Happy Holidays

It's been a while.  Two major holidays down, one to go.  I don't know about everyone else, but I'm ready to get back on track with a regular training and eating routine.  I've had a couple of good training sessions the last week though.  Last Thursday Sarah and I hooked up for a pleasant 19 mile run before work.  It was a nice run.  We held a steady pace that averaged out to 8:49 and took minimum rest breaks with virtually no walking.  Saturday I met up with a small group headed by a tri coach, Jon Noland with Tri Tampa Bay.  I may start training with him so this past Saturday was kind of a test drive.  We started the at 8 AM at a local track and did a total of 8.2 miles.  We had a 10 min warm up with stretching and then 2 laps at an easy comfortable pace.  Here's the rest:

2 trial laps - make a note of the time for each lap for later use: lap 1 - med/easy, lap 2 - hard
5 X 5 laps - each lap of each set was determined by the flip of the coin
set 1 laps: easy, hot (hard), hot, hot, easy
set 2 laps: all easy
set 3 laps: all hard
set 4 laps: easy, hot, hot, hot, easy
set 5 laps: easy, hot, easy, hot, hot

Cool down was a light jog twice around the track.

My easy laps were supposed to be at 2:04/lap, but ended up being between 1:50 and 1:55.  My hot laps were supposed to be at 1:32, but ended up being around 1:35 - 1:37.  I had a couple of hot laps at the end that were 1:30.  So, not bad considering I haven't done speed work like that in a looooong time.  Of course, being there with all boys who were the same pace or faster than me pushed me.  I'm glad there weren't any girls, actually because I probably would have "blew" myself up.  This is a new term that I have been hearing people use a lot.

After the track work we headed over to Davis Island for some speed and strength training on the bike.  We did one warm up lap, then 4 sets of one full lap (start at round about at Severn towards the baseball fields and make a u-turn to head back to the round about) in the hardest gear, half lap sprint, half lap easy.  It was freezing and there was a ton of wind.  My legs were shot after the first full lap.  Luckily some of the guys slowed down so I could catch up and draft off of them so I was able to complete another 2 sets without falling so far behind.

Given the training on the Saturday I think that Jon's group training sessions will be very beneficial to to my speed training.  I'm definitely going to get in more with his group training sessions.  Not sure if I'm going to use him for one on one coaching just yet though.  Maybe when it gets to be a couple of months out from Vineman. 

So, onto more fun things.  CHRISTMAS! and NEW YEARS!  Daniel and I had this year to ourselves.  We spent Sunday with his family and my parents went and did their own thing.  It was actually quite nice to not have anything to do on Christmas day.  We don't have anything planned for New Years either.  Well, anything big that is.  Our plan is to make dinner at home and then head to Ybor and find a spot to chill and get some dranks (yes, dranks, not drinks  :)).  I did spend most of Christmas Eve night and Christmas day playing with my new toy, the Nexus 7.  I plan on setting up all of my training on Training Peaks and keeping a PDF or some document form of my training so that I can take it with me to the gym or pool and I will always have my workouts ready so I don't have to try and memorize everything.  Then I can log everything immediately as well.  I spent about 2 hours looking for the perfect cover for this thing, though.  Geez Louise there are so many different covers.... covers with keyboards, covers that protect from clumsiness, covers with graphics, covers with stands, covers with pockets, covers with corner claws, clovers with all four sides covered, leather covers, rubber covers, covers with handles... See why it took me so long?  I still will probably have buyers remorse when I get the one that I finally decided on.  I ended up going with the MoKo Slim-fit cover.

We got the 2-year protection plan for an extra $28 which protects against everything, even regular wear and tear.  So, I figured I didn't need anything that super duper, just something that didn't add a lot of bulk and allowed me to cover or keep open the tablet.  I really wanted one that had a pocket too, but all the ones that did coverered all the sides of the screen and I didn't want that.  Eh, hopefully I'm so happy with this purchase the pockets will be an after thought.

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever you may celebrate!          

Stress and Training

This week has been a crazy ride on the Life Rollercoaster.
Monday was my rest day.  So, pretty calm and relaxing.
Tuesday morning I got up and did my planned hour swim with no issues.  I took the day off from work to get some errands done and for a little R&R.  Made it back to the gym at 5:00 for 10 minutes of abs followed by a quick 5 minute stretch in preparation for a 60 min spin class.  I wouldn't say I felt strong during the class, but I was keeping up with no real issues.  I went next door to my favorite tri store - Kona Multisport for a bike 101 overview and to meet the New Tampa Tri Club, which I also joined while I was there.  More on that in another post.  During the meet up, my renters called to tell me that the A/C was not working.  And, so begins the slow rise in stress.  I wasn't able to get anyone out to check out the A/C that night.  I didn't get a good night sleep because all I could think about was 'how much is this going to cost me?'.  A/C fixes are never cheap. 
Wednesday mornings I usually meet up with a few people from a group that I've been riding with for a couple of months who are also training for an ironman around the same time as mine.  Wednesday are fartleks (essentially sprint work) on the bike for about an hour followed by an appx. 4 mile run.  I just was not in a 'go get 'em' mood.  1/2 to 3/4 of the way through each sprint session, my energy level was at about a 2 on a scale of 1-10.  I felt a little better after I looked at the final numbers on my garmin.  The Davis Island Sprint Workout posted about the same numbers as the those from 2 weeks prior.  When I got to the run, I was almost positive it was going to be around an 8:30min/mi run.  I thought I would be lucky if I got in 1 mile faster than that.  Prior weeks were around 7:45.  If I would have been by myself, I would have just gotten in my car and left.  Thankfully one of the riders enjoys the run so always sticks around and that helps me.  The first mile was about what I expected.  But, it got better.  Davis Island Brick Run: 
Split Time Moving Time Distance
1    08:18.1     8:13            1
2    07:45.8    7:44             1
3    07:28.5    7:24             1
4    06:45.3    6:44            0.94
Summary   30:17.6   30:05.0  3.94

I was able to get someone out to look at the A/C later that day.  The technician said, "It could be the motor, the module, or both.  If you bought the unit 8/15/07 or later (making it a five y/o unit), the parts will be covered under warranty.  Otherwise, it'll be $470 for one of the pieces, $821 for the other, or $1291 for both."  <Queue jaw drop>.  So, for the rest of the day I was totally stressed about the A/C.  Nothing got done on Wednesday because the technician had to get a diagnostic tool to determine exactly which part it would be and I needed to find out when I had the unit installed.  As soon as I got home, I looked for the purchase/install receipt.  Guess what the install date was.  Go on...  8/4/07.  I was out of warranty by 11 days!  Normally I would have gone to the gym for some upper body strength training.   But nope.  I got home late from work and spent the rest of the night looking for the purchase receipt and searching online to see if I could find something that said I had a longer warranty.   I was so aggravated.  And, skipping my workout made me feel even worse.   
Thursday morning I was successful in getting myself up to do my swim workout and managed to put in a decent effort.  I was able to get to work early, but figured I would have to stay late anyway.  The rest of the day was spent on the phone, back and forth, with the A/C company trying to figure out my options.  Around 3:00, they called me and said, "I have good news."  Yay!  Good news! "It's the cheaper part.  So, it will only be $470."  Oh, thank goodness!  I was so relieved.  To add to this goodness, I finished my work early so I was able to leave on time.  I have run sprints on Thursday.  I was pumped and ready after all this.  Once I got to the gym, I got started on the treadmill right away.  The session called for a 15 min warmup; couple of minutes of run ups to prep for the main set; 4 X (1200 in 5:00min w/ 400 in 2:00 min); then the rest of the time was a cool down.  Here's what I did:
Over the 15 min warmup period, I started at 6.0 and worked up to 7.0
For the run ups, I did 3 X 20 sec @ 9.0 (6:40 min/mi) w/ 40 sec @ 7.5 (8:00 min/mi)
Main set - #1 & #4 1200 @ 9.5 (6:18 min/mi) w/ 400 @ 7.5 (8:00 min/mi)
                 #2 & #3 1200 @ 9.4 (6:22 min/mi) w/ 400 @ 7.5 (8:00 min/mi)
For the cooldown I spend 3 minutes working my way down to 6.0, then walked at 3.5 for the last 2 minutes. 
Total time - 50 minutes
I spent another 40 minutes doing strength training for legs and lower back and 20 minutes on abs and stretching.

Final analysis: Stress sucks!  It can throw an ugly, heavy monkey wrench in life and your workout and sometimes it will hit you on the head and give a nasty bruise.  But, things get fixed and body parts heal.  Try to lessen stress by working it out in your workout.  There are numerous articles and studies that confirm working out relieves stress.  It's not going to make it disappear, but it'll make it a little more bareable until whatever issue(s) pass... as all things will eventually.