress.....

easy recovery spin...

feeling a bit tired but I wanted to keep up the intensity before I back it off for a very gradual taper for my all out 5K run assault and my first 2 sprint tris (of 5 total) that will run on 2 consecutive weekends after the 5K test.

Went over to the cedar lake trails near near the Kenilworth split and Cedar Lake rd bridge.....

the plan....Vo2 max intervals mimicking a 400 meter run repeats on the track.....

I laid out a flat up and back that went from the kenilworth/cedar lake bike trails split and the "cross over" just past the split beyond the Cedar lake bridge split...pure guess that it was close to a mile.....go hard into the wind for the interval....spin back with the wind at my back.....

worked out to 7 repeats of appx 1 mile?

times went as follows:

interval/rest

3:01/4:10/3:05/4:19/2:59/4:19/2:55/4:13/3:00/4:25/3:02/4:22/3:03

was at 152 HR on first interval end/163 HR on last interval end....HR went to 105-117 on rest interval...

great workout.....quality....

one thing to note....its seems to be easier (perceived exertion) when done outside as opposed to exercise bike inside.....this is my first outdoor interval bike so it leaves me wondering if my intensity on my bike intervals has been enough for my first 2 triathlons....but everyone has had to battle the weather this spring....

...Back in the mid 90's I was talking to a guy that was close to my age that had taken the overall win at a local nordic ski race. We were talking about our training and I will never forget sometihg he said "We will be the first generation of adults that trained and competed in endurance sports our entire life. It will be intersting to see what w can do as we age"

The running boom started in the mid 70's when 25 million americans took up running inspired my Frank Shorters Olympic Marathon. I strted running in 1984 after lifting weights in college so I was just a bit behind the first wave. A great wave adults that have trained as an athlete for their entire lives is now turning 60 or so. They will redefine what the aging athlete is capable of.

The age graded tables for running are well established with cycling and swimming not far behind. Comparing world records in these events compared to the current age group world record gives us the current state of the capabilities of the aging athlete when they train seriously with purpose. I predict that this new generation of lifelong athletes will demonstrate that the drop off in performance due to aging will be much less than the generations before. This will be an amazing thing to watch.

We are already getting a peak of this....Dara Torres set a US record and personal best in the 50 M Free at age 40. In 2009, at age 50 Rowdy Gaines swam a 100-meter freestyle that was less than two seconds off his Olympic time set 25 years earler.

The age graded times in these endurance events gives me some concrete times and performances to shoot at as I train to minimize the fade of age.....and this motivates me.

My left shoulder bursitis is really bugging me (along with tennis elbow in the same arm). It hurts at night and when I swim. A constant ache that I just have to grin and bare. I actually slightly adjusted my stroke and follow through to mitigate some of the pain. I need to go to the dr, get it diagnosed, and likely get a shot of cortisone that can fix me up.....

I dont want this to get in the way of some solid training prep for this years sprint Triathlon training. I will have to figure a way to deal with this and keep going.

despite this I decided on 3 x 100 and a main set of 5 x 250...a repeat of a 6/3 2008 workout...

3x100 on 2:30 (appx 1:00 rest)

1:27/1:31/1:30

2:30 rest

main set 4x250 on 4:30 (appx 1:30 rest)

3:54/3:58/3:58/3:57

I averaged 1:34.69/100...about :02/100 slower than 5 years ago...or 2.6% slower....

another tempo bike/run brick workout....

the plan this time....

Bike 15 minutes at 170 watts (should be about 20.3 mph avg for me?) and

transition quickly to a 10 minute treadmill run at 8:57 pace....

6:00 easy recovery spin with a few surges...

x 2.....

this is the bike portion....reached 142-5? HR on the last 15 minute segment.....

run part of tempo brick...all at 8:57 pace....HR at 152 at the end....not bad. fairly low and it felt ok....

HIIT workout.....my 6th one?....need to look back and assess...

did :30 all out/3:30 easy spin x 5

I must be fatigued as the :30 hard was really tough....and I was fading on the last :10 (hard holding >500 watts) except for the last one which I held well...

did 15 minutes of warm up and did 30 minutes of unstructured steady state efforts running at 175 watts or so at times.....

redo a main set workout I swam in 2006...3 x 300 main set with appx 2:15 rest...

4 x 100 warm up on 2:30

1:34/:58/1:34/:52/1:34/:55/1:35

2:54 rest...

4:54/2:15/5:43*** must have been a miscount 350....4:54 equivalent/2:06/4:50

warm down...

from my log on 5/10/06....

same workout:

"swam 3x300 as main set....swam 4:39, 4:35, 4:39.......looks like I am not immune to the aging process....I was hoping to be able to go 4:33 or so....

ok....here is a comparison...My workout on May 26th 1993....3x300 with ONLY 15 seconds rest between intervals (I rested 2:15 between the above) 4:42, 4:29, 4:27.... "

run with Kari on trails up to the bog and back.....

felt very weary and had dead legs....just did it easy and did what I could do....this served as a long easy run....

signed up for the Manitou Triathlon on June 9th in White Bear Lake.....just letting you know Ian....

C • Manitou 2

Repeat of 2007 workout that was listed as such in my log as I was prepping for the Brian Kraft 5K...

On 5/15/2007 I wrote....

"treadmill run...havent kept up with my interval workouts for the upcoming 5k...did 8x1:55 @ 7:47 pace on the treadmill on 3:00, walked 1 minute of recovery....highest HR was 152 and I set the incline at 1% to help be realistic. Seems to indicate that I can beat 24 minutes at 5K but the proof is in the pudding...."


so 6 years later here are my results:

Treadmill run at Snap....same workout as above 1% incline did 8 x 1:55 @ 7:47 pace on 3:00 (walked 1:05 at 3.3-5 mph for recovery.....pretty hard on me but I got it done....this difference 7 years later? My HR hit 158 on the last interval as opposed to 152 7 years ago....assuming my max has dropped an couple beats from 2007 this means I was running at 80% of max in 2007 and 84% of max to get this workout done in 2013...I weigh about 4lbs heavier than 2007 so that is a factor also...

I still thinks this means that a 24:40 at Brian Kraft can get done if the weather is cool....(I ran 23:15 in 2007 in my log and listed as 23:30 in the official results)....:15 seconds to get to the start line where I punched my watch????? (my standard practice in big races)....

I am going to keep at this....I have had some really consistent intense training (perhaps the best 5K prep in my life) and I want to really go for it and see what happens.....

5 x 200 w/:1:00 rest...on 4:10....

3:09/3:12/3:11/3:09/3:10

9 x 50 on 1:00

:43/:45/:45/:46/:47/:46/:46/:46:/47

times are faster than what I have done lately but was hoping to go a bit faster....

Finally out on the Tri bike....first time this year.....I got to ramp this up pretty quick but hopefully my inside ex. biking has helped...

Hopkins loop in appx 40:00 keeping the HR at 140-145....seems like a decent start....lower level tempo effort....I felt the urge to push up the speed a bit on the back end but kept the HR at 145 max...

easy on the warm up and cool down...........

wanted to do some bike intervals focused on ramping up my 20K bike speed...decided on 3 minutes at 200 watts (using constant watt setting....love the simplicity of this) and 2 minutes at 90 watts:

3 min at 200 constant watts (HR hit 144 bpm on last interval)
2 minutes at 90 watts

x 8....

nice puddle of sweat....comfortably hard but doable....

intervals were comparable to 22.8 mph or so....seemed like a solid session that should move me forward....

C • Nicely done. 2

3 x 1 mile repeats in 8:27/mile pace (HR at 154, 158, 163, at interval end)

3:00 at 3.5 mph in between intervals

tough workout....dropped :07/mile pace from last time....perhaps just a slight bit tougher....may want to repeat this workout at the same pace next time rather than ratcheting it up....

the rest is warm up and cool down...

felt a bit better this morning....not dragging as much.....headed up to Snap for a HIIT bike workout.....keeping my commitment to do this once a week for 6 weeks....

:30 (>500watts) x5 w/3:30 rest

hit 151 HR on last interval...had a harder time today keeping it over 500 but it might have been a bike reading problem...last interval went well with the normal readout....still dying the last :07)

Random comments...

-I have an amazing ability to incur athletic injuries but that never become bad enough to effect my training in a major way or my performance. I didn't get blessed in other ways but as the years roll by this strength is playing to my favor. Right now I have mild bursitis in my left shoulder (hurts,aches when i swim but I can still train), tennis elbow in my right (caused by lifting dumbbells and this IS keeping me from the weights at the moment), back spasms (but they have gotten better lately and seem to be fading).

-I have a new goal this year...since I have been getting in some good speed work on the run I am going to go for an "all in, all out" 5K race at the Brian Kraft 5k on Memorial day........and I am going to go for a challenging goal...I would like to run 24:40...to have a shot at this I am going to have to prepare well with more speed work, and race hard and well. This time would age grade out to my best 5K result ever on a certified course.....looking back at my training logs I did run a 20:56 5K in Sept 1992 in Stevens Point Wi but it was not a certified course....24:40 at 55 would be a fantastic result for me. The race is the most competitive 5K in Minnesota so I will have people to inspire me to run fast.

-This spring is been very hard on bike training. I believe that mt. biking single track is a fantastic interval workout for the bike leg in Triathlons but with this weather that approach has been unavailable and this will continue for a few more weeks. So the exercise bike training I have been doing has been my savior. I am guessing that my potential competitors have had there training limited also so this could work in my favor in my first two triathlons in June...

C • goals 1

April 2nd 1992 I swam this same workout....(yeah, I have every workout logged since 1985):

8x100 in 1:25 with :15 rest....

decided to duplicate today 21 years later....

warm up with 8 x 50 on 1:30 (appx :45 rest....)

:44/:45/:46/:45/:45/:46/:46/:46

2:43 rest...

main set of 8x100's on 1:50 (appx :15 rest

1:32/1:36/1:36/1:35/1:34/1:34/1:34/1:35

bottom line: I averaged just under 1:35/100...I am 11,5% slower on the swim after 21 years....my fastest swimming year....actually not to bad...

cool down with 6x50 race start/cruise intervals on 1:30 (appx :42 rest...)

:47/:48/:47/:46/:46/:46

run/walk 3 minutes/3 minutes with Kari around LOI....

I cant seemed to get recovered...I want to get back to some intervals on the run but my leg are still dead from last weekend........

At Snap Plymouth...did fit test and then constant watts for 22 min....140-145 most of the time with some higher every now and then to stand on the pedals...