Week 9 - Wednesday's musings

I was thinking the other day about toughness and living a tough life and I realized I am no where near as tough as I previously believed.

Granted I've never considered myself a "tough guy" in the classic sense, I don't go looking for fights, in fact my natural inclination is to avoid a physical confrontation at most costs, but if push comes to shove I will do what is necessary to protect those I care for and what I believe in. But being willing and able to fight is not really a true measure of toughness. I'm talking about over coming adversity, thriving in diffucult circumstances, getting back up more times than you get knocked down. And that is where I believe I lack toughness. All I have to do is look in my workout log and see all the red marks signifying a missed workout. Now I know some of those may have been legit reason's like sickness or injury but a lot, and more often than not, it's because I was tired or sore from the previous days workout. Those are from a lack of mental toughness, that lack of perseverance or a win at all cost mentality that gets one through a tough workout or out of bed at 4:30 am to go put in the work to achieve a goal.

This is what was going through my mind this morning when I so badly wanted to go back to sleep and skip my planned bike ride. I was tired and sore from yesterday and I wanted to crawl back into bed and just sleep, but I challenged myself, I asked myself if I was mentally tough enough to go through with it and I'm happy to say I answered the call and I got a good workout in.

I don't take too much pride in my minor accomplishment this morning especially when I think about how it stackes up to other individuals who are answering a much more impactful challenge. Those individuals in the armed forces, police, fireman, emergency responders and given our recent snow and ice utility workers out all day and night keeping us safe and helping restore power. They get up early answer the call each and everyday for something way more important than training for a triathlon. They really live by the catchy little tag line at the bottom of my post's when I'm just playing at it hoping I can somehow live up to their standards. Maybe I won't be fighting crime or rushing into a burning building anytime soon, but there are things I can and should be doing that can positively impact the world around me.

So today I say it with a little different meaning...

Until next time... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 8 - Saturday

Opted not to go run trails out at Loud Thunder, haven't run all week and figured probably should stick close to home just in case my Achilles flared up...turned out to be a good idea. I made it about half mile before it started hurting, nothing major but knew it wasn't something I wanted to push and aggravate further so I headed home to  hop on the bike trainer. Ended up getting 2 hours on the bike without any further complications.

I have a feeling this may be a nagging injury if I don't just nip it in the butt now, so looks like I may just have to have an extended break from running for awhile. Looks like I'll be getting a lot more pool time in the near future which won't be so bad I suppose. I can also spend some extra time in the gym building my strength as well and just get in lots and lots of miles on the bike.

Until next time...Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't...

...and today that means knowing when not to push through an injury.

Week 8 - Thursday

So I've been dealing with a sore Achilles tendon since after Saturday's long run and so far it is doing much better, I was really concerned that it was going to be something major and keep me from running for a long time, and just that thought really bummed me out. Not because I wouldn't be able to complete my goal of a half ironman this year but just not getting to run. It is kind of ridiculous how much I love running now when I think about how much I used to hate it another lifetime ago. When I was younger and played organized sports, running was something I had to do, and more times than not it was a punishment or viewed as such. We ran after football practice for conditioning, we ran a lot more if we had a bad practice or a bad game the previous week. Enjoyment and running weren't in the same ball field, heck they weren't on the same planet. I used to joke that I hated running so much that I wouldn't even run to my car if it was raining. Now one of my favorite things is to run in the rain oddly enough. The thought of losing something I have grown to love so much frankly scared me.

The good news is disaster, as of now, may be averted. I haven't run all week so far, skipping my easy run on Tuesday night and my run this morning and allowing may Achilles time to rest and heal up. I have been able to ride with out any pain or discomfort and may test things out tonight or tomorrow on the treadmill just to see how things are progressing.

We're planning on running trails this weekend and I would love to get out there but if I'm going to do more damage I don't want to risk it. Better to skip a run in February and heal up than potentially do major damage and be out for months on end.


Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Week 8 - Tuesday Ride

After a disappointing start to my week yesterday, I skipped my swim and subsequently beat myself up all day about it, I was ready to get after it this morning.

Bike workout went great, Achilles tendon felt just fine throughout. Still remaining cautiously optimistic about it, may try running just a little on the treadmill tonight to test it out or just get another 30 minutes on the trainer.

Until next time...do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 7 - Saturday and Sunday

Met up with the some of the usual suspects and a couple new faces for our weekly long run. Run was good finished up with 15 total for the day but afterwards once I got home my achilles tendon on my right foot flared up real bad making it painful to walk. I don't remember doing anything to hurt it but you never know sometimes what can lead to an injury.

Wasn't able to ride later in the afternoon and I was starting to get bummed out that I might be on the shelf for awhile. Rest and multiple rounds of icing it through out the rest of the day had it feeling better this morning. I was able to get in a 90 minute bike ride today after church without any pain so I'm remaining cautiously optimistic that it's nothing major, might have to take it easy running for awhile but if I can still ride shouldn't be too bad.

Week 6 - Wednesday Swim and Weights

Almost did it again, almost let the seductive ways of the snooze button lure me back to bed. Gave myself a little pep talk and reassured the fact that I would appreciate the workout once it was done.

Swim: 2000 yards
WU: 200 swim, 200 pull, 100 kick
MS: 1200 yard swim
CD: 200 pull, 100 kick

Weights
5 rounds of 5 thrusters (95#), 30 soccer toe taps, core
3 rounds of 10 hang cleans, 10 walking lunges with medicine ball twist.
Finished up with multiple varieties of box jumps and plyo push ups.

Week 6 - Monday and Tuesday

Okay so I've slacked a bit on updating my blog so I'll catch up the last 2 days in one.

Yesterday I really did not feel like getting up and working out and I gave in to the temptation to sleep a little longer. I really wish I hadn't and I was not happy with myself for allowing that to happen, luckily I had the opportunity to get a swim in over lunch and I took advantage of it and was really glad I did, I ended up getting in a good 2000 yard swim.

That evening I jumped on the bike trainer while Deanna walked on the treadmill and the boys played Wii before dinner, I have really grown to love working out at night after work. For the longest time it was something I really struggled with but lately I have really enjoyed it, probably because I know that it is so much better than the alternative which is just sitting around watching TV. I know these evening workouts are not going to last forever as the boys will begin Soccer and then Baseball soon and evenings will be filled with practices, I will still find away to squeeze in some training, I can always run during their practice.

This morning I jumped on the bike again, I probably should have run instead but since I have to move my long bike ride to Friday morning (traveling to Oklahoma for work early Sunday) today was really the only day to get in my 90 minute ride. I went a little harder than I wanted too last night and that left my legs sore and tired to start this mornings ride but they eventually warmed up. I did the following workout.

WU: 10 minutes easy spin
MS: 6 x 10 minute sets at expected Half Ironman speed with 2 minute easy spin between sets.
CD: Remaining time alternating every minute between easy and medium speed

I got this workout from Triathlete.com and have been meaning to do it for sometime, pretty tough workout especially on tired legs. I definitely took it easier than I think I could have but my legs are tired from 4 consecutive days of cycling. I have an optional ride tomorrow that would make 5 straight days before taking Thursday night off, it may end up not getting done or just real easy, or I could recover well in the next day and half and power through. I feel like lately I have been recovering really well so I'm optimistic. I have an easy 30-40 minute run tonight and then my long swim tomorrow morning.

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Week 5 - Thursday Double Duty

Going to be working late tonight tearing down and closing one of my stores so had to get both my run and bike done in the morning. Kind of a bitter sweet day closing my Southpark Mall location, it was the very first store I ever opened, worked at and managed, with this company but it has been a huge profit drain for the last year plus and with the mall completely unwilling to work with us on our astronomical rent we had to make the decision to close up shop.

The run:
Temperature was 12° this morning and with the wind chill it was well below zero so I was relegated to the dreadmill this morning, thought about just doing a bike/run interval workout but I really needed to do a speed focused run workout so opted for Yasso 800's on the treadmill. Ended up doing a 1 mile warm up then 6x800 @ 7.5, 7.7, 8.0, 8.2, 8.5, 8.5 with a quarter mile east run between sets. I ran easy for the remainder of the hour to finish up with 6.82 miles total.

The bike:
After I dropped the kids off at school I headed back home to jump on the bike trainer. Did a pretty tough bike last so took it easy today. 10 min easy warm up then 3x10 min in medium gear, 1 min easy.

Now it's time to refuel for a long day at work.

Until next time... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 5 - Tuesday

Technically yesterday should have been an off day and it was for the most part but I just had to get an easy workout in after work, so I walked on the treadmill did some core and body weight exercises.

This morning got up bright and early to ride and discovered nearly 60° temps and was pretty tempted to just go for a run, but I stuck with the plan, kind of wishing I hadn't now supposed to get cold again tonight.

Watched The Big Lebowski while I rode and did a 90 minute hill simulation workout, good movie, great workout.

Tonight the plan is to jump on the treadmill before dinner and get 30-40 minutes in. I'm sure the decision to ride instead of run will haunt me later.

Week 4 - Sunday Long Ride

Watched nearly 5 hours of UFC fights in less than a 2 hour ride, I think there is too much talking and not enough fighting in these Fox/FX broadcasts.

The workout:
20 minute warm up then 5x10 minutes hard, 5 minutes easy with an easy spin for the cool down.

Had a good time last night at a friends surprise birthday, feeling it today though, glad I was able to get my workout done earlier so I could just enjoy a nice day bumming around the house with the family.

Until next time ... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 4 - Saturday Trail Run

Met up with Jay, Tom, Phil, John and Shawn at Sunderbruch park this AM for a little trail running, my first time out there and it was definitely worth the drive. It was cold this morning, 8° to be exact, when we started but warmed up a bit once we got moving. My hands froze up yet again, John was kind enough to trade his mittens with me and surprisingly my hands warmed up, note to self go buy mittens they work!

Other than frozen digits it was a great morning running trails, after the first loop everyone but me and Tom left and we headed back out for more. We ended up with right around 11 miles (forgot to start my watch at one point after a stop) and it felt really good, probably would have gone for more if this wasn't supposed to be a recovery week. I will definitely be back out there again soon.

Afternoon called for an easy trainer ride, was difficult to get motivated for this ride but I knew i would appreciate it afterwards. I always feel better the day after a long run if I get an easy spin in later that day. I watched part of the movie Soul Surfer which is a favorite and really motivational.

Tomorrow I will have plenty of MMA to watch during my long trainer ride with the UFC on Fox tonight plus the preliminary fights are on FX so definitely enough to get me through.

Until next time ... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 4 - Friday Swim

Woke up tired this morning, did not want to get out of bed, but I slept in yesterday (and had to do my workout last night, hence why I was tired) so I got my lazy butt out of bed. I so much rather enjoy working out in the morning as opposed to evenings but I really like to sleep in as well, such a dilemma... oh well enough about my "first world" problems.

Hit the pool this morning with the intention of doing my long swim that I passed on Wednesday, did the standard 600 yard warm up then swam 800 yards straight through. Felt really good in the water after I got warmed up, I was swimming next to one of the regular early morning swimmers, Jerry, nice guy but man he creates a heck of a wake for such a skinny dude. Good simulation for rough water swimming, best you'll get in a pool I suppose, every time I share a lane with him I swear I end up drinking half the pool.

Afterwards headed up stairs for some weights, dead lifts were on the menu this morning. I think I'm going to just stick with the basics of power lifting moves like squats, dead lifts and power cleans, picking one of those to start my workout and then doing circuits of body weight exercise like push ups, burpees, pull ups, box jumps and my current favorite piece of equipment in the gym the rowing machine. I can piece together one heck of a workout with just those exercises that leaves my whole body hurting.

Today I did 5 sets of Dead lifts (135, 185(3), 135) each followed by 10 burpees, 25 crunches, and 6 pull ups. Then did 2 sets of 750m row with box jumps, lots and lots of box jumps, followed by more box jumps. Pretty sure my calves are going to be sore tomorrow from all the box jumps, good thing my long run tomorrow is only 10ish miles, going to try and meet up with Jay at Sunderbrook to run trails, never run there before should be interesting.

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Week 4 - Thursday Night Brick

Slept in this morning and skipped my run so decided to do one of my favorite workouts tonight bike/run intervals.

Started off with 10 min bike, 10 min run then 20 push ups and 25 crunches. Then repeated four more times with 5 min running and pushups and crunches. Finished it up with 10 min on the bike.

Ended up with 23.1 miles biked and 4 miles run, good hard workout.

Until next time ... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 4 - Wednesday

I have been in a funk that past few days, I think it's mostly due to 3 hard weeks of training and the chilly weather. Being a summer baby I have never enjoyed winter that much, so needless to say I wasn't super motivated to swim this morning. Good news was I was inside and the water was warm. I had a plan to just do my warm up and then swim 1000 yards straight through but after my warm up I changed it up. I ended doing 4x50 hard then 200 swim, 100 kick, 200 swim and 4x50 (25 underwater kick, 25 swim w/fins).

Afterwards headed upstairs to lift, did. 4 sets of squats 10 reps @ 135, 8 @ 155, 6 @ 175, 4 @ 185 each set followed by pull ups, push ups and crunches. Then did 4 rounds of 500m row, 10 box jumps, 10 burpees, 10 mason twists with weight.

Had to drive to Des Moines today and while driving along I-80 I was scanning through channels when I came across the song Jack and Diane. I've never really paid much attention to the lyrics but the chorus stuck out, "Oh yeah, life goes on, even after the thrill of living has gone..." talking about the thrill and excitement of life when you are young and vibrant and full of enthusiasm but after thats faded the rest of your life is still there. Got me thinking, why do the best years have to be behind me? When I was in high school or college? I think the key ti enjoying life is by constantly searching for that next "thrill". It doesn't have to be wild and crazy stuff, heck as any parent knows watching your kids grow up in front of your eyes can be a fearful and thrilling thing. I try to live by a philosophy of being happy in my current circumstances and not waiting for the next "thrill" to bring me happiness, I've found when I am able to accomplish that then I really enjoy the present moment no matter what is going on in my life.

Until next time ... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 4 - Tuesday Basement Brick

Yes with temperatures plummeting this week I am probably going to get a lot more use out of my treadmill, this morning it was a whopping -2 outside when I woke up and let the dog out, needless to say I was a bit chilled standing on my deck in my shorts, after that I was ready for a workout to warm me up.

This week is a recovery week so time to back it off just a bit, seeing as how I'm not following an actual plan and just kind of making this up as I go along it is important for me to at least follow the pattern of 3 weeks build, 1 week recovery. That is really about as complicated as my training structure actually gets, outside of that I do certain workouts on certain days cause it just fits my schedule the best. Anyway onto the actual work done today.

Tuesday is typically my medium ride of 90 minutes but with the recovery week and all I decided to scale it back to 75 minutes than do a brick run of 30 minutes. I started out on the bike watching an episode of The Wire, good show can't believe I never got into when it was running, I didn't really have a plan for today was just going to wing. I ended up doing a 20 min warm up then 4x10 min (8 min hard, 2 min easy) followed by 12 minutes of intervals moving up and down the gear range every minute and 3 minute fast spin before jumping off to run on the treadmill.

I got bored with the run almost immediately so after the first mile I decided to do quarter mile intervals with easy at 7mph and quarter hard at 8, 8, 8.5 and 9, that got me to 3 miles and then ran easy to finish off the 30 minutes.

Ended up with 27.15 miles on the bike and 3.7 on the run.

Took yesterday off so looking forward to my swim tomorrow and lifting weights again.

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Week 3 - Sunday ride

Pretty tired today after yesterday's run, ride and staying up late for a birthday celebration, legs felt pretty good though.

Started off with a 20 minute easy warm up then did 10 minutes in a bigger gear followed by 5 minutes easy, did that 6 times which got me to an hour and half. After that I did the big gear for only five minutes to get me to 2 hours. Last 15 minutes I went 1/1 minutes hard/easy and cool down.

I was pretty much spent after this ride, I couldn't have gone longer if I'd of wanted too. Might take tomorrow off or just an easy swim, I'll see how I feel in the morning. Another big weekend of training in the books.

Ended up with 47.35 miles in 2:15.

Now spending the afternoon watching football and building projects with Casey before heading to a meet and greet with the QC Tri Club.

Until next time ... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't. 

Week 3 - Saturday long run

Met Jay, Phil, Emily, John, Rick, Betsy and Kent at the radio station for the weekly long run. Man we ended up running all over Davenport and Bettendorf today even made a stop at HyVee so Jay could get some breakfast pizza and he was kind enough to buy me a Snickers bar, man that tasted so good. I felt horrible after 5 miles and almost called it quits, glad I kept going cause I felt better at 15 miles than I did at 5. Ended up getting 15.7 miles in 2:35 today, my plan was only for 14 but plans were made to be broken, Jay almost had me convinced to do 20.

Hopefully getting on the bike shortly before grocery shopping then it is off to celebrate my mother in laws birthday.

Until next time ... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 3 - Thursday morning run

Slept in a little longer this morning than normal which is okay since I can afford a little extra sleep on Thursday mornings with just doing a run workout.

After the typical routine of waffle and coffee I headed out the door with Lucky for a run. Shortly after getting started I just didn't feel like running not sure why but was thinking about cutting it short within a half mile. But surprisingly I was moving really quickly and after the first mile my mood and attitude about the run changed.

About half way through mile 2 my hands started getting really cold, which has been a problem lately. It wasn't really that cold this morning when I checked my weather app it had said it was 25° which is cold but certainly not the worst I've run in. The rest of my body was fine but my hands were miserable. I decided to extend my run with Lucky, he normally only joins me for 2-3 miles, before heading inside to the treadmill. I ended up doing 4.68 miles out side and then half mile repeats with a quarter jog on the treadmill. After each quarter i jumped off and did a set of push ups and core exercises, did that 4 times. Ended up with 3 miles in 23 minutes.

Glad I have a treadmill for days like today, not sure why but my hands were so cold they hurt.

Until next time ... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 3 - Tuesday

Did not get a chance to post this yesterday.

Decided to break up my 90 minute ride yesterday morning and do a Bike/Run interval after each of the 12 minute sets, I was traveling up to Des Moines yesterday and knew I was probably not going to get my run in especially since I planned on going to visit some friends.

All in all workout went really well don't really have the depth of details and feeling being one day removed from the workout. I actually thought about just not even blogging on this day but I've kept up so far through 2 weeks so no need to skip a day now right.

This is what I ended up for on the day.
Bike - 32.5 miles in 1:30
Run - 4 miles in 31:09
Had a good night hanging out with friends last night, even if they did keep me up past my bed time ;-) but that's okay I was planning on sleeping in this morning, which I did. I did bring workout clothes just in case I was feeling motivated to lift weights or run the stairwells. I actually did wake up early and thought about it but decided since I ended up getting my swim in on Monday I would just take this morning off. I am probably going to jump on the bike tonight when I get home for a half hour.

Until next time...Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 3 - Monday Swim

Did not want to get up and work out this morning, probably because I slept terribly. I kept waking up every couple of hours and then fighting to go back to sleep, which is very odd for me, normally I'm a very heavy sleeper and have no trouble going back to sleep if I awake. At 3:45 I finally decided to just bag my workout seeing as how my alarm was set to go off in 15 minutes and I was just not feeling it. In hindsight I probably should have just gotten up then and got ready but I made the decision to just sleep in and hit the pool on my lunch. The good news is a fell back asleep for 3 more hours and it was probably the longest stretch all night so that was good.

I did end up going to the Y for a swim at noon, felt good in the water today thia is what I ended up doing today:

WU: Usual 600 mix
MS: 1000yd endurance swim
CD: 200 yards

I was going to do 5x100 and 10x50's but really just wanted to swim straight laps so got my long swim done for the week.

Now I'm at work choking down my food, although it's good and I'm hungry would rather have a protein shake right now. Its funny how after running and biking I'm all for devouring food but after a swim just not in the mood for food.

Until next time...Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.