Pool time trial, times two

Its been a bit slow going in the pool. I have no excuses except being lazy. I finally hit the pool yesterday. It was time for a time trial, and I needed to get some solid distance as well. So I sorta went off the deep end (ha ha..)

I warmed up for 400 yards, then I did my 1st 1000 yard time trial. Next, I did 400 yards of mild recovery speed drills, then I did a 2nd 1000 yard time trial. Finally I had 200 yards of cool down (though I was sort feeling a bit ill at that point). All told, it was 3000 yards (about 1.7 miles).

The first 1000, I finished in 17 minutes and 13s, for an average of 1m 43s per/100 yards
The second 1000, I finished in 18minutes and 37s, for an average of 1m 51s per/100yards

Not to bad for having about 6 weeks since the last time I was in the pool. That last time, I swam a 1m 42s average per/100 for the 1000 yards. I am not the fastest swimmer, and I certainly do not have the good form, but it gets the job down. And in race conditions, I can get that 100 yard time to just a little under 1m 30s. Although, that's only for a short race.

Peace

A Day "Beyond Measure"

After last weeks terrible "long run" I was not sure what to expect this week. The strength training was tough as usual, and the time trials were a bit of a surprise. As I gear up for tomorrow's "long run", I decided to go out for a "Bluebird Trail" run. Its a 5.24 mile circuit near work.

The weather was awesome (maybe mid 40's), the sun was rising, no real wind to speak off. Perfect, at least for me, running weather. After I warmed up, it was beautiful. On top of that I felt great. I believe I was running at a race pace, so it was not an easy run. As I finished the 5.24 miles and checked my watch I came in at a hair over 40 minutes. That comes out a speedy 7 min 38sec mile pace. Even faster than my best recorded 10k speed.

I felt so good, as some of my favorite songs played just as I hit the 1 mile to go mark, I darn near sprinted all the way in. A Great feeling. On top of that during the cool down, I was further lifted up by a great song on the mp3 player.

Inspirational Song for the Day:
From the title track to Jeremy Camp's newest album, "Beyond Measure"

I know that I’ve been,
Given more than beyond measure,
I come alive when,
I see beyond my fears
I know that I’ve been given more than earthly treasure,
I come alive when
I’ve broken down and given you control

There are 15 days left prior to the Great Western Trail Half marathon. It may come as a surprise to those that know me, but this will be my first ever official running race. I've jogged for years, but never entered a race. Not a 5k, 10k, anything. Nothing like jumping right into the deep end eh!

Peace

Its Time trial time

Because of the long vacation I've somewhat gotten away from the 3 weeks build up, and testing on the 4th week. To get back on schedule, it decided this week would be time trial week. There were some difficult tests, the 12.75 mile run on Saturday really crushed me. Even still, the time trials showed improvements.

In the bike, I my average and peak HR were basically the same at 168 and 187 respectively. What really changed was the average speed, cadence, max speed and the distance. The previous time trial had an avg speed of 17.45 mph, a max of 19.86 mph, a cadence of 91 rpm, with a distance of 5.91. This time the average was 23.21 mph, a max of 24.67 mph, a cadence of 101 rpm, with a distance of 7.86.

For the run I went from a 173 AVG HR, 193 MAX HR to 174 AVG HR and 197 MAX HR. The distance remained about the same. Just about 3miles. I need to be careful about how I'm recording the distance on the run time trials, since I'm not sure if I included the build up period in the first ten minutes, or just the distance of the final 20 minutes.

Bottom line however, I've appeared to make some noticeable gains on the bike. All those body sculpt classes and the new weight training might be paying off. We'll see soon, since the first event of the year is coming up in just over 2 weeks. More on that in the coming days..

Peace

Hola!

It would be easy to say that I've lost 3 weeks of training as a result of our vacation. Although, the altitude in Cusco, Peru is 11,200 feet. If you factor in that the Inca ruins we were climbing around (with a extra 30 lbs on my back carrying our son) were anywhere from 8,000 to 13,000 feet above sea level, that high altitude hiking is a serious workout. Point being, while I did not run, bike, or swim in the past few weeks, I had some significant length strengthening experiences.

This is a picture of us climbing down a path as the Inca ruins at Pisac.

Back to reality now. It is just under 4 weeks until my first official event of the year. The Great Western Trail 1/2 marathon. This will be my first official 1/2 marathon race. That is to say, I've run 13.1 miles before, just never in a timed raced.

So its time to get back into it..

Peace!