Back to training

               It's been a month since my last triathlon and it's time to get back into some sort of training routine. I haven't been lazy and not worked out at all, but I have been un-structured and just doing whatever. Last week I went for the group ride with some guys from work and it was awesome. We had 9 guys total join the ride. Everything from super serious guys like my captain, to guys just getting into riding. Guys on $4k bikes, and one guy on an old steel Schwinn bike. Just riding with the guys was great. We went on the loop known as Cartright loop and it's almost a 20mi loop with 3 good hills to climb. The first hill was long, but not terribly steep. It forced me into my small chain ring and large cog (25) but I was able to keep my cadence over 80 for the entire hill. So while I was winded at the end, it wasn't terrible. The last two hills though, were brutal! Very steep and a huge nut buster. I knew that we had the one hill, but was completely unprepared for the second hill. Both had inclines greater than 12%, and rocked me. I struggled in the same gearing as the earlier hill, having to get out of my saddle and mash the gears. I never looked at my cadence sensor through the misery, but I'd guess that I was in the 60's maybe. Maybe. After the ride we stopped for lunch and beers and hung out for a little bit before going our separate ways.

           The following day I got up early and did a 10k. I took the Garmin with me just to monitor my pace, but wasn't going to push it. I was mostly out on the road just enjoying myself and trying to not get hit by any cars that were making there way to work. I took a different route than I normally do, and must say that the new route wasn't very pleasant. No real shoulder to run on, and the spots that had the shoulder were up against some farm land and there were decent size rocks that I had to watch out for. My pace was decent, with my only goal was to stay below an 8min/mile. I kept a 7:40 pace for the first 4 miles, and then I hit my stride and busted out 7:05 miles for the last 2 miles. I got into a groove, and it didn't even feel like I was working any harder to get that speed. It was a beautiful morning, and I made sure that I wave a hi and thank you to those drivers who were paying attention and moved over for me.

               I finally got back into the water too. I say finally because I was missing the swim, although I wasn't missing the early mornings needed to get the swims in before work. My swimming now is consisting of pure form work. I'm not worrying about speed, only my form. Keeping a good high elbow catch and pull through the water is all I'm concerned about right now. I am starting with a kick board drill designed to encourage that kind of pull. After a few laps with the board I then move onto swimming at an easy pace with the focus being the stroke portion. Again, not worrying about my speed, or about my total distance in the pool. Next month I plan on buying a swim halo and that will further encourage the high elbow catch and pull and help build and reinforce the muscle memory that I will need to continue the good form through the water. I did end up timing my only 100yd swim at the end of my first form session just to get an idea of where I was speed wise. I did the 100yd at roughly the same easy pace that I was feeling throughout the morning. Nothing hard, just a steady pace that was moving through the water with my form being the most important part. If I had to guess my pace, I'd of guessed that I finished in the mid 1:50's range, that's how slow I felt and how little effort I thought that I was really putting out. Instead my watch revealed a much different story. To my surprise, I finished at a 1:31. This, I felt was huge. My cruising 100yd earlier this year, before the Boise Ironman was a 1:43, and here I did a 1:31 and it felt slower. I'm very encouraged about how it went. Here's a video of the kick board drill that I was talking about. The drill starts at the 3:05 mark and then the coach talks and shows the high elbow catch and pull that I'm trying to describe.

                Lastly, I was given a cycling book to read by my Capt, GT. It's called the Time Crunched Cyclist, and it's written by Lance Armstrong's cycling coach, Chris Carmichael. So far it's pretty good, and I think that I'm going to use it as the base of my cycling training leading up to the season next year. I've already started to spit ball my training, but this program will consist of 6hrs/week on the bike in high intensity intervals designed to build strength and power for rides up to 3hrs. A 56 mile bike for a half Iron should by right at that 3hr mark or less depending on how good my speed is. If I decide to go with this as my cycling program, I will then program my running around it, and try to keep the running <25% of the cycling volume (that 25% seems fairly standard for endurance training). The swim will be probably 2x week, with a third day on the swim halo. Then there will be 3x week of Crossfit with the emphasis being on strength and conditioning. That's the basis of where I'm at in the planning stages for next years training. But for now, I'm just trying to have some fun and work on some of the basics while I have the time.