Week In Review (March 19-25)

Actual Time: 9:01
Swim: 6452 yd
Bike: 79 mi
Run: 8.44 mi

This last week, I focused more on the bike and swim. I did an extra 1 mile swim on Saturday and a 27 mile bike ride on Sunday. That ride was followed up by a 3 mile run for the first real brick workout I've done this year. It was pretty painful actually. My legs were pretty wrecked from the 2 rides in a row. Saturday was a pretty intense Mandeville climb and Sunday was very windy.
Despite the 2 hard rides, I still got through the run. The main problem was pretty intense tightness and pain in my calves. My ankles also felt very tender. So I slowed the pace down quite a bit and kept my HR very low.
I'd also like to note that this week marked a turning point in my nutrition. I wasn't perfect by any means but the majority of meals were homemade and I've been snacking a lot during work which helps me with craving fatty or large portions for dinner and lunch.
Speaking of food, it's time for lunch. Had a good 2200 meter swim this morning so I need some calories.

Overall, this week was great. I took the day off yesteray (Monday) of this week as a recovery day and I'm very glad I did. I felt rested and more energtic for the swim this morning. I think if I would have pushed it yesterday I would be regretting that all this week.

Goals

Reading a book on triathlon called "The Triathlete's Training Bible" and it says I should set goals for the year. Although the year is already underway, here are my goals.

2007 Goals

1. Complete Wildflower in under 3 hours, then improve on that time for LA Tri in September.

2. Improve my Malibu Tri time by 15% (1:48).

3. Complete Half Marathon in under 2 hours.

Training Objectives:
-swim 1600 m in 40 minutes or less
-run 10k @ 7:30 pace
-climb Mandeville in 22 minutes
-complete 40k bike+ 10k run in 2.5 hours.

By the way, this book is amazing. It totally breaks it down very scientifically and practically so it's easy to understand and to understand why. It's a lenghty read and the latter part of the book is to help you create your own training program (which I've been doing in a haphazard sort of way) and to schedule out your year for periodization and to schedule each workout for a specific purpose. THAT IS KEY. Purposeful training is where it's at. I'm really striving for that. I'm still reading and digesting the book but so far it's been very helpful.

Quinoa Tabouli

Found this recipe from Triscoop.com ,a great messageboard forum for triathlon.

QUINOA TABOULI SALAD (serves 8-10)

2 c. quinoa, rinsed

¾ c. chopped, fresh parsley

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1 cucumber, diced

1 bunch green onions, chopped

5 sprigs fresh mint, chopped (or 1 tbsp dried)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp ume plum vinegar

2 cloves garlic, peeled and pressed

Cook quinoa according to package directions. Cool. Combine quinoa, parsley, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, green onions, and mint. Mix well. Combine olive oil, ume plum vinegar and garlic and mix into salad.

My girlfriend and I gave it a try last week. It was delicious. We used regular red wine vinegar instead of plum vinegar. And we changed the portions to about 2/3 of what the original recipe called for.
Quinoa has an interesting history. Check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa


Here's a picture: can't really see the quinoa but that's the best pic I have.

Weekly Recap

I've seen other athlete bloggers do once-a-week recaps of their training and since my training log at trainingpeaks.com provides the information I am going to post it here. It'll also be helpful to be able to look back on and see where I was at.

Hours: 7:40
Swim: 6365 yd
Bike: 39 mi (didn't get out on Wednesday as I planned, too exhausted)
Run: 11.8 mi (long run was a little short)

Highlights: Swim workout on Thursday felt like a break-through. I really pushed myself. Also my bike ride on Saturday morning up Mandeville felt really good. I felt like I could have gone much faster but made a conscious effort to wait for my riding partners to encourage them and not alienate them. Part of the fun of the Saturday rides is the social aspect. But it made me realize that the cross-training is paying off.
Taking the day off and shopping for food and cooking with my girlfriend. We made a Quinoa Tabouli salad and turkey burgers. It was delicious and now I have good healthy food for a week or two. Less expensive than eating out. ( i have pictures of the salad I'll post when I get them from my gf)

Low Points: pain in my knees after the saturday ride. Pretty sure it's because my bike is too small for me. I'm saving up the money for a new bike but it's not coming anytime soon. It makes me less comfortable going really hard and long on my bike. It's a limiter and it sucks.

swim benchmarks

Tuesday masters swim was great. My legs were a little sore from the spin class the night before but overall I felt rested and ready for a swim. Getting to the practice was hard because of the time change and the resulting darkness that greeted me as I awoke and looked out the window. This darkness continued through until half way through the class. Once I was in the water it was fine.

I was the only one in my lane (the slowest one) that morning so the coach was able to give me more attention I think. We went through a warm-up set then on to the main course.
She called it a pyramid set.

100m (fast..for me at least) 1:50
150m (slow) 3:20
200m (fast) 4:15

Then you repeat but start from the 200m then work your way down. after that, I did a few drill mix with regular stroke sets and a cool down of drill work. At the end it was a 2000 meter session. I was pretty happy with it.
Later that day I went out for a 3 mile run and completed it in 21:30.

Week In Review

This past week was quite good for training. Here are the stats:
Total Hours: 9:45
Swim: 4800 yd
Bike: 59 miles
Run: 13.74 miles
Strength : 1 upperbody and core session

I think that's a good volume to shoot for until Wildflower. This day light savings thing is kind of killer. It's nice to get out of work and still have a 1-1.5 of daylight tho.

Running Progress

I have to admit that after my half marathon at the end of last year, I was very put-off from running. I got sick to my stomach and had a horrible experience just finishing the race.

In the time after the half, I shifted my focus to strength training and worked on my cycling and swimming quite a bit. I did hit the treadmill for 2-5 miles a couple times a week to keep up my running fitness, but I never pushed myself during those runs. I'd keep it at 9-10 min/miles and use it as an aerobic warmup before lifting weights.

This week I finally felt ready to get back on the horse. Maybe it was the LA Marathon this Sunday that inspired me or just the fear of blowing up on the 10k leg of Wildflower. Probably both. So I went for a couple of runs on the road and I am very pleased with my speed and level of perceived effort.
I went out on Tuesday not paying especially close attention to my pace. I just ran as I felt comfortable. I did a 4 mile route, a there-and-back with a mostly up hill return. I ended up doing it in 33 minutes. That equates to a 8.5 min/mile. However, I didn't pay cloes attention to the clock when I left so I wasn't completely sure I had the time right. It didn't seem like I was going that fast.
So last night, I set up to do the same thing. This time I brough my ipod and used the timer function on there to set up some splits and get an accurate total time.
Sure enough this time making sure I wasn't going out to fast I started out nice and easy and hit 15 minutes at the half way point. the return was hilly so I ended up doing the whole thing in 32 mins. Not bad.

More Mandeville

I got up early to ride Mandeville this morning. I found a nice description of this hill on the La Grange Velo Club website. I might try to go with them sometime.
http://www.lagrange.org/rides_wed.htm
The Skinny: This ride begins with a short warm-up around the Brentwood Country Club. After taking a right back onto San Vicente, the group then heads north on Burlingame, across Sunset Boulevard and down to Mandeville Canyon. The initial pitch of Mandeville is reasonable, maybe 2%, but the pace is usually fast (18-20 mph). After the first mile-1/2, the road rises slighty, to about 4%, to the "white fence" which signals the approximate half-way mark of the climb. The grade is fairly steady until about 1-mile to go, when it grades up to about 6% until finishing up a [painful] 10%, 200-meter wall to the top. Depending on your effort level up the climb, you may have to concentrate on holding down your breakfast as the ride regroups and recovers for several minutes. Slower riders can catch the ride on its return down the canyon. At that point, ride leaders may decide to either continue on to do an Amalfi loop in Pacific Palisades (see the Riviera ride) or head up Chalon Road to tackle the [tortuous 12-15%] Arbutus/Banyon/Cordelia adjoining climbs. Beverages at Peet's in Brentwood (San Vicente and Gorham) afterward.

owned

I went into work a bit early so I could take a longer lunch and do a spin class. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I've been to 4 spin classes at 24 Fitness so far. But this one was insane! I got so worked. It was awesome.

This weekend was hectic. I went down to San Diego for a friend's going away party. Then drove back that same night so I could get up for a bike ride on Saturday morning. We didn't ride that hard but we tried a new route that I really dig. There are some nice climbs and the weather was perfect.
We went to Groundworks coffee and their coffee is so good. I was feeling great that morning.

I took a real rest day yesterday. I didn't feel worn down or anything I just thought I should take a planned day off to see how it feels.

I'm going to work on my run and swim this week. Masters class tomorrow. Hope I can wake up.

Swimmin'

Well I couldn't wake up on Tuesday morning. Too cold and rainy. Bad excuse but I did make it today.

6:30AM, 45 degrees!
As this was my first time with Masters and I felt more of a servant. It was a humbling experience for sure. I just swam and got feedback from the coach on my stroke. There are many things for me to work on. Mainly I need to improve my pull and also rotating my hips from side to side. I've been swimming flat in the water.
Just doing the drills today I already felt faster and more natural. It's starting to make sense. Very encouraging.
I will try to run tonight.