So today is my long run day in preparation for the Disney Goofy Challenge. The girl convinced me to do my long runs on Saturdays and take Sundays as our off day together so we can sleep in and enjoy the day. At first I was a bit resistant but now I'm quite enjoying that schedule. So this morning we both set out for our long runs. We run at different paces so we tend to run our long runs seperately but still do them at the same time.
This morning the girl had a 14 miler and I was supposed to run 19. We tend to touch base about what our routes are and sometimes try and run into each other somewhere out there to say a quick hello as we pass each other. Today I set out on an out and back around the ocean drive. I planned to run 9.5 miles out and then turn around and head back. The girl planned on running some distance towards Middletown and then winding back around the ocean drive in the opposite direction so we might run into each other. So off we went.
Somewhere around mile 5 of my run I started to think about 19 milers. I hate running 19 miles. I always feel like its one mile shy of 20 which feels like a better accomplishment to me than 19. So inevitably everytime I set out to run 19, I run 20. So I decided I'd run ten, and then turn around head back. I felt pretty good for the first 9 miles. Somewhere around 9.5 miles I ran into the girl. She was heading out on the ocean drive in the same direction I would be once I turned around. So I said hi and ran the extra half mile to my turnaround point. I figured by the time I turned around and got back to where we had crossed paths that we were roughly two miles apart at that point. Which meant I may not catch her before she gets to the house unless she were to stop for anything. So I just pressed onward. My right leg at this point started to protest. Its just been really stiff lately. I think really its a combination of things. My right foot was also starting to feel tight. So theres tightness in my foot from the plantar fasciatis, and in my hamstring. And it all adds up to some discomfort. Not so much I can't press onward, but its not fun. But I just sucked it up and kept going.
Around mile 18 a woman with a fuel belt on as well passed me and we chatted briefly. She was also out for her long run. I was feeling pretty tired and she was running a nice pace for me so I let her get 15' or so out in front of me and then locked into her pace figuring she could pace me the rest of the way in. Apparently this annoyed her as she changed sides of the street but kept going the same direction. Personally I found this annoying and insulting. But I suppose in these modern times women have to be careful when out running. But its sad that two people wearing fuel belts and a guy in a tri club tshirt aren't safe enough to run near each other anymore. Whatever... I was annoyed when she crossed the street so I kicked it up a notch, passed her and accelerated till I was 50 feet in front of her and then crossed to the same side of the street as I needed to be on that side to make my turn. I figured that way she knew I wasn't creepy and trying to follow her. Whatever...
As I rounded the corner onto the girl's street I saw her up ahead! So I sprinted for half a mile to catch up to her and caught her within a quarter mile of the house. Which at that point it occured to me how odd it was that I caught her considering she was running 14 miles and I was running 20. I'm not THAT much faster than her and I was having a slow day as I ran my 20 at 9's. Turns out she changed her mind and ran 17.5 miles. She looked confused that I hadn't caught her already considering I was supposed to only be running 19. So we had a nice chuckle about us both ignoring our training plans. Apparently were very much alike in that regard.
So all in all a good run today except for the discomfort. Which right now is not happy! So I'll do some more stretching and then go lay down for a bit I think. Hopefully it feels better soon. I think I'll swim tomorrow wiht the girl too to try and loosen it up and get a swim lesson in. I haven't swam in almost a month so this could be ugly! Hopefully I don't drown!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
Catching up from Newport...
Its been far too long since I've updated. Many things have been going on that have made it hard to keep this blog up to date. I'm happy to say those things are done and gone now... so things should be getting back to normal here and I'll be posting regularly again. This post is going to be a bit of an epic catch up though... so bring a pillow. You may need a nap halfway through. I'm going to break it up into categories... so skip through them at will.....
Work: I'm THRILLED to say that the brutal project I was working on is finally dead and gone. I've never gone through a more stressfull, obnoxious, ridiculous, nighmare inducing, last minute, pathetic pre production (planning) phase of a show EVER, and I've never had such an awful time onsite either. That show quite simply SUCKED. Its over. The client was happy, and I'll never subject myself to such conditions ever again. I went through with that show to the finish because of members of the team I cared about and have a long history with. If they had not been on that project I would have bailed. It was that bad... but now its over. And now I don't have to spend all my time working, stressing, worrying, losing sleep, and being too exhausted to get workouts in. Now its on to better things. I'm promising myself that I will be much more careful about the work projects I take on going forwards. I'm going to try and keep my training and racing plan ahead of my work plan and take on or deny jobs accordinglly. I've also finished the last of the scenic design projects on my plate and do not plan on taking on any new ones for the forseeable future in order to free up more time at home to train. For now though I don't have to work again until December 27th so I have a nice chunk of time off to get caught up on life again.
Life: As far as the rest of things go... life is going well miraculously. I'm very very lucky to have met such a wonderful woman who put up with a lot from me while I went through the stress of the Chicago show. I have not been the easiest person to deal with lately and the girl has been fabulous about it all. I'm really very lucky that she has been so patient with me throughout my ridiculous work travel schedule and my lack of focus on our relationship while I was going through all of that. She and I are doing very very well and I've really been enjoying our time together since I've been back in town. I've had a little bit of time to catch up with some friends of mine as well and I'm really looking forward to spending more time with friends and catching up with everyone after I sort of fell off the face of the earth there for a while.
Thanksgiving: Yesterday was thanksgiving. I had a fabulous day with the girl that started with up both running in the Newport Fed Pie Run 5 mile road race in the morning. I ran this race last year in 34:04 and I really wanted to try and smash that and set a new PR this year. But my right leg has not been super strong lately and I have to keep my marathon plans in mind. Sometimes racing really fast and hard takes a serious toll on my legs and takes me a while to recover from. I really agonized over what to do in the race and in the end I decided to help pace the girl to a new PR for her at that distance. I really wanted to race it but I knew that I have to run a 19 miler on Saturday and that it was pretty likely I might hurt myself if I wasn't carefull. So I sucked it up and decided to behave myself and just enjoy the run and pace the girl instead. Mind you I didn't decide this till five mintues before the race start after my right leg still felt stiff in my warmup run. Fortunately I was able to find the girl before the start and line up with her and my friends Chris and Melissa at the start. The girl wanted to run 8'30s which considering she is a "ten minute miler no matter the distance" (her words) was an ambitious goal I thought. However she had just run a bunch of 9 minute miles in her recent half marathon so I had great confidence she could pull it off. So we lined up and off we went with the sound of the gun. During the race I had many really great moments... and a few not so great ones. The not so great ones were getting passed by anyone in a turkey hat, the guy dressed as tinkerbelle, the woman with a stroller, and watching the fast guys racing towards us on the out and back section. At all of those moments I wanted to be running FAST! I wanted to crush the idiots in costume and race to a PR and enjoy the sensation of struggling for air and running as fast as I could. However... these moments were very much overshadowed by looking over at the girl as she was clearly working really hard to push herself. It was really fun to see someone else doing that. I experience the race from a different perspective this time. I matched her pace which for me is my long run pace. So I was quite relaxed through the race and able to enjoy a lot of moments I sometimes miss. One of my favorite moments in the race was somewhere in mile one where the 500 or so runners were all in a big bunch and all you could hear was the sound of footfalls striking the ground. Other than that it was silence. A magical sound... just fabulous. Other highlights for me were looking over at the girl and the ocean and the beautifull scenery and really just taking the whole experience of the race in. I people watched a LOT during the race and that was fun too. At the mile three mark there is a guy yelling out splits. The girl was right on target for 8:30s. A little ahead of it even. She was doing great and looked really strong too. I was psyched for her but I knew there was a big hill coming. At the hill she started to slow a bit so I went out in front just a little to act as a carrot for her to chase and hoped she push through it. She did great and we crested the hill well and started to pickup speed on the downhill and into the finish. The rest of the race went great except for the annoying guy in the red shirt that kept getting between us. I was determined to finish side by side with the girl and eventually we managed to get around him and cross the finish line together. In the end the girl managed an 8:38 average! She did it! I was really proud of her and I really enjoyed getting to experience the race from a different perspective. After the race we chatted with a few friends and I ran into an old highschool/college buddy of mine and got to catch up a little so that was fun. After that the girl and I spent a fabulous afternoon of napping, cooking, eating, cooking, eating and taking the dog for a long walk on the cliff walk. A fantastic way to spend thanksgiving! We had a fabulous meal and a great day. Hope everyone else did too!
10/29 Beach to Battleship FULL Ironman Triathlon! Yeah!!!
I have not yet decided which of the half irons will be truly RACED and which will be more like training bricks under raceday conditions. I need to carefully look at my training plan once I get that together and see how they fit in and then take it from there. Ultimately though... my entire 2011 season is all about the full ironman at the end of it. EVERYTHING in front of that has to be thought of with that in mind. Thats the only goal and the only race that matters. Everything else is about getting to that start line healthy and strong and ready to race. Its going to be a fun year! I can't wait!
And some quick Swim/Bike/Run updates....
Swim: Haven't swam in weeks... was just starting to get a groove going in the pool and then work got in the way. Time to get refocused in the pool and start working with the girl as my coach and see what I can do to improve my technique and get some speed in the water.
Work: I'm THRILLED to say that the brutal project I was working on is finally dead and gone. I've never gone through a more stressfull, obnoxious, ridiculous, nighmare inducing, last minute, pathetic pre production (planning) phase of a show EVER, and I've never had such an awful time onsite either. That show quite simply SUCKED. Its over. The client was happy, and I'll never subject myself to such conditions ever again. I went through with that show to the finish because of members of the team I cared about and have a long history with. If they had not been on that project I would have bailed. It was that bad... but now its over. And now I don't have to spend all my time working, stressing, worrying, losing sleep, and being too exhausted to get workouts in. Now its on to better things. I'm promising myself that I will be much more careful about the work projects I take on going forwards. I'm going to try and keep my training and racing plan ahead of my work plan and take on or deny jobs accordinglly. I've also finished the last of the scenic design projects on my plate and do not plan on taking on any new ones for the forseeable future in order to free up more time at home to train. For now though I don't have to work again until December 27th so I have a nice chunk of time off to get caught up on life again.
Life: As far as the rest of things go... life is going well miraculously. I'm very very lucky to have met such a wonderful woman who put up with a lot from me while I went through the stress of the Chicago show. I have not been the easiest person to deal with lately and the girl has been fabulous about it all. I'm really very lucky that she has been so patient with me throughout my ridiculous work travel schedule and my lack of focus on our relationship while I was going through all of that. She and I are doing very very well and I've really been enjoying our time together since I've been back in town. I've had a little bit of time to catch up with some friends of mine as well and I'm really looking forward to spending more time with friends and catching up with everyone after I sort of fell off the face of the earth there for a while.
Thanksgiving: Yesterday was thanksgiving. I had a fabulous day with the girl that started with up both running in the Newport Fed Pie Run 5 mile road race in the morning. I ran this race last year in 34:04 and I really wanted to try and smash that and set a new PR this year. But my right leg has not been super strong lately and I have to keep my marathon plans in mind. Sometimes racing really fast and hard takes a serious toll on my legs and takes me a while to recover from. I really agonized over what to do in the race and in the end I decided to help pace the girl to a new PR for her at that distance. I really wanted to race it but I knew that I have to run a 19 miler on Saturday and that it was pretty likely I might hurt myself if I wasn't carefull. So I sucked it up and decided to behave myself and just enjoy the run and pace the girl instead. Mind you I didn't decide this till five mintues before the race start after my right leg still felt stiff in my warmup run. Fortunately I was able to find the girl before the start and line up with her and my friends Chris and Melissa at the start. The girl wanted to run 8'30s which considering she is a "ten minute miler no matter the distance" (her words) was an ambitious goal I thought. However she had just run a bunch of 9 minute miles in her recent half marathon so I had great confidence she could pull it off. So we lined up and off we went with the sound of the gun. During the race I had many really great moments... and a few not so great ones. The not so great ones were getting passed by anyone in a turkey hat, the guy dressed as tinkerbelle, the woman with a stroller, and watching the fast guys racing towards us on the out and back section. At all of those moments I wanted to be running FAST! I wanted to crush the idiots in costume and race to a PR and enjoy the sensation of struggling for air and running as fast as I could. However... these moments were very much overshadowed by looking over at the girl as she was clearly working really hard to push herself. It was really fun to see someone else doing that. I experience the race from a different perspective this time. I matched her pace which for me is my long run pace. So I was quite relaxed through the race and able to enjoy a lot of moments I sometimes miss. One of my favorite moments in the race was somewhere in mile one where the 500 or so runners were all in a big bunch and all you could hear was the sound of footfalls striking the ground. Other than that it was silence. A magical sound... just fabulous. Other highlights for me were looking over at the girl and the ocean and the beautifull scenery and really just taking the whole experience of the race in. I people watched a LOT during the race and that was fun too. At the mile three mark there is a guy yelling out splits. The girl was right on target for 8:30s. A little ahead of it even. She was doing great and looked really strong too. I was psyched for her but I knew there was a big hill coming. At the hill she started to slow a bit so I went out in front just a little to act as a carrot for her to chase and hoped she push through it. She did great and we crested the hill well and started to pickup speed on the downhill and into the finish. The rest of the race went great except for the annoying guy in the red shirt that kept getting between us. I was determined to finish side by side with the girl and eventually we managed to get around him and cross the finish line together. In the end the girl managed an 8:38 average! She did it! I was really proud of her and I really enjoyed getting to experience the race from a different perspective. After the race we chatted with a few friends and I ran into an old highschool/college buddy of mine and got to catch up a little so that was fun. After that the girl and I spent a fabulous afternoon of napping, cooking, eating, cooking, eating and taking the dog for a long walk on the cliff walk. A fantastic way to spend thanksgiving! We had a fabulous meal and a great day. Hope everyone else did too!
Training: Well... here's the thing. My triathlon training lately has been AWFUL! The last time I got on a bike was the outdoor spin bike in LA a few weeks ago! UGH! And the last time I swam was also out in LA as well. Double UGH! The only thing I have kept up on is my running. I have been faithfully keeping up my run schedule with the exception of missing two out of three midweek runs the week I was in Chicago. I was pretty sick that week with a cold on top of being exhausted and working a million hours a day and not sleeping so it just wasn't worth it. I have however faithfully kept up my long run schedule in training for the marathon. So on the plus side my marathon training is coming along fine. Well with the exception of some tightness/soreness/pain? in the top of my right leg. Beyond that its fine. My biggest problem lately has been that I'm STILL fighting this cold I picked up in Chicago a week and a half ago. I thought I had it kicked but today it feels like its coming back. Which sucks... especially as I have a 19 mile run planned for tomorrow. The soreness in my right leg is why I decided not to race yesterday as I didn't want to make it worse and jeopardize my marathon training. On top of all of this I did a LOT of stress eating while I was in Chicago. I just decided I didn't care. That mixed with other recent eating and drinking habits means I'm currently at 148lbs which is ten pounds over my race weight. Not good! So I need to get back on the diet train and watch my nutrition more carefully. I hope and think it will all figure itself out once I get back into tri training full swing which I'm hoping to do starting Monday with a full week of training. Although really I'll be starting today. The bike is currently sitting on a brand new Kurt Kinetic trainer waiting for me to get a workout in. So I'll spin today, run long tomorrow, rest/easy swim on Sunday and then get into full workout swing mode on Monday I hope. So thats the plan.
Racing: I think I have my 2011 race plan all worked out. It goes like this....
1/7-1/9 Disney Goofy Marathon Challenge: 5K, Half Marathon, Full Marathon on consecutive days. (all done at long run easy pace)
2/13 Donna Marathon in Jacksonville, FL - Hoping to race the full marathon if I feel ready, backup plan is to race the half, or just spectate if need be.
6/18 Patriot Half Ironman Triathlon, MA
7/10 Amica Half Ironman Triathlon, RI
8/21 Timberman Half Ironman Triathlon, NH
9/?? Firmman Half Ironman Triathlon - Considering various options... Aquabike, entire race as a training brick?, doing just the swim as part of a relay? Will depend on how this falls with my training plan.10/29 Beach to Battleship FULL Ironman Triathlon! Yeah!!!
I have not yet decided which of the half irons will be truly RACED and which will be more like training bricks under raceday conditions. I need to carefully look at my training plan once I get that together and see how they fit in and then take it from there. Ultimately though... my entire 2011 season is all about the full ironman at the end of it. EVERYTHING in front of that has to be thought of with that in mind. Thats the only goal and the only race that matters. Everything else is about getting to that start line healthy and strong and ready to race. Its going to be a fun year! I can't wait!
And some quick Swim/Bike/Run updates....
Swim: Haven't swam in weeks... was just starting to get a groove going in the pool and then work got in the way. Time to get refocused in the pool and start working with the girl as my coach and see what I can do to improve my technique and get some speed in the water.
Bike: Ordered a new bike! I just placed an order for a Cannondale Slice 4 Tri bike with SRAM rival components. It will look just like the one pictured below except that I'm changing out the chainrings and crank to a SRAM force crank and chainring to shave a little weight, and because I'm lame and like everything to be matchy matchy. I'll also be moving my SRAM S60 Wheelset over to this bike. I'm very excited to get on a dedicated tri bike in 2011. Its going to be a bit of a wait though as it won't arrive at my bike shop till late January / early February and then we'll start the fitting process. I'm lucky in that I'm a common size and if for any reason the bike doesn't fit me then I'll simply return it and try something else. However I'm confident and hopefully we'll get along. My fit chart from the bike shop indicates the geometry will suit me and the SLICE has a reputation of being a great bike for runners over a lot of other tri bikes. I'm told its well suited to those who come to traithlon from a running background. It may not be quite as fast as some other more aggressive tri bikes, but its geometry lends itself to runners and keeping their legs fresh. At least thats what the bike shop and the literature tell me... we'll see if its true in training. I'm glad I was able to buy a tri bike with SRAM Rival on board as I've been really happy with that gruppo on my road bike. Should be a snappy shifting bike and a TON of fun.
Run: My run training is progressing well with my long run tomorrow up to 19 miles now. Almost at the peak before the taper. Just a few more weeks to go. So far everything is ok other than fighting this cold that has been making breathing a bit of a struggle and slowing my pace down, and this odd pain at the top of my right leg somewhere in the hamstring area. So I've been trying to stretch and be good and baby it and be carefull and so far so good. Sometimes I wonder if distance running and a total lack of pain and discomfort are even possible. Part of me wonders if its just because of the lack of cross training lately? Not sure...
So thats a quickie catchup of all thats been going on lately. Time for me to go get on the trainer now that I'm out of excuses!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Updates from Cali
I'm still here in LA, but fortunately not for too much longer! I'm happy to say I head home on thursday morning after 17 straight days on the road. I am very much ready to get home and back to the girl. Good things have been happening training wise out here though which I'm very happy to report. My last update was on Friday when I did the big outdoor brick. My original plan was that I would take Saturday off as my rest day and then run long on Sunday. Life on the road means shuffling my big workouts around to fit wherever they can and then getting the smaller ones in around everything else. In this case I had sunday morning off so I figured I'd do my 14 mile run then in the daylight when it would be a lot more fun and scenic. I can certainly run at 5am but running 14 miles in the dark around the lit up hotel property is not much fun. So that was my original plan... but you know what they say about plans.....
So saturday morning some things happened at the show that necessitated a change of plans. So I lost my sunday morning off and a big hole appeared in my schedule for Saturday afternoon. So it suddenly became apparent that if I wanted to run long in the daylight hours I had to do it saturday afternoon. This was not ideal as I had a pretty hard swim/bike/run workout the day before thinking I had saturday off to recover. Especially with my hamstring acting up. But I really wanted to get that 14 mile run and see how my leg/foot would handle it. So I decided I was going to have to run long on Saturday on no rest.
So saturday afternoon I headed out from my hotel villa and pointed myself north along the pacific coast. My plan was to run seven miles north, turn around and run 7 back. As long as the ocean was on my left on the way out and right on the way back I figured I couldn't get lost. Let me first say that the weather was PERFECT. 60-70 degrees with a fantastic cool ocean breeze coming over the cliffs. So that part of the run was great. What was not great were two things.... 1. I felt tired right from mile 1 and my pace showed it. I averaged 9:15s which was a definite sign of running on tired legs. 2. LA is damn hilly!!!! More on that in a sec.
So I headed north out from the hotel and out along the coast. Running out here is really beautifull and the views are just spectacular. However its really really hilly out here! I don't remember any long flat stretches. I was pretty much either climbing or descending the entire run. Somewhere around mile 5 I started descending. And I just kept going down, and down, and down... for two miles! Holy crap I was going to have to climb back up this! So when I finally descended to the 7 mile turnaround point I was faced with a two mile climb. It was brutal! I was down to a 10:30 pace for those two miles and it was just a one foot in front of the other battle up the climb until it was over. On the plus side though as tired as my legs felt my hamstring felt ok for the most part. It didn't feel 100% but it felt pretty damn good so that was great. My foot did ok too. Still feels like I can't push off quite as hard off my right foot but it wasn't too bad this time. So hopefully things are getting stronger? We'll see.....
So the people I work with on the road know that I'm a triathlete and distance runner. They know I love crazy long workouts... but they don't really get it. Every now and then though something funny happens and I think they get a glimpse of what I do... As I headed out for my run I ran past one of my bosses on this show. I waved and kept running. Just over two hours later I ran past him again. He looked stunned, and he yelled "have you been running this whole time!?" And I said YEP! and kept going. I thought it was pretty funny. The look on his face was priceless.
So that was Saturday afternoon. After my long run I then had to go back to work until pretty late, got 5 hours sleep and then went right back to work on Sunday morning for what would be a crazy, crazy day. The lack of sleep combined with two hard days of workouts and work back to back meant I was pretty tired all day long. But I fought through it... what made it even harder though was that some unexpected rain pushed some outdoor event we had just finished setting up for indoors so we had a mad scramble to get everything moved indoors and setup again. It was pretty exhausting... more so as I was so tired from the run. So yesterday was an exhausting day! I definitely slept well after that one.
So this morning I woke up at 530am when my alarm went off with the intention of going for a swim before work... but my body said NO so I went back to sleep until I had to go to work at 830am. Fortunately I did have a time window this afternoon so I headed to the pool around 1 to go for a swim. Once again I had the whole pool to myself which was great. So I proceeded to start my workout. I did 2500 yards total which was made up of 20x50 yard repeats with a focus on a different stroke element each 50. Some on legs and kicking, some on head position, some on arms and reach. Once I got through those I did 10x100's and then ended with a 500yd set. That made up a full hour of swimming and I was pretty beat afterwards, but I was pleased with how it went for the most part. Some laps were definitely better than others. Really though I think what I'm learning is I need to get focused with my swim coaching if I'm going to improve. So hopefully the girl and I can get together for another lesson soon around my crazy travel schedule.
Now its evening and I'm back at work. The next few days are going to be brutal! I'll get in a run tomorrow during the day but then I have to work from 4pm-3am. Thats going to hurt! And then I'll go right back to work around 11am till 3pm or so, take another nap, and then back at 10pm-midnight or so, and then a 4 hour nap, and then headed to the airport to fly home on wednesday morning... not going to be fun! But it will all be worth it when I get off that plane in Providence. I can't wait to get home and see the girl.
So saturday morning some things happened at the show that necessitated a change of plans. So I lost my sunday morning off and a big hole appeared in my schedule for Saturday afternoon. So it suddenly became apparent that if I wanted to run long in the daylight hours I had to do it saturday afternoon. This was not ideal as I had a pretty hard swim/bike/run workout the day before thinking I had saturday off to recover. Especially with my hamstring acting up. But I really wanted to get that 14 mile run and see how my leg/foot would handle it. So I decided I was going to have to run long on Saturday on no rest.
So saturday afternoon I headed out from my hotel villa and pointed myself north along the pacific coast. My plan was to run seven miles north, turn around and run 7 back. As long as the ocean was on my left on the way out and right on the way back I figured I couldn't get lost. Let me first say that the weather was PERFECT. 60-70 degrees with a fantastic cool ocean breeze coming over the cliffs. So that part of the run was great. What was not great were two things.... 1. I felt tired right from mile 1 and my pace showed it. I averaged 9:15s which was a definite sign of running on tired legs. 2. LA is damn hilly!!!! More on that in a sec.
So I headed north out from the hotel and out along the coast. Running out here is really beautifull and the views are just spectacular. However its really really hilly out here! I don't remember any long flat stretches. I was pretty much either climbing or descending the entire run. Somewhere around mile 5 I started descending. And I just kept going down, and down, and down... for two miles! Holy crap I was going to have to climb back up this! So when I finally descended to the 7 mile turnaround point I was faced with a two mile climb. It was brutal! I was down to a 10:30 pace for those two miles and it was just a one foot in front of the other battle up the climb until it was over. On the plus side though as tired as my legs felt my hamstring felt ok for the most part. It didn't feel 100% but it felt pretty damn good so that was great. My foot did ok too. Still feels like I can't push off quite as hard off my right foot but it wasn't too bad this time. So hopefully things are getting stronger? We'll see.....
So the people I work with on the road know that I'm a triathlete and distance runner. They know I love crazy long workouts... but they don't really get it. Every now and then though something funny happens and I think they get a glimpse of what I do... As I headed out for my run I ran past one of my bosses on this show. I waved and kept running. Just over two hours later I ran past him again. He looked stunned, and he yelled "have you been running this whole time!?" And I said YEP! and kept going. I thought it was pretty funny. The look on his face was priceless.
So that was Saturday afternoon. After my long run I then had to go back to work until pretty late, got 5 hours sleep and then went right back to work on Sunday morning for what would be a crazy, crazy day. The lack of sleep combined with two hard days of workouts and work back to back meant I was pretty tired all day long. But I fought through it... what made it even harder though was that some unexpected rain pushed some outdoor event we had just finished setting up for indoors so we had a mad scramble to get everything moved indoors and setup again. It was pretty exhausting... more so as I was so tired from the run. So yesterday was an exhausting day! I definitely slept well after that one.
So this morning I woke up at 530am when my alarm went off with the intention of going for a swim before work... but my body said NO so I went back to sleep until I had to go to work at 830am. Fortunately I did have a time window this afternoon so I headed to the pool around 1 to go for a swim. Once again I had the whole pool to myself which was great. So I proceeded to start my workout. I did 2500 yards total which was made up of 20x50 yard repeats with a focus on a different stroke element each 50. Some on legs and kicking, some on head position, some on arms and reach. Once I got through those I did 10x100's and then ended with a 500yd set. That made up a full hour of swimming and I was pretty beat afterwards, but I was pleased with how it went for the most part. Some laps were definitely better than others. Really though I think what I'm learning is I need to get focused with my swim coaching if I'm going to improve. So hopefully the girl and I can get together for another lesson soon around my crazy travel schedule.
Now its evening and I'm back at work. The next few days are going to be brutal! I'll get in a run tomorrow during the day but then I have to work from 4pm-3am. Thats going to hurt! And then I'll go right back to work around 11am till 3pm or so, take another nap, and then back at 10pm-midnight or so, and then a 4 hour nap, and then headed to the airport to fly home on wednesday morning... not going to be fun! But it will all be worth it when I get off that plane in Providence. I can't wait to get home and see the girl.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Fabulous Outdoor Training Day
I travel a lot with work. Often times when people who don't travel for work hear this they say things like "Oh! That must be exciting!" and "do you get to go to great restaurants a lot?", "you must get to sightsee a lot!" and all sorts of other exciting and glamours ideas people have about travel. I have those ideas too... but they are centered around vacations. When I travel for work I see an airport, some form of transport from airport to hotel (this is the only sightseeing I do) and then I see the hotel and the venue. Often the hotel and the venue are attached to each other which means that quite often when I go on a trip the only time I see the outdoors is when I go to and from the airport. Twenty hour days are not unheard of and 12-18 hour days are extremely common. When we travel we work our asses off in my industry from the moment we wake up till when we go to sleep. When we have a few rare bits of time off in the evening we often spend them in search of a great meal close to the hotel or more often than not sitting in our hotel room staring at a laptop working on paperwork for the next show. That is life on the road. There are of course some perks. Frequent flyer miles and hotel points mean my hotel and airfare on vacations or travelling to races are often free which is great. It means I can live anywhere in the US close to an airport. I can cut my schedule down to working only 12 shows a year, maybe even less than that and still pay all my bills as we get paid a premium to be away from our friends and family. However the lifestyle is a tiring one and it gets old... but thats not what this post is about. Every now and then you end up on a show with one of those easy dream schedules that you usually only read about on your buddies facebook page and you write stuff like "you bastard! howcome I never get a gig like that!". Well... right now I'm on a gig like that. And damnit I deserve it!
I'm currently at the Terranea Resort just south of LA in California working on a large corporate event. The initial load in schedule was a challenge but now that part is behind us my schedule has gotten to be pretty easy. I don't think there are any days much longer than 8 hours left on my schedule in the time remaining here and I haven't worked many days longer than that since we finished setup which is awesome. Some of my days are split with a 4 hour morning work session and a 4 hour evening session or whatever... but thats super easy. So the point is I'm staying at this super swank resort and actually have bits of time off to enjoy it! Granted I have a fair amount of paperwork to do but those projects are stalled while I wait for other people to finish bits of them so today I decided to enjoy myself.....
I didn't have to be at work today till 4pm so I decided I would sleep in and get in a nice big brick session today on property. I had no idea it was all going to be outdoors and amazing! Now my body is still on east coast time so sleeping in meant getting up at 7am. I spent a delightfull hour just eating breakfast, drinking coffee, and texting / emailing the girl and then decided it was time to get my ass in the pool. So I loaded up with all the gear I'd need to swim/bike/run, threw on some tri shorts and a tech shirt and headed off to the pool / fitness center to get started.
When I first saw the pool I was stunned. Its right at the top of a cliff overlooking the pacific ocean and it was gorgeous! Better than that I had the whole damn thing to myself!
As you can see the view is amazing. What a treat to be swimming in October in an outdoor lap pool! And to make it even better its a salt water pool which I really like. Only minor annoyance is the cutesy curved lap lines on the bottom of the pool but really... who can complain about that! So I proceeded to get my swimming in. I tried to forget about the awful swim session a week prior that had me out of the pool after logging barely 500 yards. This session was much, much better. I settled into a groove quickly and put in 20x50's on 20 seconds rest. That went well and then I moved onto 100's and did 5 of those followed by one 500 yard set for a total of 2000 yards. That took me about 45 minutes and then I got out of the pool and dried off and headed into the fitness center to get on a stationary bike.
I get on the bike inside the gym and start pedalling and then I look out the window and see this brick patio outside with six spin bikes on it sitting in the sun. So I stopped pedalling grabbed all my gak and headed out there! WOW! Sweet! A spin bike, an ocean breeze, and a view of the pacific ocean! Seriously? AWESOME!
So I put in a nice steady hour of spinning on the bike and then locked up my gak and headed out for a five mile run.
The run went really well and the progressive swim to bike warmup had my hamstring feeling really good which was awesome. There is a large network of gravel trails that runs up and down the coast so I just headed north and followed the trail that runs atop the cliffs. What a beautifull run! Gorgeous mostly empty trails, 70 degrees and sunny. Just absolutely fabulous. I loved it! My hamstring felt good, my toe felt a little weak but not bad and I got through the run feeling much much better than I did the one a couple of days ago. I definitely felt good enough to try for the 14 miler on Sunday.
So a spectacular day of outdoor training was had today. And after that I went back to my villa and ate lots of yummy bagels, cheese, yogurt, almonds, and granola for a super nutritious and yummy protein filled lunch. Perfect! And after a super long shower which included ten minutes of stretching and yoga under the hot water I dried off, spent an hour on the phone with the girl, did some work, and then mozied on over to work from 4pm-10pm which is where I am now. Work this evening consists of babysitting a dimmer rack again for six hours. Super easy. I keep asking the LD to break something so I'll have something to fix. He's not cooperating yet though.
A fantastic day today... it really did wonders for my mood to have such a strong and successful training day in the outdoors. Usually travelling and training means nasty beige dungeon gyms deep in the hotel with lousy indoor chlorine filled 20 yard pools. So a full 25 yard real lap pool with that view, an outdoor spin bike, and a trail run along the ocean... well damn. That just never happens! And the luxury of a morning off to take my time and enjoy it! now were talking near impossible! But today it all lined up and I loved it! Good for the soul. Plus I'm getting excited at the thought of going home in five days. Love it!
I'm currently at the Terranea Resort just south of LA in California working on a large corporate event. The initial load in schedule was a challenge but now that part is behind us my schedule has gotten to be pretty easy. I don't think there are any days much longer than 8 hours left on my schedule in the time remaining here and I haven't worked many days longer than that since we finished setup which is awesome. Some of my days are split with a 4 hour morning work session and a 4 hour evening session or whatever... but thats super easy. So the point is I'm staying at this super swank resort and actually have bits of time off to enjoy it! Granted I have a fair amount of paperwork to do but those projects are stalled while I wait for other people to finish bits of them so today I decided to enjoy myself.....
I didn't have to be at work today till 4pm so I decided I would sleep in and get in a nice big brick session today on property. I had no idea it was all going to be outdoors and amazing! Now my body is still on east coast time so sleeping in meant getting up at 7am. I spent a delightfull hour just eating breakfast, drinking coffee, and texting / emailing the girl and then decided it was time to get my ass in the pool. So I loaded up with all the gear I'd need to swim/bike/run, threw on some tri shorts and a tech shirt and headed off to the pool / fitness center to get started.
When I first saw the pool I was stunned. Its right at the top of a cliff overlooking the pacific ocean and it was gorgeous! Better than that I had the whole damn thing to myself!
I get on the bike inside the gym and start pedalling and then I look out the window and see this brick patio outside with six spin bikes on it sitting in the sun. So I stopped pedalling grabbed all my gak and headed out there! WOW! Sweet! A spin bike, an ocean breeze, and a view of the pacific ocean! Seriously? AWESOME!
The run went really well and the progressive swim to bike warmup had my hamstring feeling really good which was awesome. There is a large network of gravel trails that runs up and down the coast so I just headed north and followed the trail that runs atop the cliffs. What a beautifull run! Gorgeous mostly empty trails, 70 degrees and sunny. Just absolutely fabulous. I loved it! My hamstring felt good, my toe felt a little weak but not bad and I got through the run feeling much much better than I did the one a couple of days ago. I definitely felt good enough to try for the 14 miler on Sunday.
So a spectacular day of outdoor training was had today. And after that I went back to my villa and ate lots of yummy bagels, cheese, yogurt, almonds, and granola for a super nutritious and yummy protein filled lunch. Perfect! And after a super long shower which included ten minutes of stretching and yoga under the hot water I dried off, spent an hour on the phone with the girl, did some work, and then mozied on over to work from 4pm-10pm which is where I am now. Work this evening consists of babysitting a dimmer rack again for six hours. Super easy. I keep asking the LD to break something so I'll have something to fix. He's not cooperating yet though.
A fantastic day today... it really did wonders for my mood to have such a strong and successful training day in the outdoors. Usually travelling and training means nasty beige dungeon gyms deep in the hotel with lousy indoor chlorine filled 20 yard pools. So a full 25 yard real lap pool with that view, an outdoor spin bike, and a trail run along the ocean... well damn. That just never happens! And the luxury of a morning off to take my time and enjoy it! now were talking near impossible! But today it all lined up and I loved it! Good for the soul. Plus I'm getting excited at the thought of going home in five days. Love it!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Checking in from LA
I'm currently sitting next to a pile of equipment racks at a large corporate event in a very fancy schmancy resort just south of Los Angeles. I was hired to come out here and be the "master electrician" for this event. Which means my job is to lead the installation of a large lighting rig for the event. Normally I'm the lighting designer and I work with master electricians to install my rigs for me. However sometimes its really nice to trade hats. Working shows like this have only one really stressfull day and thats the first day of setup when you walk into an empty room. But as gigs go even that day wasn't bad at all. So now that the rig is loaded in (all setup) my job becomes more of a babysitting role. Essentially I sit backstage and wait for stuff to break. Sometimes that happens a lot, and sometimes not at all. So here is my exciting view...
On the other side of a wall of drape and scenery is a big fancy lighting rig where currently a couple hundred executives are enjoying a performance by a bunch of fire dancers while they wait for their big awards dinner to start. Here's a shot I grabbed at rehearsal.
So as you can see my job can be pretty random at times. Point is though I'm here at this amazing luxury resort staying in this lovely villa with several fireplaces, a hot tub, two outdoor patios, outdoor fireplaces and all sorts of fabulous acoutrements. So I really can't complain. The part however that I can whine a bit about is that I've been going show to show for quite sometime now and I'm really missing the girl. We've never been apart for any length of time yet so this trip being almost three weeks long has been tough. Just 7 more days to go fortunately and I'll be home... although sadly only for a few days and then I go off to Dallas for a week.
So last I updated I was in DC and taking a week off of training. I stayed true to that and did nothing while I was out there but do my best to let things heal. However once out here in LA I really wanted to get back to training. Especially to running to see what would happen. And at the end of that rest period I felt fairly good. Some hamstring tightness was still there but not as bad, and my right foot still feels a little less powerfull but I felt ok to try running again. So after a long workday in DC followed by a flight to LA getting me in at close to midnight and then working a 15 hour day the next day I went to bed with the plan to wake up early and get a run in before work. So my alarm went off at 5am (its really easy to get up that early on the west coast when you are still on east coast time) and headed out for a run. I was kind of excited to run here as the resort is literally on a cliff right on the pacific ocean and I'm sure the views must be spectacular. However at 5am its pitch black out. So I was forced to stay on the hotel's many lit paths and parking areas. So I found a nice 1.2 mile loop of paths and just kept running that loop till I hit 5.7 miles total. Why 5.7? Because I wanted to run five, and from there it was .7 miles to the cafe where I planned to buy breakfast!
So how did the run go? Well it started off well, but it didn't end so well. My hamstring tightened up quite a bit towards the end. Nothing awful or painfull just that discomfort again. So that was frustrating. My foot felt ok, but again it feels weak. I definitely did not finish it as strong as I wanted to. Worse though was that as the day wore on my hamstring felt sore all day. Very aggrevating! Again not painfull... just tight.
So now what? Well I've decided that I have to try and run on it. Its not injured and its not painfull so I need to do my best to stretch stretch stretch and see if I can actively rehab it. I'll be carefull with pace and hillwork and see what happens. So tomorrow I'm going to try and run 5 again and see what happens and if that goes well I'll try 14 on Sunday. If I'm not able to do that then I will try a last ditch effort of two straight weeks off and then start training again for the marathon. If I can't heal it in two weeks then I'm porked and probably wont be able to do the disney challenge or at least not the full marathon part of it. We'll see though. I still however have the option of racing the Donna in February as my marathon so thats still on the table and it could be really fun to try and PR and then get to celebrate with the girl and all her friends. So still lots to figure out.
I really hope I can run long on Sunday though... I have that morning off and its so beautifull out here and to run long along the pacific coast will be amazing. So fingers crossed. I also have some time in the morning tomorrow to myself so my hope is to swim nice and early, then bike a little at the gym as a nice long warmup and then go run five miles. Saturday would then be an off day and then I'll run long on Sunday. Wish me luck!
In other random news my eating has been much better here in LA than it was in DC thats for sure! The plus of having the lovely villa is that its now stocked full of groceries as we have a full kitchen. So between me behaving again at the end of the DC trip and my time out here my weight is back down to 142 from its peak of 145 so that has me feeling good. Not that I'm a freak about it, but I do like to maintain it at 140 and keep it there. Its been a little roller-coastery lately and thats not good. So I'm hoping to get it back under control and keep it there. Ok... I should go back to staring at equipment racks now.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Off Week....
So this week was pretty much an off and recovery week to let my body recoup from the busy racing season before I start heading towards marathon training in earnest. I took the advice of some friends of mine in the know and gave my body some recovery time. The only workouts I did this week was a great 2600 yard swim on Monday, an ok 1000 yard swim on Tuesday, and a LOUSY 500 yard swim on thursday. Since then I've done nothing. Today however is my last day of rest before starting up again tomorrow.
So was it worth it?
Well this morning I decided to take an evaluation of how I feel....
My hamstring still feels tight. But it feels a little stronger. I think if I keep my runs to slower paced efforts and work on strengthening my legs back up with regular strength training I'll probably be ok. This is what I went through early in the season and the strength work I put in then seems to have paid dividends. However once my training for the FIRM 1/2 got intense I backed off the strength training as I just couldn't handle the volume of training and strength training at the same time. But now that should be much easier. So we'll see how I do putting those two together. My hope is that with regular stretching and strength training I will be on a course to keep that hammy healthy and strong. Time will tell. I don't know that taking any more time off is going to loosen it any more. I think I just need to work through it carefully and keep a carefull eye on it.
The issue that is starting to concern me more is actually my right foot. I'm starting to wonder if this is more of why my long runs were starting to feel a little funky. Its hard to explain but it almost feels like I don't get as much spring out of my right foot. Its also the first spot to go numb when running. Its as if the big toe on that foot isn't as strong as the other one. Not sure what thats all about. I can feel it even when walking. I'm starting to wonder if that is causing me to compensate with some other leg muscles which is causing the discomfort in my right leg. Perhaps that weaker toe is the cause to all my leg issues? not sure... but definitely also something to keep an eye on. Theres definitely no pain there at all... just some occasional numbness and weakness. Which of course shows up on longer distance runs and makes that whole right leg have to work harder. I suppose I could go to the podiatrist again but he's just going to tell me not to run for six weeks and I'd like to try and keep running and see what happens.
So theres a lot to keep an eye on as I head towards marathon training again. Especially as I have some big plans. I'm hoping to be able to focus on running long and very evenly and slowly paced for this Disney challenge. Ideally close to ten minute miles in both the half and full. Or at least 9'30s. I'm hoping to be able to RACE a marathon in february with the girl and many of her friends in february. Which means treating the disney race as a training weekend. My hope is to stay strong enough so that the disney weekend becomes the peak of my training and then I enter a three or so week taper for the Donna marathon in Jacksonville, FL in february which I'd then race the full and shoot for a new PR. But who knows if I'll be healthy enough to do that. Although I've booked my plane ticket for Jax already my plan is to figure out whether I'm racing the full, the half, or just plain cheering from the sidelines at the last minute. I'll train as if I'm racing the full but theres a long way to go and stay injury free between now and then and who knows what toll the Disney goofiness is going to have on me.
So with all this said its time to think about training and what my plan is going forwards. I think I've put together a new training plan that I hope to stick to throughout the winter... and here it is...
Monday - Swim / Bike
Tuesday - Run Short / Strength Training
Wednesday - Swim with the girl (coach)
Thursday - Run Short / Strength Training
Friday - Swim / Bike
Saturday - Long Run
Sunday OFF
-Monday's and Fridays are swim and bike days. My hope will be to swim 2000-2500 yards focused on technique and speed work (more technique to begin the winter and then speed once I'm getting a better handle on form). The bike portions will be short interval efforts. 1 to 2 hours max.
-Tuesdays and Thursdays will be short runs (5 miles) and an hour of strength training a day. Strength training will focus on legs, core and swim related muscle groups such as lats etc.
-Wednesdays will be a recovery day of sorts and a focused swim session with the girl who is acting as my coach.
-Saturday will be my long run day. Nice easy paced efforts. Its also the girls long run day and I'm really hoping we can share at least some of those runs together as I'm hoping to learn how to groove a ten minute mile pace from her for the Disney effort. But our schedules won't quite line up but hopefully we can at least do some overlap on some days for part of our runs.
-Sundays are an off day. I'm not good at off days. I get restless and want to train seven days a week. But both the girl and an athletic trainer friend of mine convinced me of the importance of a complete rest day. And after listening to all the points it makes a ton of sense. So I'm hoping having a recovery day will really help me stay strong through the winter. Plus it means getting to sleep in on the weekend and spend quality time with the girl without stressing about where to fit in a long bike or whatever.
Speaking of long bikes... you'll notice that there isn't really a spot in my plan for that. I will do some longer rides on Mondays occasionally but for now my focus is on strength training and running. And I can't focus on long rides until after all this marathon nonsense is over. So for now my focus is leg strength and intervals on the bike. The long ride endurance is not going to be a problem for me and even if I don't do many rides longer than 50 miles till after february I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to get to the 120 mile mark well ahead of the ironman at the end of the year.
So thats the plan going forward... lets hope this week of rest will kick off my training and lead to an awesome season in 2011.
So was it worth it?
Well this morning I decided to take an evaluation of how I feel....
My hamstring still feels tight. But it feels a little stronger. I think if I keep my runs to slower paced efforts and work on strengthening my legs back up with regular strength training I'll probably be ok. This is what I went through early in the season and the strength work I put in then seems to have paid dividends. However once my training for the FIRM 1/2 got intense I backed off the strength training as I just couldn't handle the volume of training and strength training at the same time. But now that should be much easier. So we'll see how I do putting those two together. My hope is that with regular stretching and strength training I will be on a course to keep that hammy healthy and strong. Time will tell. I don't know that taking any more time off is going to loosen it any more. I think I just need to work through it carefully and keep a carefull eye on it.
The issue that is starting to concern me more is actually my right foot. I'm starting to wonder if this is more of why my long runs were starting to feel a little funky. Its hard to explain but it almost feels like I don't get as much spring out of my right foot. Its also the first spot to go numb when running. Its as if the big toe on that foot isn't as strong as the other one. Not sure what thats all about. I can feel it even when walking. I'm starting to wonder if that is causing me to compensate with some other leg muscles which is causing the discomfort in my right leg. Perhaps that weaker toe is the cause to all my leg issues? not sure... but definitely also something to keep an eye on. Theres definitely no pain there at all... just some occasional numbness and weakness. Which of course shows up on longer distance runs and makes that whole right leg have to work harder. I suppose I could go to the podiatrist again but he's just going to tell me not to run for six weeks and I'd like to try and keep running and see what happens.
So theres a lot to keep an eye on as I head towards marathon training again. Especially as I have some big plans. I'm hoping to be able to focus on running long and very evenly and slowly paced for this Disney challenge. Ideally close to ten minute miles in both the half and full. Or at least 9'30s. I'm hoping to be able to RACE a marathon in february with the girl and many of her friends in february. Which means treating the disney race as a training weekend. My hope is to stay strong enough so that the disney weekend becomes the peak of my training and then I enter a three or so week taper for the Donna marathon in Jacksonville, FL in february which I'd then race the full and shoot for a new PR. But who knows if I'll be healthy enough to do that. Although I've booked my plane ticket for Jax already my plan is to figure out whether I'm racing the full, the half, or just plain cheering from the sidelines at the last minute. I'll train as if I'm racing the full but theres a long way to go and stay injury free between now and then and who knows what toll the Disney goofiness is going to have on me.
So with all this said its time to think about training and what my plan is going forwards. I think I've put together a new training plan that I hope to stick to throughout the winter... and here it is...
Monday - Swim / Bike
Tuesday - Run Short / Strength Training
Wednesday - Swim with the girl (coach)
Thursday - Run Short / Strength Training
Friday - Swim / Bike
Saturday - Long Run
Sunday OFF
-Monday's and Fridays are swim and bike days. My hope will be to swim 2000-2500 yards focused on technique and speed work (more technique to begin the winter and then speed once I'm getting a better handle on form). The bike portions will be short interval efforts. 1 to 2 hours max.
-Tuesdays and Thursdays will be short runs (5 miles) and an hour of strength training a day. Strength training will focus on legs, core and swim related muscle groups such as lats etc.
-Wednesdays will be a recovery day of sorts and a focused swim session with the girl who is acting as my coach.
-Saturday will be my long run day. Nice easy paced efforts. Its also the girls long run day and I'm really hoping we can share at least some of those runs together as I'm hoping to learn how to groove a ten minute mile pace from her for the Disney effort. But our schedules won't quite line up but hopefully we can at least do some overlap on some days for part of our runs.
-Sundays are an off day. I'm not good at off days. I get restless and want to train seven days a week. But both the girl and an athletic trainer friend of mine convinced me of the importance of a complete rest day. And after listening to all the points it makes a ton of sense. So I'm hoping having a recovery day will really help me stay strong through the winter. Plus it means getting to sleep in on the weekend and spend quality time with the girl without stressing about where to fit in a long bike or whatever.
Speaking of long bikes... you'll notice that there isn't really a spot in my plan for that. I will do some longer rides on Mondays occasionally but for now my focus is on strength training and running. And I can't focus on long rides until after all this marathon nonsense is over. So for now my focus is leg strength and intervals on the bike. The long ride endurance is not going to be a problem for me and even if I don't do many rides longer than 50 miles till after february I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to get to the 120 mile mark well ahead of the ironman at the end of the year.
So thats the plan going forward... lets hope this week of rest will kick off my training and lead to an awesome season in 2011.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Swimming, Drinking, and Training
This has been a frustrating week training wise... but I hope that some good will come of it. It certanly started off well with a nice session in the pool on Monday and a quick swim on tuesday. But since then its gone downhill. As I mentioned earlier after consulting with some friends in the know I've decided to take an off week from biking and running and let my legs recover a little bit before I get too far into marathon training. I figured I would still swim this week though. And thats where the frustration kicks in. Maybe I've been tired or maybe I've just not had the drive... I don't know but I didn't make it back to the pool till thursday afternoon (yesterday).
I got to the pool around 6pm after working a long day in the convention center here. When I got there the pool had 4 teenage kids goofing off in it. Although the pool is 25 yards long there are no lane dividers or markers of any kind. So I just picked the wall of the pool I felt was more empty and started my laps along the wall. Right away I felt awful and had lousy form. The first 50 was a massive struggle. My body position was all wrong, my legs were sinking and I was just a mess. So I tried to focus on head position and leg position and get it right. And nothing I was doing was working. I just didn't have it in me. Then all of the other factors in the pool started to get to me. The pool temperature was way too warm. So it was really uncomfortable to swim in. Which was odd as it wasn't that warm two days ago. On top of that the kids in the pool didn't seem to care that I was clearly trying to get laps in and kept getting in my way forcing me to stop. And they knew it too. So between my lousy form, warm water, grumpiness from the day, and the stupid kids I was not having any fun. I wasn't in a good mood at all and I let it get to me. So for the first time since the annoying guy who thought he was my laneside coach showed up I got out of the water and left the pool early. I only logged 500 lousy yards. Ugh. I was pretty grumpy about it too.
After the swim I met up with some friends of mine out here and went out for dinner. I don't usually drink much anymore. In fact typically I only drink when at home and even then its pretty rarely. Although I've been trying to ease up on those restrictions as its nice to share a glass of wine or a beer with the girl. But I don't usually drink on the road anymore. Its very easy to get caught up in the lifestyle of being on the road and drinking every night like many of the guys I tour with. And thats fine and they enjoy it... but its not for me anymore. Its just not the lifestyle I want to lead. So last night I decide I'm having a bad day and I'm going to just have a small salad for dinner to free up the calorie room for some liquid carbs in the form of a couple of beers. Well I'm not quite sure what happened but that turned into 2 beers with dinner, then off to a mexican bar for a few margaritas, some tortilla soup and chips and guac, and then off to the hotel bar for a banana split and apple crisp split between three of us with an irish coffee and a guiness. Yikes! Thats a LOT of alcohol for me! I was lit up like a cheap carnival! I guess I just needed to relax and vent a little and let go with the boys. So I had a lot of fun. When I woke up this morning there was a room service cart in my room with a pizza with two bites taken out of it and a slice of carrot cake. Apparently I ordered room service last night. Why I thought I was hungry after all that I don't know. So I had pizza and cake for breakfast. So yeah... not my healthiest day! So its back to being on my best behavior. Not so good that I did this on an off week when I can't go burn all those calories off!
So whats next? Well I think I'm going to take the rest of this week off as planned. I may try and swim again on Saturday or Sunday but I'm not even going to pressure myself to do that. I'm just going to chill and try and rest my legs up and recover this week and try and eat really healthily and give my body lots of good fuel to repair itself with. No more junk! and no more alcohol till I get home. Next week I'll start running again and get another long run in while I'm out in LA and see how that feels. In the meantime I need to figure out my weekly training plan. I know my running schedule which will be two short and one long run a week, but I need to figure out how swimming and strength training fits into that, and also at least one to two days of cycling as well. I also have decided to have at least one off day a week as well, and I want to take advantage of my work schedule to shift my long run into the middle of the week so I can have Sundays as my off day. I love the idea of sleeping in on Sunday and hanging with the girl without having to worry about fitting in a 3 hour ride or run that takes up half the day and leaves me exhausted. So more on all that soon as I start figuring it all out.
I got to the pool around 6pm after working a long day in the convention center here. When I got there the pool had 4 teenage kids goofing off in it. Although the pool is 25 yards long there are no lane dividers or markers of any kind. So I just picked the wall of the pool I felt was more empty and started my laps along the wall. Right away I felt awful and had lousy form. The first 50 was a massive struggle. My body position was all wrong, my legs were sinking and I was just a mess. So I tried to focus on head position and leg position and get it right. And nothing I was doing was working. I just didn't have it in me. Then all of the other factors in the pool started to get to me. The pool temperature was way too warm. So it was really uncomfortable to swim in. Which was odd as it wasn't that warm two days ago. On top of that the kids in the pool didn't seem to care that I was clearly trying to get laps in and kept getting in my way forcing me to stop. And they knew it too. So between my lousy form, warm water, grumpiness from the day, and the stupid kids I was not having any fun. I wasn't in a good mood at all and I let it get to me. So for the first time since the annoying guy who thought he was my laneside coach showed up I got out of the water and left the pool early. I only logged 500 lousy yards. Ugh. I was pretty grumpy about it too.
After the swim I met up with some friends of mine out here and went out for dinner. I don't usually drink much anymore. In fact typically I only drink when at home and even then its pretty rarely. Although I've been trying to ease up on those restrictions as its nice to share a glass of wine or a beer with the girl. But I don't usually drink on the road anymore. Its very easy to get caught up in the lifestyle of being on the road and drinking every night like many of the guys I tour with. And thats fine and they enjoy it... but its not for me anymore. Its just not the lifestyle I want to lead. So last night I decide I'm having a bad day and I'm going to just have a small salad for dinner to free up the calorie room for some liquid carbs in the form of a couple of beers. Well I'm not quite sure what happened but that turned into 2 beers with dinner, then off to a mexican bar for a few margaritas, some tortilla soup and chips and guac, and then off to the hotel bar for a banana split and apple crisp split between three of us with an irish coffee and a guiness. Yikes! Thats a LOT of alcohol for me! I was lit up like a cheap carnival! I guess I just needed to relax and vent a little and let go with the boys. So I had a lot of fun. When I woke up this morning there was a room service cart in my room with a pizza with two bites taken out of it and a slice of carrot cake. Apparently I ordered room service last night. Why I thought I was hungry after all that I don't know. So I had pizza and cake for breakfast. So yeah... not my healthiest day! So its back to being on my best behavior. Not so good that I did this on an off week when I can't go burn all those calories off!
So whats next? Well I think I'm going to take the rest of this week off as planned. I may try and swim again on Saturday or Sunday but I'm not even going to pressure myself to do that. I'm just going to chill and try and rest my legs up and recover this week and try and eat really healthily and give my body lots of good fuel to repair itself with. No more junk! and no more alcohol till I get home. Next week I'll start running again and get another long run in while I'm out in LA and see how that feels. In the meantime I need to figure out my weekly training plan. I know my running schedule which will be two short and one long run a week, but I need to figure out how swimming and strength training fits into that, and also at least one to two days of cycling as well. I also have decided to have at least one off day a week as well, and I want to take advantage of my work schedule to shift my long run into the middle of the week so I can have Sundays as my off day. I love the idea of sleeping in on Sunday and hanging with the girl without having to worry about fitting in a 3 hour ride or run that takes up half the day and leaves me exhausted. So more on all that soon as I start figuring it all out.
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