With less than 2 months until my first half iron distance triathlon, I have to confess I've experienced excitement, anxiety, anticipation & frustration. At this stage, I hope to keep it all in perspective as I continue to train.
While doing some cross training with weights 2 weeks ago, I bent slightly at the hips and leaned over to put down a barbell (at the same weight I've used for weeks/months) and felt a "POP". Almost dropping to my knees, I was very painfully reminded of how important good body mechanics are. The old saying I've told my patients for years, "lift with your legs, not your back" was ringing in the back of my head. It took almost a week to recover 80% range of motion and completely shut down my other training for a while. Talk about frustrating! The good news is rest, ice first for 1-2 days (then heat), anti inflammatories and gradually increasing range of motion got me back on track. I'm still having some discomfort, but that's ok, just glad to be moving again.
I FINALLY was able to get into the local university aquatic center and have been building up my swim distance/endurance. This in my opinion will be my greatest limiter (weakness). My goal is to finish the 1.2 mile swim portion in 45 minutes or less. Right now I'm doing well to finish in an hour. I have a lot of work to do! I'm hopeful my technique will improve as well as endurance. It just gets frustrating to be able to bike for several hours or run for 2+ hrs without too much difficulty, but wear myself out swimming for an hour. At this stage I'm reminded painfully of another famous triathlon quote: "You won't win a triathlon on the swim (by swimming 2-10 minutes faster), but you can sure lose (by wearing yourself out)!" I've been hitting the pool about twice/week and really need to be in the water at least 3 times.
Running update: I had a nice 10 mile training run last week (and a long swim the same day), without too much next day soreness. Tonight after work, my lovely bride and I will drive to Oxford, Mississippi for the Oxford Run for Hope (http://www.oxfordrun4hope.com). The original plan was for me to do the half marathon (as a training run) and she was going to do the 5k (with hopes to do the half next month in Jackson, TN). I'm proud to say she has slowly increased her mileage (often doing run 5 minutes/walk 1 minute method) and wants to try the half tomorrow! Hopefully I'll check in soon with a picture of us both smiling with our medals together.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Triathlon training update....80 days to IM 70.3 New Orleans!!!
Well, the training continues as does my fight to stay on a balanced diet. In spite of the weight I've lost so far and keeping it stable through Thanksgiving and Christmas feasting (in moderation), I still remain a carb junkie! I often feel I could live entirely on junk food (cookies, chips, candy, JUNK!!!), but not successfully. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was feeling that I didn't really need the accountability of MyFitnessPal (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/) and slacked off with my entries...bad idea. I've gotten back on track and find it still very helpful to track what I'm eating and what I'm doing exercise wise.
After completing the St. Jude half marathon in December, I went ahead with the "next step" and signed up for the Iron Man 70.3 in New Orleans, Lousiana this April 22nd (http://ironmanneworleans.com/). Last year the weather/wind (on Lake Ponchartrain) was so bad the swim portion was cancelled with only the bike and run portions completed. The Half Iron distance as shared before is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. My goals (for accountability) are as follows: swim 0:45-1:00, bike 3:00-3:30, run 2:00-2:20, and allowing for a 0:15..(15 minutes) for transition times T1/T2, for a total of 6:00-7:05 (6-7 hrs).
For swimming, I've been slow to get started this winter, but ahead of the past two years. I've had two sessions with a swim coach who has been immensely helpful already, first pointing out that I was basically not using my legs. After, begging/calling I finally got into the Wellness Center at Union University in Jackson with it's 25 meter indoor pool. I've done 2 training sessions there and I'm still astounded at how easily I'm winded after short distances. I have worked up to almost 400 meters freestyle in one set without "dying" (1500 to add to that....ugh!). My goal is a minimum of 2 sessions swimming/week and hoping for 3. My dear wife for Christmas ordered me the new Garmin Forerunner 910xt (https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=419&pID=90671) which was finally released last week. I'm a geek and this thing is a technological wonder. The coolest feature for now is the swim metrics which allows detailed breakdown of stroke count/length/lap times for different sized indoor pools, on and on.... more on this later. Thanks honey!
Cycling has been going fairly well indoors. My wife and I have similar "trainers" to utilize our own bikes to ride in place. I've purchased several "Spinervals" cycling workout videos by Troy Jacobson (http://www.spinervals.com/) which we've found to be very good at wearing us out. I have a 5 year old triathlon specific bike I purchased a few months ago that I'm slowly "tweaking" to my frame and posture. Hopefully as I train more I will be able to move into a deeper aero position. I'm still building my aerobic base and hope to slowly integrate more speed work as I go.
In the area of running, I'm scheduled for a "training" half marathon 2/25 in Oxford, MS (http://www.oxfordrun4hope.com/) and another 3/31 in Jackson, TN (https://sites.google.com/a/andrewjacksonmarathon.com/ajm/home). My wife is planning to run the 5k portion in Oxford and shooting for her first half marathon in Jackson on 3/31 with me (this race also has a 5k and marathon option). In the interim, I'm continuing running/training on the treadmill 1-2 times/week.
Although my job allows me to work fewer days than many, my working days are 12+ hours long and involve over 2 hours of travel (sometimes day shifts up at 4:10am and home at 7:30-8pm and some nights) making it difficult to hammer out a "routine" for training. I hope that I can stay disciplined enough to take advantage of the time I have off and not get worn out or burned out or neglect my family in the process (which by the way, they have been a great source of encouragement). More to follow.
After completing the St. Jude half marathon in December, I went ahead with the "next step" and signed up for the Iron Man 70.3 in New Orleans, Lousiana this April 22nd (http://ironmanneworleans.com/). Last year the weather/wind (on Lake Ponchartrain) was so bad the swim portion was cancelled with only the bike and run portions completed. The Half Iron distance as shared before is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. My goals (for accountability) are as follows: swim 0:45-1:00, bike 3:00-3:30, run 2:00-2:20, and allowing for a 0:15..(15 minutes) for transition times T1/T2, for a total of 6:00-7:05 (6-7 hrs).
For swimming, I've been slow to get started this winter, but ahead of the past two years. I've had two sessions with a swim coach who has been immensely helpful already, first pointing out that I was basically not using my legs. After, begging/calling I finally got into the Wellness Center at Union University in Jackson with it's 25 meter indoor pool. I've done 2 training sessions there and I'm still astounded at how easily I'm winded after short distances. I have worked up to almost 400 meters freestyle in one set without "dying" (1500 to add to that....ugh!). My goal is a minimum of 2 sessions swimming/week and hoping for 3. My dear wife for Christmas ordered me the new Garmin Forerunner 910xt (https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=419&pID=90671) which was finally released last week. I'm a geek and this thing is a technological wonder. The coolest feature for now is the swim metrics which allows detailed breakdown of stroke count/length/lap times for different sized indoor pools, on and on.... more on this later. Thanks honey!
Cycling has been going fairly well indoors. My wife and I have similar "trainers" to utilize our own bikes to ride in place. I've purchased several "Spinervals" cycling workout videos by Troy Jacobson (http://www.spinervals.com/) which we've found to be very good at wearing us out. I have a 5 year old triathlon specific bike I purchased a few months ago that I'm slowly "tweaking" to my frame and posture. Hopefully as I train more I will be able to move into a deeper aero position. I'm still building my aerobic base and hope to slowly integrate more speed work as I go.
In the area of running, I'm scheduled for a "training" half marathon 2/25 in Oxford, MS (http://www.oxfordrun4hope.com/) and another 3/31 in Jackson, TN (https://sites.google.com/a/andrewjacksonmarathon.com/ajm/home). My wife is planning to run the 5k portion in Oxford and shooting for her first half marathon in Jackson on 3/31 with me (this race also has a 5k and marathon option). In the interim, I'm continuing running/training on the treadmill 1-2 times/week.
Although my job allows me to work fewer days than many, my working days are 12+ hours long and involve over 2 hours of travel (sometimes day shifts up at 4:10am and home at 7:30-8pm and some nights) making it difficult to hammer out a "routine" for training. I hope that I can stay disciplined enough to take advantage of the time I have off and not get worn out or burned out or neglect my family in the process (which by the way, they have been a great source of encouragement). More to follow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)