Well this week marked the halfway point in training for St. George. For the first time this weekend I felt like all the hours are starting to pay off. I know that there are lots of days left so I do not want to get overconfindent but I am feeling quite content compared to a few weeks ago.
Maybe my mood has changed because there are signs that Spring is trying to force its way into Austin. Of course as I write this the sleet is turining to snow. But this weekend it was in the 70s and the first time I was able to ride and run without feeling like a giant marshmallow trying to keep warm. Just a small taste of Spring has given me new life and made me actually want to get up and get outside. The snow will be gone by tomorrow and it will be back into the 60s by Friday so hopefully another great weekend of training.
Four weeks until the first race of the year. A warm up Half Ironman to test my fitness level and make sure everything is working correctly. I am getting excited about finally racing. It was a short offseason so I have been training all winter. Typically I would be only about 2 or three weeks into training and not ready to race yet, but since I started early this year I want to get some confidence built up about a month out from St. George.
I do have to close by giving props to my new piece of gear. A couple of weeks ago I made a saddle change. I have been dealing with the stock saddle on my bike for almost 2 years and finally go around to something more comfortable. I went with the Koobi Tri Saddle and I will tell you that it is night and day. I can ride all day and nothing goes numb (big plus). I can even ride at the tip of the saddle when I am really hammering it and don't feel any discomfort. I underestimated the value of a good saddle and would say it ranks up there with must have gear. Probably above my race wheels and aero helmet.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Numbers
Well I have been neglecting my blog lately. Things have not felt normal since the begining of the year and a lot has happened in terms of training, work, family, etc. I was hoping to chronicle my Ironman training weekly but here I am in week 6 and not one post. Oh Well, better late than never.
Where to start? In a nutshell, I have had my head burried in this one project at work for the last month. My desk looks like a bomb went off. Training for an IM is a lot more work than I ever expected. I feel like it is more than twice the training as for a Half Ironman. It probably is not when you look at it time wise but I end up doing a lot of longer distance workouts which are hard to fit into the rest of life. The stomach flu made its rounds at my house in the last two weeks and only a few days ago everyone started to feel normal. I only missed one day of triaining but even the workouts since have been sluggish. I have no idea how a bug that cannot even be seen with the naked eye can bring a human to his or her knees for a week.
So with all that lets get back to training!
I have been stressing lately about my training volume. When is it appropriate to cut a workout short and at what point are you doing your self a disservice. I tend to obsess over numbers so if my schedule says a 2 hour bike ride I usually make it a 2 hour ride on the dot. Over the last few weeks I have had a couple of long workouts that I have had to cut short by 15 or so minutes. I keep telling myself that this is nothing. That the bulk of the work was done and +/-15 minutes is not going to gain me any fitness, but if race time comes around and I bonk the first place I am going to look for blame is that one workout where I did not put in the extra time. I know, I know, it is ridiculous to even suggest it but there has to be some point in a workout that is critical to complete otherwise training plans would come with a disclaimer that reads, ALL WORKOUT TIMES ARE SUGGESTED LENGTHS, MODIFY AS NEEDED AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT NOT FINISHING THEM YOU WILL STILL KICK ASS IN THE RACE!!
I can only do the best I can at each workout and remember that deadlines at work slide, restaurant reservations get cancelled, meetings go long and sometimes you miss a workout completely. Other times, like 2 weeks ago, you get lost and add 10 extra miles to your bike ride trying to find a shortcut around a giant hill. Yes I was trying to avoid this ugly hill (I just did not feel like doing it that day) and in the process I not only got lost and added 10 miles but found 2-3 more nasty hills that I was forced to go through. I still ended up having to do the original hill too!! By the way, I still could not find the shortcut even when I drove the route the next day in my car.
More later, and this time not 2 months later.
Where to start? In a nutshell, I have had my head burried in this one project at work for the last month. My desk looks like a bomb went off. Training for an IM is a lot more work than I ever expected. I feel like it is more than twice the training as for a Half Ironman. It probably is not when you look at it time wise but I end up doing a lot of longer distance workouts which are hard to fit into the rest of life. The stomach flu made its rounds at my house in the last two weeks and only a few days ago everyone started to feel normal. I only missed one day of triaining but even the workouts since have been sluggish. I have no idea how a bug that cannot even be seen with the naked eye can bring a human to his or her knees for a week.
So with all that lets get back to training!
I have been stressing lately about my training volume. When is it appropriate to cut a workout short and at what point are you doing your self a disservice. I tend to obsess over numbers so if my schedule says a 2 hour bike ride I usually make it a 2 hour ride on the dot. Over the last few weeks I have had a couple of long workouts that I have had to cut short by 15 or so minutes. I keep telling myself that this is nothing. That the bulk of the work was done and +/-15 minutes is not going to gain me any fitness, but if race time comes around and I bonk the first place I am going to look for blame is that one workout where I did not put in the extra time. I know, I know, it is ridiculous to even suggest it but there has to be some point in a workout that is critical to complete otherwise training plans would come with a disclaimer that reads, ALL WORKOUT TIMES ARE SUGGESTED LENGTHS, MODIFY AS NEEDED AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT NOT FINISHING THEM YOU WILL STILL KICK ASS IN THE RACE!!
I can only do the best I can at each workout and remember that deadlines at work slide, restaurant reservations get cancelled, meetings go long and sometimes you miss a workout completely. Other times, like 2 weeks ago, you get lost and add 10 extra miles to your bike ride trying to find a shortcut around a giant hill. Yes I was trying to avoid this ugly hill (I just did not feel like doing it that day) and in the process I not only got lost and added 10 miles but found 2-3 more nasty hills that I was forced to go through. I still ended up having to do the original hill too!! By the way, I still could not find the shortcut even when I drove the route the next day in my car.
More later, and this time not 2 months later.
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