ChapterTwo

I’ve worked out 3 days in a row! WOOO! (3 different sports too)

Today, I went for a medium length bike ride, 16 miles. It is nothing like the bike rides Mike goes on, but it’s enough to get the heart going. Here are my stats…

• Total Time: 1h05min00s
• Distance: 16.1 mi
• Heart rate avg: 82% / 159 bpm
• Heart rate max: 108% / 210 bpm (hmmm, am I supposed to be able to go above 100%?)
• Calories (burned): 854 Kcal
• Speed avg: 14.7 mi/h
• Speed max: 24.4 mi/h

Going toward LB, I was averaging about 12mph. I was a bit sad because I used to be able to average closer to 16mph on the same route. I am guessing I was going into strong head wind going there because coming back, I was averaging about 18mph. It felt GREAT coming back. I would be going 18-20mph at 90rpm with only medium level of effort. I was flyin! I would be happy if I can average 18mph all the time…

Anyway, I am feeling a bit tired now. I’ll probably sleep early tonight…

GO ME!

The stats below is from my jog yesterday morning. I can’t really say I haven’t had time to blog because I had like 7 blog posts in the past 2 days. I admit it. I was just too lazy to blog about my jog. Here’s my stats…

• Total Time: 0h 20min 34s
• Distance: 1.8 mi
• Heart rate avg: 90% / 174 bpm
• Heart rate max: 95% / 185 bpm
• Calories (burned): 293 Kcal
• Speed avg: 5.3 mi/h
• Speed max: 7 mi/h
• Pace avg: 11min 19s/mi
• Pace max: 8min 34s/mi

The jog started out fine. I was going at about an 8:30 pace, but things quickly turned sour. Less than half an mile in, I started feeling the ankle that had been bothering me. I could’ve cut my jog short and just turn around then, but I didn’t. Bad idea. Around an mile and a half in, the pain became unbearable. I had to slow to a walk. Looks like I can’t jog for another week…

Feeling fat, I wanted to work out again today. I wanted to run, but there’s no way my ankle would let me. So I went swimming today. I had a lackluster first 800m. I took 2-3 5 second breathers. Then, another swimmer jumped in my lane. It’s funny how a little competition can really motivate you. He probably wasn’t racing me, but I was certainly racing with him. It wasn’t really a fair race. In terms of speed, he was probably only a little bit slower than me, but he had to take a break every 100 meters or so. I had no problem lapping him a couple times. My goal was just keep lapping him. After the swimmer jumped in, I did 750m, nonstop. It’s amazing what a little motivation can do! I wanted to do 1750m today, but the pool was closing, so I could only get 1550 in. O well, next time… GO ME!

Twice in 1 week! AMAZING!

My bum ankle has kept me from running this week, so I’ve been swimming to make sure I stay in shape (relatively). This is the beauty of training for a triathlon. It’s really hard to get an injury that can stop you from training completely.

Today, I did 1200m non-stop (48 laps)! I didn’t start running out of juice until lap 40. I cranked out the last few laps just to get to a nice round number. I am not a fast swimmer. I am faster than the guys that just go for a few laps, but most of the guys that do laps are faster than me. It took me a few monthes of going 3 times a week to become a “distance” swimmer. I am so glad I didn’t lose that ability.

Tomorrow, I think I’ll get some biking in to give my ankle a bit more time to heal.

Oh, almost forgot to mention something. I’ve never gone to the Cerritos pool on a weekend before. I’ve always gone around 7am on a weekday. Man, there are a lot more people on the weekend. There are tons of kiddies taking lessons. And in the deeper end, there are people doing some syncronized swimming. I could hear the music in the water! How cool!

Anyway, that’s all. GO ME!

My left ankle has been feeling a bit funny since my 3 mile run on Tuesday, so to prevent from making it worse, I swam instead of jogged today. Today is the first time I swam since the triathlon in September. I did much better than what I expected. I did 800m (that’s 32 25m laps for those that are not familiar with swimming distances) without stopping! I wasn’t too concerned with the time. I was just happy I did it without stopping. I guess the running has kept me in decent cardio shape. My arms were getting tired after 250m, but I was able to tweek my technique a bit to save my arms and finish the 800. It feels nice to get a bit of upper body workout in. WOOO! GO ME!

I am so bad. I have not ran or excersized at all so far in the month of March. The last time I jogged (before today) was 2/25. I really need to get focused if I want to improve my time in the Malibu Nautica Triathlon this year. I am thinking about signing up for the Carpe Diem Santa Monica Classic 10k on 4/30 to keep me focused. Anyway, here’s the stats from today’s jog…

• Total Time: 0h 34min 50s
• Distance: 3 mi
• Heart rate avg: 89% / 173 bpm
• Heart rate max: 99% / 192 bpm
• Calories (burned): 520 Kcal
• Speed avg: 5.2 mi/h
• Speed max: 7.6 mi/h
• Pace avg: 11min 32s/mi
• Pace max: 7min 54s/mi

I actually started out pretty good. I was consistantly in the 8-9min/mi pace, but I just couldn’t keep it up. Not even 1 mile in, I had to start walking. That’s what I get for being so lazy through out winter I guess.

Another thing occurred to me as well. I NEED TO LOSE SOME WEIGHT! I’ve gained 10 pounds since the triathlon in September. No wonder it’s hard to run. It’s like running with 10 pound weights tied around you! I am sure once I get lighter, my pace will pick up again, and maybe I’ll have less foot/knee pains. GO ME!

Last 2 weeks, I did my long runs in the mornings. The problem with that is, due to over-training, I get cold-like symptoms for the rest of the day. Feeling crappy makes my day unproductive. Today, I switched it up. Instead of running in the morning, I ran at 4pm today. If I go any later, I’ll need headlights. Anyway, here are the stats…

• Total Time: 1h 28min 7s
• Distance: 7.1 mi
• Heart rate avg: 91% / 177 bpm
• Heart rate max: 98% / 191 bpm
• Calories (burned): 1354 Kcal
• Speed avg: 4.8 mi/h
• Speed max: 6.9 mi/h
• Pace avg: 12min 30s/mi
• Pace max: 8min 42s/mi

Not much improvement this week. My average heart rate went down 3 bpm, but I was also going 30s/mi slower than last week. Overall, I felt sluggish during the run today. My heart rate monitor actually told me to stay in the 100-130 range (normally 130-160 range). HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?!? Crazy heart rate monitor.

Oh, and Mike, I did try counting my cadence today. I was going about 150 step/min. Not quite the ideal 180.

Not much to “YAY” about today except for breaking the 7 mile mark. GO ME!

I have to admit, yesterday, I did feel the after-effects of the 6.6 mile run. Not too bad, but a few of my muscles were a little tight and sore. Today my legs were itching for a recovery run, so I did a 2 mile quickie. Here are the stats…

• Total Time: 0h 26min 35s
• Distance: 2.3 mi
• Heart rate avg: 85% / 164 bpm
• Heart rate max: 92% / 179 bpm
• Calories (burned): 352 Kcal
• Speed avg: 5.3 mi/h
• Speed max: 8.2 mi/h
• Pace avg: 11min 19s/mi
• Pace max: 7min 19s/mi

The encouraging thing is that 2 and a half weeks ago, I did the same run with an average pace that is more than 1min 30s/mi slower. GO ME!

Oh, and I’ve been gaining a little bit of weight. I hope that’s my muscles cells duplicating, not my fat cells.

You might think I am tired of blogging about my training already. NOPE! I just haven’t been training. My technical project manager is out on vacation this week, so I had to take care of a few meetings in the mornings. That’s my excuse, and I am sticking to it! To make up for my lazyness, I decided to go for a long run today. Here are the stats…

• Total Time: 1h19min1s
• Distance: 6.6 mi
• Heart rate avg: 93% / 180 bpm
• Heart rate max: 98% / 190 bpm
• Calories (burned): 1260 Kcal
• Speed avg: 5 mi/h
• Speed max: 7 mi/h
• Pace avg: 12min 1s/mi
• Pace max: 8min 36s/mi
• Time in zone: 19s (obviously I was not trying to stay in the zone)
• Miles in rain/hail: ~2mi

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Today we did the same bike ride we did last week. The turnout today was much greater. I had no idea so many people were coming. There were a total of 6 people! (Me, Ariff, Thomas, Todd, Shelley, and Trish) Here are the stats from today’s ride…

• Total Time: 2h08min00s
• Distance: 28.6 mi
• Heart rate avg: 77% / 151 bpm
• Heart rate max: 93% / 182 bpm
• Calories (burned): 1167 Kcal (this would be a bit low since I didn’t start the watch til 27 minutes into the ride)
• Speed avg: 13.5 mi/h
• Speed max: 24.5 mi/h
• Things consumed during the ride: 2 24oz bottles of GU2o, 1 Clif bar

I am feeling the after-effects of the ride now. I should be studying, but I got this killer headache. ARG! (Cold-like symptoms are symptoms of over-training)

I’ve been oversleeping in the mornings lately, so I’ve not been jogging before work. Today, I decided to make up for my missed jogs and have one long (to me) run. This is the longest run I’ve done since the triathlon. Even when I was training for the tri last year, I hardly ran more than 4 miles (the run leg of the tri was 4 miles). Here are the stats from today’s run…

I still need to work on getting my HR down, but I am happy that I am starting to get my running legs back. This 4.7 mile run felt a lot easier than some of the 3 mile runs I’ve done lately. GO ME!