Friday, December 31, 2010

Last post and...

...out with some more of my cash! The last post of 2010. It will be short and sweet! Some quick updates from the world of workout and the 2011 racing schedule.

I literally JUST signed up for Ironman Racine 70.3 like 2 minutes ago, this way I beat the IM fee increase which takes place at 00:00:01 hrs on 01/01/2011. IM is expensive enough, and the WTC crew makes enough off us without having to pay their higher fees. So, BAM! Another race on the calendar.

And there shall be no New Year countdown here, no sir, not that. Only race day countdowns, sir, no more!

To the IM Racine 70.3 timer:
Racine-it's only 7.5 months away!


and on to IM Wisconsin:
IMoo countdown-Whoop Whoop!
Training will begin on 1/03/11, at roughly 5:30am on that cold, dark Wisconsin winter morning. Man-that got here fast! Yep, Masters swim class starts in 2 days, and runs for 8 weeks every Monday from 5:30-7am. The "Butt Kicking" is set to commence-but I'm ready for this and will welcome it with open arms-I really mean this. I am looking forward in having a coach help improve my technique, work on drills, and having more pool time in general! Recently, I exchanged my leaky swim goggles for some brand spanking new ones, though these have no tint (I kind of like the clear lens in the pool instead of the tint) but we'll see how they work for OWS and in bright sunshine!

I will be mounting the E7 on the trainer in a few days, for the start of some short, easy spins. I will also be taking a ride up to Performance Running Outfitters for new running shoes (my current pair have 475+ miles and are shot). I got some new compression gear and running socks for Christmas too.

On the down side-I'm still fighting some sort of illness, it must be some late 2010 bug that just doesn't want to give up and go away with the end of the year! I have had some joint pain, sore quads and a really bad back ache going and add to this, bad congestion since Tuesday. BTW- I still went for a swim Tue and did a respectable 2,000 yards. My 1K yard time was better than my last few swims, but I faded after 20 laps, I just felt fatigued and had some trouble breathing properly. I still don't know if this was a good idea, but I never had a fever, so I figured it could help. Maybe not so much...

I think there was some type of virus the family spread about, so 3 of the 4 of us in the house were sick at the same time. Thursday-I spent the entire day in bed. I'm still not even 75%, but am hoping to be better by Monday. The low back is stiff yet tonight-since having back surgery, this is where I'm most sore when I get really sick. I guess it hits you where you're most weak, and plus I'm getting old!!

So, the detailed training schedule has been printed, all the reference materials have been placed in a three ring binder. I did a bit of research on calculating HR maximums and effective ranges for the season-this too has been printed and is ready. I even made small copies, small enough to cover in plastic or tape and secure to my Garmin GPS band or my TT bike handlebars, for easy reference!

My training journal-a hand written one which I bought just for the 2011 season-has been started and so far has about 8 pages of reflections, pondering of things and ramblings on in it. I figured with the many long, long, long training hours and long work days ahead in this new year, a written log would be easier to carry with and actually get the info entered right away. There are brick workouts coming up soon, some will be split with one before work, and another after work. A detailed training record-just hand writing my times, distances, how I felt, HR/speed/cadence data, weather, food and nutrition notes, well-you get the idea. I can then transfer over my training data to online files sooner or later-or when I get the time!

I'm still working on shifting around the workouts to fit my work schedule; it will be a bit of a challenge to get it to work as it stands, with my working rotating weekends. But, having the days off during the week and having the kids in school will have huge benefits-this will give me about 6-7 hours each of those two days off to fit in longer training days during the week, so there is more upside than down. This will amount to less time taken away from family time, dinner time, homework time and fewer 4am wake ups to squeeze in one more swim, run or bike ride. Sleep is still a good thing you know!

I still need to look at the specific training periods as they approach my particular races, and how these "training races" (such as the Racine 1/2 Marathon) will fit in to the overall training schedule. One other area that I need to look at is the taper period, and how long out to begin the taper for IMoo. More on this later. I also need to pick up a few nutrition items-mainly Hammer gels for pre swim fuel-this weekend.

Thats all for now-off to bed and more rest. I will report back as to how bad I get my butt kicked all over the pool on Monday AM. Happy New Year everyone!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Race Plans. Or...Racing Dreams?

I was emailing with a race bud last night, continuing into today, talking about training plans (which, FYI, start in earnest around Feb 1, 2011). We were also talking about possible races we'd do as a group next year. I was just updating some race ideas last night, while watching Sherlock Holmes on HBO (funny, I saw a friend on FB say they were watching, so I turned it on too). Here is what I'm tossing about now, we'll call it Draft #1-2011 Season:

April 9-Racine-Mt Pleasant WI 1/2 Marathon
May 7-Wisconsin 1/2 Marathon
June 11-Elkhart Lake Sprint Triathlon
June 26-Pleasant Prairie Olympic Triathlon
July 17- IM Racine 70.3 Triathlon
Sept 11- IM Wisconsin

As draft #1 stands right now, my race buds will be racing 5 of these 6 races. The only one they are not racing for 100% certain is IM Racine, as they will be up in Door County WI racing a 70.3 the same day! They complained the Lake Michigan water was too cold in Racine, I told them "NEWS FLASH", the Door Co. race had some colder water temps than Racine's the past few seasons! Well, actually my race bud Johnny will be doing IM Racine by my side, so it will still be a blast. I'm hoping it won't be 93 degrees and humid like last year, so the kids can come down and see their old man.

All of these races are pretty close to home; the longest drive will be Elkhart Lake, which is about a 75 minute ride from home. The closest? IM Racine, about 2 miles from door to the beach start. BTW, 214 days left till IM Racine (the Iron App on FB just let me know that, pretty cool app IMO).

I just checked the temp, it is 15 deg F outside right now. I was debating an outside short run, but forget it, IT'S TOO DAMN COLD. I did jam out a nice easy 5k treadmill run after work last night. I followed up with a killer ab workout (decline sit ups), kettles bell swings, 20 lb heavy ball squat and toss and bench press/pull downs on the Universal, all 3X12 sets each. The abs were feeling it last night, as I sipped some English tea and watched Robert Downey Jr. I tried to sit up to grab my fleece while sitting in my leather "Dad chair", and whooaaaa!

Today, I feel like 6 bucks and change, ready for another workout. The weight lifting and core strengthening in the off season is a new training approach for me, and I must say I feel like it is working, even after only 4 weeks. Another 6 weeks to go, along with a few new training tools starting January 3rd, 2011. More on this in a later post-I'm excited about a few of them!

And the dreams part. I did not dream about racing last night, not even close. I actually had a dream we had sold our house and moved, and we had said goodbye to the neighbors. I can still even picture the "new" house's basement, as I was planning to remodel it. Weird.