My Mondays

Man do I hate Mondays. Here was my schedule today:

5 am - wake up
5:30 - 7 am - lifeguard at the University pool
7:05 - 7:45 am - easy run
8 - 10:45 am: Teach two classes with office hours between the classes
11 - 12: easy recovery swim
12 - 1 pm: eat a little food
1 - 2 pm: Teach another class
2 - 4 pm: A little break before class, studied for exam, eat food
4 - 8:30 pm: Attend two classes (both meet once a week for 2 hrs. each)
8:45 pm: Dinner
9 - 10 pm: Watch new episode of Heroes
10 - bedtime: study a little more, snack, go to bed

I usually don't lifeguard at 5:30 am on Mondays but it still makes for a long day. Anyways, back to Heroes and studying.

My next Challenge

So September is almost up, and the running challenge is almost finished. All I need to do is run three more times in the next two days. Tomorrow is supposed to be my active recovery day, but would be my better day to get in two runs when compared to Tuesday. Tuesday is usually my bike workout day. And with the end of September comes the beginning of October, and possibly a new challenge?

My October challenge is going to be about the bike. I'm going to try and ride my bike more miles than I put on my car. There doesn't need to be any crazy rules or anything. Every time I ride my bike, those miles will count. I commute to class on my bike so those will count.

And today, for some reason, I decided to do an epic swim. I had a meeting at the pool at 4 so I decided that I would get in the water sometime around 2 and just swim until the meeting. And I also had to swim a 500 at 5 pm for my life guarding job. I ended up getting in the water a little late, but I still managed to get in 6000 yards before the meeting and then an extra 500 after the meeting. So I ended up with 6500 yards. This is the second most I've ever swam in one day. Obviously, I did not swim competitively in HS or college, so that would explain why this is a big swim for me. And this gave me almost 24,000 yards for the week, which is my biggest swimming week in forever.

Time for a little Family Guy, homework, and sleep.

Dairy Queen

So an update on the SFC: I've ran 19 times in the 23 days of Sept. I plan on running twice on Thursday and running everyday that is left in this month. That will give me 27 runs in the 30 days of Sept.

And I have rediscovered my love for Dairy Queen. I got a strawberry blizzard two days ago, and I forgot how good those things are. I fought off the urge to get one tonight, but will probably go there tomorrow or Thursday. I even went to Kroger and I didn't want ice cream from there because it just wasn't the same, ha. And these help me daily caloric needs. I mean, blizzards count as dairy, right???
After biking for 2:15 hrs. today, running for 45 minutes and swimming for an hour, its hard to eat enough food to keep me energized for the next day's workouts.

Back to watching some Scrubs, and then hitting the sack. Got an easier day tomorrow, but I still have multiple workouts. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" comes out 1 week from today and I couldn't be more excited. So does "Ironman."

Tony

My Big Week

This week will be the biggest training week that I've put together since the week of July 14th. I still have tomorrow's long run of 14 - 15 miles and then a swim workout, which will add another 3 hours of training. So far, I've got almost 16 hours exactly. I've put in 160 miles this week on the bike, including today's tempo ride of almost 55 miles. I also had a really good run workout yesterday. It was 6 x 1 mile on a 1/2 mile dirt path. It's been a while since I've done that workout, but it was almost easier than I remember it. Run workouts are never really "easy" but this one sure didn't destroy me like some of those others have.

And I have made the decision to stay local and race the Tri for Sight here in Lexington, KY instead of traveling to Dallas, TX and race in the U.S. Open Triathlon (Elite Amateur championship race). This may seem like a strange decision, but my main focus is the 70.3 race in Clearwater in November. I didn't want to taper for Dallas and then build up again afterwards. And I didn't race in Chicago with the mind set that I wanted to qualify for Dallas. I just happened to qualify. I do feel bad turning down my spot, but I have several obligations here in town that weekend.

But, other than that, there has been nothing exciting going on so I haven't posted in a few days, and this isn't really much of a post, haha. But it's time for a nap and/or watch some more of the Ryder Cup.

Go USA!!!!!

T-Bird

The Lonely Road

Another training update,
I've started the week off pretty good while finishing last week up ok. All I did Sunday was my long run of 12.5 miles. It actually felt a lot better than the last long run so that's always positive. Yesterday was a hard swim and an easy run. I swam 6 x 400 yards - HBA (hold best average). This is a "test" set that I do in the water once every 3 - 4 weeks or so, and this was by far my best ever. I usually average about 5 - 10 seconds slower and only swim 5 400's.
Today I followed up with another easy run, and hill repeats on the bike which I just finished up about 30 minutes ago. Man, I love the wind that Lexington has during the Spring/Fall seasons. I forgot how hard the wind can blow here in town.

Update on the SFC: The swimming challenge is pretty much out the window. I have failed miserably. I only swam 4 times last week, giving me a total of 9 swims in the first 14 days. Running on the other hand, is going pretty well. I have ran 13 times in the 15 days. As long as I only take one more day off from running, or do a "two-a-day" or two and I'll be set on the running challenge. I forgot how much I enjoy running.

And motivation is hard to come by when all of your training partners are off racing, taking a little down time, or out of town. I did manage to find someone to ride part of the way with me this past Saturday on my long ride, but all of my other workouts lately have been by myself (with a few exceptions in the pool). Those 2 - 3 hr. rides are kind of boring when you're all alone. It's hard to head out the door when there is no one there to push you along. I don't hesitate about workouts when I'm meeting someone, but when I'm by myself, I can always find an excuse. But I've only got 8 more weeks until my tri season is over for the year, haha. And several of my training partners will be back in a week or so hopefully the motivation will stay elevated until after Clearwater.

Now I'm off to the pool to get in a little "garbage yardage" just to loosen up.

Tony

Training and Fantasy Football

I ran twice yesterday which might have been a huge mistake. I woke up and ran 5 miles with my "Preparing for a Half Marathon" class that I teach and I decided to run again with a friend later in the afternoon. This was a horrible decision. The second run ended up being about 7.5 miles and one of the longest 7.5 mile long runs of my life. However, I did manage to get in a good swim around noon. "Three-a-days" aren't my favorite thing to do, but when they're all fairly short, it's not too big of a deal.

I did make up for it by going on a date last night and eating my body weight in food, haha. Probably not the best thing to do on a first date, but we had fun. I consumed several glasses of sweet tea, a very large plate of baked spaghetti, two scoops of ice cream from Baskins Robbins, and a large Coke from the cinema. I felt like I was going to explode during the movie.

And today's workouts went fairly well. I completed my longest ride since before my 70.3 race. I rode just over 60 miles in 3:15. And I finished that ride with 3 miles of running, which didn't feel great, but I was able to finish. Now I just have to finish my long run for the week tomorrow morning with the possibility of biking and swimming as well. Man, I love those three-a-days.

I have the curse of having 4 pretty good RB's on my fantasy football team, and I cannot decide who to bench. I have Clinton Portis from Washington, Frank Gore from San Fran, Chris Johnson from Tennessee, and Earnest Graham from Tampa. Portis didn't have a good game last week while Johnson had an amazing game (and he was on my bench). I'm thinking I'm going to bench Portis, even though he's still ranked as a top 10 RB right now. Gore is my only definite starter right now. Who knows, maybe I'll change my mind before tomorrow, but if anyone has any suggestions then let me know. Fo sho.

Thanks for Reading

Go Cats.

T-Bird

The Good and the Bad

So I wake up on Sunday morning and I don't feel good at all. I just figured that it was because I had a long day on Saturday with my long bike ride, tailgating for the UK football game, the actual game itself, and then staying up late for really no reason at all. I did manage to do a long run on Sunday, but I didn't feel good after my run. I ate a little food, but it seemed like I had a minor case of food poisoning, or the stomach flu. I ended up laying around on the couch for several hours before going to bed. These past few days I've been stopped up, had bronchitis, and these have cut my breathing a little short. My workouts have been mediocre, but have felt extremely hard because of this "shortness of breath."

Well, yesterday I was finally feeling a little better (not perfect, but better) and a track workout was my main workout of the day. I had 3 x mile and 4 x 800. This is one of the harder running workouts I've done since July. On the second mile repeat, I step on the railing on the inside of lane 1 and roll my ankle. I usually roll my ankle about 3 - 4 times a year on a run and it is never serious, so I just kept going. It felt a little weird at first but I finished the workout with no problem. Well, as the day progressed, it felt worse and worse. I swam yesterday evening, and could barely kick. I did a long set of pulling and swam only 3000 yards (but it was also my third workout of the day). I then limped to and from Pazzo's (my favorite pizza place in Lexington) which is only about 4 blocks from my house, and realized that this might take a few days to recover from.

So now I find myself skipping my easy morning run so I can ice my ankle and post on my blog, haha. I guess this could be a blessing in disguise since I have a lot of reading to do for my class at 12:30 this afternoon. This whole school thing is cutting into my training time, haha. And I also have a hard bike ride right after class. So I'm sure I'll be fine and back running tomorrow.

SFC report - So far this month, after 10 days of September, I have ran and swam 8 times. My ankle will set me back just a tad in the running department, but it nothing that several two-a-days can't solve, haha.

Thanks for reading.

Tony

Week of Training

Hey guys,
It's late Sunday afternoon and I just finished my last training session of the week. I'm enjoying a little football, while keeping track of my fantasy football team, and watching the U.S. Open on TV. I just completed my longest run since my 70.3 race on August 2nd. It wasn't the best run in the world but it topped off my good week of running (43 miles). This week has been a pretty good training week. I got in a longerish bike ride yesterday morning before I went to the UK/Norfolk St. football game. I rode about 56 miles with two buddies at a pretty leisurely pace. That was also my longest ride since the 70.3 race. My class schedule doesn't work out great with the pool hours, so I'm getting in some short and sweet swim workouts, but nothing too arduous. Hopefully, I'll be able to do some longer swim sessions in the next few weeks. I ended up swimming 5 times, running 6 times, and only biking 3 times this week for a total of 17 hours of training.

Next week, I plan on running and swimming at least 6 times each while biking at least 4 times. So hopefully I'll continue my build up for Clearwater here in the next few weeks while keeping several intense workouts per week.

Well, I'm off to church. Thanks for reading.


Tony

SFC Official Rules

Rules for the run:
a) Must be at least 4 miles if it is an easy run.
b) Must be at least 3 miles if it is an intense run (run after bike, faster paced run, etc).
c) Can run 2 times in one day but must have at least several hours between runs.
d) Long runs cannot count as two runs, no matter the distance.

Rules for swim:
a) Must consist of at least 3000 yards.
b) Can swim twice in one day with at least several hours between swims.
c) Longer swims cannot count as two swims, no matter the distance.

So, there is nothing special about these rules, but there had to be some rules made for the challenge so I couldn't cheat. And so far, I have 3 runs and 3 swims after 3 days of Sept. At worst, I will have had a good start of September.

And congrats to Lewis Jackson (who I mentioned in my last post) for qualifying for Kona. He placed 5th in the 25 - 29 age group at IM Louisville.

IM Louisville and my Sept. Fitness Challenge

FYI, the track TT on Friday actually went ok. We had 5 people start the "race." Two guys dropped out before 5 laps, I dropped out at the 2 mile mark but Kuendig was able to finish in 15:58 which was exactly what he was trying to do. I competed in the Chicago tri 5 days before this, so I was still feeling a little tired and have not done anything at that kind of speed at all this year. I still managed a 10:10 - 2 mile which is my 2nd fastest ever. I think I'll attempt another 5k on the track in a few weeks after some speed work. That way, that speed doesn't feel like sub-4 mile speed, ha.

I volunteered at IM Louisville this year and it was crazy. I have all of the respect in the world for IM athletes. I am not willing to sacrifice the amount of time it would take to race an IM race. My good friend Lewis Jackson had an amazing race and finished in 10:12, which is close to 30 minutes faster than last year. Also, congrats to Mike Hermanson. He is on my "elite" team and he won the 18 to 24 age group while punching his ticket for Kona.

And I'm also stealing an idea from my good friend and training partner, David Kuendig. I have not been "training" like I was before my 70.3 race in early August. I managed a few decent workouts between the 70.3 race and the Chicago triathlon and I have almost taken this past week completely off. I ran twice, biked once, and swam twice (if you count either of those swims I did as a workout - 2000 yards total yardage between the swims). So starting today (Sept. 1st), I am going to run and swim 27 times each this month. I am still going to bike my normal amount (4 - 5 times weekly). Hopefully, all goes well and I get in pretty good shape before Dallas and Clearwater. So, I guess we'll see how this goes.