Hi Everyone,
It is Tuesday night and today I finally went to the doctor's office. You know how us men are, we always wait until it gets pretty bad (or worse) before we will go. I have had an "on again/off again" sinus cold for the last three weeks. Everytime I think it is finally gone, it comes back to haunt me. Well last night Jackie and I were going to work out, but on the way home from work it hit me like a ton of bricks (again) and so we did not go. My nose was running literally like a faucet, and I could not stop sneezing at times. The Doctor (whose last name is Murthy, go figure) told me it is viral, so there is nothing she can do but give me some medicine to "dry me out" and then my body will have to heal itself. If it gets worse (i.e. bacterial), then she will call in a perscription for me so that I do not have to come in at all.
I have not kept up with many of your postings this week (sorry guys) but I will definately try to get back on it. Many of you have had some race reports in the last week or two, or you are beginning to seriously get your 2007 season going with signing up for races and such.
Congratulations to all of you who hit the top ten tri blogger list! I hope I can be on that list someday, but I know to do that, I will have to have a much more interesting tri life, as well as upgrade some of my blog features. Something to strive for, not to focus my everyday life on. You guys have already been so supportive just in visiting and posting to my blog, that I feel a success on some level, so thanks.
Have a good night, I am going to try to go back to bed again. I took a nap after I got home earlier.
Murtha...
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Getting back into it...
Good Evening,
I am about to go for a light 30 minute run here in a little bit. I really don't care what my mileage is at this point, I just want to get some pavement under my belt.
I was pretty light on the workouts this week, but I did have box seats at the Thrashers game last night (provided by our local CBS station, very nice!!! Thanks Anne!). They won, of course. Kozlov had the hat trick as well. I even saw my new roommate there, and I hung out with him and his friends for a bit.
My training is going to get some heavy action this weekend. Although I have a party tomorrow night and then a wedding shower (GA v. Auburn game theme!) on Saturday afternoon, I should be able to fit in a morning ride, and then Sunday I am going to get either a run or a swim in (or both for that matter).
One of my fraternity brothers from Georgia Tech is training for the ING Atlanta Marathon on March 25th, 2007. I told him I might be interested in competing in it, but I will have to let him know in another week or so. I do need to get my running mileage up though, and this might be a good way to do it. He was one of those people I spoke of earlier this year who was interesting in starting to compete in triathlons because of watching me compete in them.
I don't have too much else going on for this post. I will try and get to some of your blogs later on tonight. Right now I am going to get out there and "pound the pavement!!!"
Murtha...
I am about to go for a light 30 minute run here in a little bit. I really don't care what my mileage is at this point, I just want to get some pavement under my belt.
I was pretty light on the workouts this week, but I did have box seats at the Thrashers game last night (provided by our local CBS station, very nice!!! Thanks Anne!). They won, of course. Kozlov had the hat trick as well. I even saw my new roommate there, and I hung out with him and his friends for a bit.
My training is going to get some heavy action this weekend. Although I have a party tomorrow night and then a wedding shower (GA v. Auburn game theme!) on Saturday afternoon, I should be able to fit in a morning ride, and then Sunday I am going to get either a run or a swim in (or both for that matter).
One of my fraternity brothers from Georgia Tech is training for the ING Atlanta Marathon on March 25th, 2007. I told him I might be interested in competing in it, but I will have to let him know in another week or so. I do need to get my running mileage up though, and this might be a good way to do it. He was one of those people I spoke of earlier this year who was interesting in starting to compete in triathlons because of watching me compete in them.
I don't have too much else going on for this post. I will try and get to some of your blogs later on tonight. Right now I am going to get out there and "pound the pavement!!!"
Murtha...
Monday, November 06, 2006
Happy New (Training) Year!!!
Hello Everyone,
Well, I am back from my lengthy and lazy hiatus from both the blogging and triathlon world. It was spent mostly working, playing Xbox, gaming, watching lots of football, moving, a few parties and mostly general relaxation. My computer is up and running now, so I will be able to quit bumming off of other people's computers for internet, email, and other such things related to tri-blogging.
I started off my 2007 (Triathlon years rather than calendar years :-) ) on Sunday with an hour and twenty minute bike ride on the Silver Comet Trail. Pretty convenient now that I only live two miles away from it. I will have to say it was pretty cold for someone who lives in GA. I feel I was pretty prepared with respect to the cold, except that I need to get some sort of head warmer to put under my helmet (or not wear one at all). Here are the stats for my ride.
BIKE
Total Time: 1 hr 22 min 26 sec
Distance: 23.63 miles
Avg Speed: 17.2 mph
Max Speed: 23.8 mph
In summary, there was definately an issue with conditioning and some lost endurance from a lack of training (and by lack of training I mean I did not touch the pool, bike, or track for just over 4 weeks). But the headwinds DESTROYED me. I know it was probably nothing compared to Kona, but between it being windy and cold, as well as "headwinds" in general, the return portion of my ride pretty much sucked. There are parts of the course now where I know where I can hit 22-24 mph due to a slight downhill, and I know where there are also false flats that slow me down. If you look at my average above, it was probably 2 mph slower than usual, and on top of that there were a couple of specific instances where I normally go 18-20mph and I was going about 13-14 mph due to the head wind.
My legs are a bit sore today, but that was expected. Jackie on the other hand.....
I told her that 40 miles on Saturday would be too much, and she would not listen.
I told her that her backside would smart for a day or two, and she would not listen.
I told her that she would be walking funny for a day or two, and she would not listen.
Yes, Jackie rode 40 miles, and needless to say she is probably reading this right now and saying, "Andy, you were right..."
By the way, I have a new email address (where I moved to does not have comcast anymore). All you have to do is click on the link on the right for the "mailto" feature that will bring up your browser's preferred email. Or, you can just hover your mouse over the link, and go to gmail, hotmail, etc... and put my email in there to send me stuff.
Have a good day!!!
Well, I am back from my lengthy and lazy hiatus from both the blogging and triathlon world. It was spent mostly working, playing Xbox, gaming, watching lots of football, moving, a few parties and mostly general relaxation. My computer is up and running now, so I will be able to quit bumming off of other people's computers for internet, email, and other such things related to tri-blogging.
I started off my 2007 (Triathlon years rather than calendar years :-) ) on Sunday with an hour and twenty minute bike ride on the Silver Comet Trail. Pretty convenient now that I only live two miles away from it. I will have to say it was pretty cold for someone who lives in GA. I feel I was pretty prepared with respect to the cold, except that I need to get some sort of head warmer to put under my helmet (or not wear one at all). Here are the stats for my ride.
BIKE
Total Time: 1 hr 22 min 26 sec
Distance: 23.63 miles
Avg Speed: 17.2 mph
Max Speed: 23.8 mph
In summary, there was definately an issue with conditioning and some lost endurance from a lack of training (and by lack of training I mean I did not touch the pool, bike, or track for just over 4 weeks). But the headwinds DESTROYED me. I know it was probably nothing compared to Kona, but between it being windy and cold, as well as "headwinds" in general, the return portion of my ride pretty much sucked. There are parts of the course now where I know where I can hit 22-24 mph due to a slight downhill, and I know where there are also false flats that slow me down. If you look at my average above, it was probably 2 mph slower than usual, and on top of that there were a couple of specific instances where I normally go 18-20mph and I was going about 13-14 mph due to the head wind.
My legs are a bit sore today, but that was expected. Jackie on the other hand.....
I told her that 40 miles on Saturday would be too much, and she would not listen.
I told her that her backside would smart for a day or two, and she would not listen.
I told her that she would be walking funny for a day or two, and she would not listen.
Yes, Jackie rode 40 miles, and needless to say she is probably reading this right now and saying, "Andy, you were right..."
By the way, I have a new email address (where I moved to does not have comcast anymore). All you have to do is click on the link on the right for the "mailto" feature that will bring up your browser's preferred email. Or, you can just hover your mouse over the link, and go to gmail, hotmail, etc... and put my email in there to send me stuff.
Have a good day!!!
Sunday, October 22, 2006
My infrequent postings...
I hope all of you are enjoying your weekend...
It rained this morning, and that coupled with 55 degree weather with a slight breeze was enough to keep me off of the bike for the day. Oh well. At least I am in my "off season" schedule, even if it is only for 5 weeks.
My postings have been fewer and far between as of late, and this is due to the fact that I am in the process of moving to another part of Atlanta. With respect to my triathlon training, it could not be in a better spot. I will actually have to drive now if I want to find a good bike course that has hills, but now the Silver Comet Trail is about 2 miles away from my house, and LA Fitness is about 1.5 miles away from my house. I could have not planned it better from a training perspective! Only problem now is when next spring/summer comes, I will have to drive far out of my way for my group rides during the week.
I moved alot of the smaller stuff and clothes I did not need this weekend, and I might move a few more things. Now all I have left is the large stuff, and my work clothes, and I am probably going to get a 10' moving van for that next Sunday...
I do not know how many days I might be out of commission, but I am going to call the cable company to try and have them come out ASAP when I get moved in 100% with my computer equipment, so that I can be back up and running within a few days or so.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Murtha...
It rained this morning, and that coupled with 55 degree weather with a slight breeze was enough to keep me off of the bike for the day. Oh well. At least I am in my "off season" schedule, even if it is only for 5 weeks.
My postings have been fewer and far between as of late, and this is due to the fact that I am in the process of moving to another part of Atlanta. With respect to my triathlon training, it could not be in a better spot. I will actually have to drive now if I want to find a good bike course that has hills, but now the Silver Comet Trail is about 2 miles away from my house, and LA Fitness is about 1.5 miles away from my house. I could have not planned it better from a training perspective! Only problem now is when next spring/summer comes, I will have to drive far out of my way for my group rides during the week.
I moved alot of the smaller stuff and clothes I did not need this weekend, and I might move a few more things. Now all I have left is the large stuff, and my work clothes, and I am probably going to get a 10' moving van for that next Sunday...
I do not know how many days I might be out of commission, but I am going to call the cable company to try and have them come out ASAP when I get moved in 100% with my computer equipment, so that I can be back up and running within a few days or so.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Murtha...
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Back up and running!!!
Well,
My internet is back up and running!!! Actually it was up last night, but I have had lots going on, so I did not get to this until late tonight. It was pretty interesting, I told my boss that I would be totally shut down at home if I did not have internet, and when I did get it working again last night, I just shut my computer off and then went to bed.
I am feeling a bit better, although the cold is still lingering. I will wait until the end of the week, and if it is not gone, I will go to the doctor next week. I will say that i have the upper hand on it at this time, around 70-75%. For those of you who have not heard of Airborne, you should definately get that stuff, especially if you are beginning to feel sick. It was created by a 3rd grade teacher who was tired of getting sick all of the time when her kids were sick. It is all natural and is designed to spike your immune system. So if you are traveling, work with lots of people, it tends to help out as well.
I went and had a small base run yesterday at Chastain Park. The weather was kind of crappy, but once I got one mile under my belt, I could not even feel the cold. I felt pretty good, and felt as if I pushed myself, but attempted to lay off. My time was 23:58. Not too bad for a sick "o" like myself.
I wish that you could have some sort of pseudophedrine IV drip that you could take around with you when you had sinus problems. When I was running (and for about 45 minutes afterwards), my sinuses were clear as a summer day! I could breathe easily and I was not stuffed up. Thank you adreneline (is that how you spell it?)!!! If I had some sort of injection or drip to carry around with me, I would have the same effect. Oh well...
Did not do too much tonight since I am still in the never ending attempt to get stuff packed up for the move. I am going to try and get a whole bunch of stuff moved this weekend. Thursday night Jackie and I are going to the Thrashers game. Atlanta is having their best starting season since there was a NHL team (2001), and they are the best team in the leauge right now (6-4-1). Period. Now watch them suck the rest of the season because I said that.
I wish hockey was during the summer or something, because I like it more than baseball and I hate that it is during football season (or at least overlaps it).
Tomorrow, I am going to put in a light run and workout at the gym. Somewhere in between I have a load of laundry and attempting to fill up 3-4 boxes towards my parital move this weekend.
Going to check out all of your blogs now, I will talk with you later...
Murtha...
My internet is back up and running!!! Actually it was up last night, but I have had lots going on, so I did not get to this until late tonight. It was pretty interesting, I told my boss that I would be totally shut down at home if I did not have internet, and when I did get it working again last night, I just shut my computer off and then went to bed.
I am feeling a bit better, although the cold is still lingering. I will wait until the end of the week, and if it is not gone, I will go to the doctor next week. I will say that i have the upper hand on it at this time, around 70-75%. For those of you who have not heard of Airborne, you should definately get that stuff, especially if you are beginning to feel sick. It was created by a 3rd grade teacher who was tired of getting sick all of the time when her kids were sick. It is all natural and is designed to spike your immune system. So if you are traveling, work with lots of people, it tends to help out as well.
I went and had a small base run yesterday at Chastain Park. The weather was kind of crappy, but once I got one mile under my belt, I could not even feel the cold. I felt pretty good, and felt as if I pushed myself, but attempted to lay off. My time was 23:58. Not too bad for a sick "o" like myself.
I wish that you could have some sort of pseudophedrine IV drip that you could take around with you when you had sinus problems. When I was running (and for about 45 minutes afterwards), my sinuses were clear as a summer day! I could breathe easily and I was not stuffed up. Thank you adreneline (is that how you spell it?)!!! If I had some sort of injection or drip to carry around with me, I would have the same effect. Oh well...
Did not do too much tonight since I am still in the never ending attempt to get stuff packed up for the move. I am going to try and get a whole bunch of stuff moved this weekend. Thursday night Jackie and I are going to the Thrashers game. Atlanta is having their best starting season since there was a NHL team (2001), and they are the best team in the leauge right now (6-4-1). Period. Now watch them suck the rest of the season because I said that.
I wish hockey was during the summer or something, because I like it more than baseball and I hate that it is during football season (or at least overlaps it).
Tomorrow, I am going to put in a light run and workout at the gym. Somewhere in between I have a load of laundry and attempting to fill up 3-4 boxes towards my parital move this weekend.
Going to check out all of your blogs now, I will talk with you later...
Murtha...
Monday, October 16, 2006
Down (but not out) in More Ways than One...
Happy Monday to you all,
Well, I would first like to give a BIG THANK YOU to everyone out there who visits, reads, and comments on my website!!! Saturday evening sometime I hit my 1,000 visitor. If you look at the very bottom of my page, there is a counter there since I have begun counting people who would visit my site!!!
I have gotten some very good advice and feedback from you all, as well as comments and cheers for events I have completed. Thank you for supporting me!
Now, onto my post for the day.
My first down, I am sick. I have a head cold. It is that thing where you are clear everywhere but your sinuses, and when you get up and walk around it goes away temporarily. I also hate that one minute my nose will be running, and the next it will be stopped up for no apparent reason. I have taken two Airborne (that stuff is awsome if you have not used it yet), and I am working on some Tylenol Severe Head Congestion. I hope this thing goes away quick. Not that I have anything important going on in the next week or so, but I just hate being sick (who doesn't?). I am going to do a light workout tonight, and that should not affect me one way or the other.
My second down, my internet is on the fritz. Last night I was attempting to direct connect to my friends computer via the internet for a game, and it was not working properly. In doing so, I accidentally set up my wireless to be WEP secured. Well that is good, right? Yes it is, if you have the encryption key to type in (or preloaded if you have the computer do it for you) when you turn on your computer and the network prompts you to enter one in. Oh wait, I did not get the key set up to auto-fill........ Sucks for me. So I was on the phone with tech support (John was his name, sounded British), and they were very helpful. I could not fix it last night though, even though they game me directions. In order to fix it, I need to hard wire the computer into the network, and I do not feel like paying $60 for 100ft of CAT-5 Cable to connect them. So tonight when I get home, I am going to unplug the network from the living room, and reconnect it in my bedroom, since there is a coaxial cable connection in my bedroom. I have a cable long enough that will stretch from one end of the bedroom to the other. Once that is done, I will follow the directions they give me, and then Voila!!! Internet will be fixed.
So for those of you where the weather is already 30 degrees or less, I am going to start playing my "violin" (due to the fact that I live in the South). I really started getting cold down here the last few days. It seems we have 2-3 days of mild weather, followed by 2-3 days of cold weather. Sat morning it got down to around 35-40 degrees for our FALL weather. It warmed up a bit yesterday. Tonight and tomrrow we are going to receive all that rain that Texas and the other gulf coast states got over the weekend.
I have been working out a bit more indoors as of late, but i hate to do so since my gym is always full (lines for cardio and you can never get on the weight machine you want). I guess I will have to go out and purchase some winter training clothing, damn that stuff is expensive.
Murtha...
Well, I would first like to give a BIG THANK YOU to everyone out there who visits, reads, and comments on my website!!! Saturday evening sometime I hit my 1,000 visitor. If you look at the very bottom of my page, there is a counter there since I have begun counting people who would visit my site!!!
I have gotten some very good advice and feedback from you all, as well as comments and cheers for events I have completed. Thank you for supporting me!
Now, onto my post for the day.
My first down, I am sick. I have a head cold. It is that thing where you are clear everywhere but your sinuses, and when you get up and walk around it goes away temporarily. I also hate that one minute my nose will be running, and the next it will be stopped up for no apparent reason. I have taken two Airborne (that stuff is awsome if you have not used it yet), and I am working on some Tylenol Severe Head Congestion. I hope this thing goes away quick. Not that I have anything important going on in the next week or so, but I just hate being sick (who doesn't?). I am going to do a light workout tonight, and that should not affect me one way or the other.
My second down, my internet is on the fritz. Last night I was attempting to direct connect to my friends computer via the internet for a game, and it was not working properly. In doing so, I accidentally set up my wireless to be WEP secured. Well that is good, right? Yes it is, if you have the encryption key to type in (or preloaded if you have the computer do it for you) when you turn on your computer and the network prompts you to enter one in. Oh wait, I did not get the key set up to auto-fill........ Sucks for me. So I was on the phone with tech support (John was his name, sounded British), and they were very helpful. I could not fix it last night though, even though they game me directions. In order to fix it, I need to hard wire the computer into the network, and I do not feel like paying $60 for 100ft of CAT-5 Cable to connect them. So tonight when I get home, I am going to unplug the network from the living room, and reconnect it in my bedroom, since there is a coaxial cable connection in my bedroom. I have a cable long enough that will stretch from one end of the bedroom to the other. Once that is done, I will follow the directions they give me, and then Voila!!! Internet will be fixed.
So for those of you where the weather is already 30 degrees or less, I am going to start playing my "violin" (due to the fact that I live in the South). I really started getting cold down here the last few days. It seems we have 2-3 days of mild weather, followed by 2-3 days of cold weather. Sat morning it got down to around 35-40 degrees for our FALL weather. It warmed up a bit yesterday. Tonight and tomrrow we are going to receive all that rain that Texas and the other gulf coast states got over the weekend.
I have been working out a bit more indoors as of late, but i hate to do so since my gym is always full (lines for cardio and you can never get on the weight machine you want). I guess I will have to go out and purchase some winter training clothing, damn that stuff is expensive.
Murtha...
Friday, October 13, 2006
2006 Emerald Pointe Triathlon Pictures
Heading to the finish...I was sprinting my butt off!
2nd half of the run...
heading out on the run...
Ascending "Mount T1"
Water was warm, now it is damn cold, but no shrinkage...
This hill actually clamied many people coming into T2, I saw 2-3 people fall because they were not in their "granny gear."
Yes I know, I am not completely aero. Let me say that those are a borrowed set of aerobars. Toe warmers were clutch though. Thanks Jackie. Somehow my rear tire blows after I leave T2 while on the run. Still don't know how that happened.I hope you enjoy the pictures. These are probably the first ones I put up. Tomorrow I will put up the 2006 PTC pictures, because I just realized that I did not do that.
Murtha...
Thursday, October 12, 2006
The Often Forgotten Realm of Strength Training...
Hello Everyone,
I should have some pics from the Emerald Pointe Triathlon up tonight. These are pics that my friends wife took while she was at the race.
Now, onto the post. In 1999 I went home to Fayetteville for the summer to work and make some money while I was off from university. While I was there, I got a membership at the new local World Gym location in town. Our schedule was 3 days on, 1 day off, and usually we were doing something active on that one day off. During that summer, I had lost some of the weight I had gained from the "Freshman 15" (for me the freshman 45-50, I was skinny in high school). I also had great muscle definition and I was somewhere around 9-10 percent body fat. Needless to say that I felt much more powerful and faster in the sports I was playing at that time. I actually got my bench press up to 245lbs, and weight that months before was way out of my reach.
Fast forward to today, my second official season as a triathlete. Yeah, weight training has not exactly been a part of my life. I am fighting with my weight (not that I am unhappy with it, I just know it could be lower and I would feel better and be faster), and my body fat is hovering closer to 15-17%. I have seem to hit some plateaus in my training/races, especially on the bike. I have also lost some of the muscle definition that I had in my upper body (my lower body is looking good due to all the running and riding that I am completing).
There are many benefits to weight training in your general life, as well as your triathlon training. If you are a triathlete like myself now, you need not borrow my 1999 training schedule, unless you are a semi-pro/pro and you have the extra hour or two a day to workout on top of your other training.
Some suggestions for those of you who want to implement this in your training and/or have not brought the intensity and frequency of weight training to your workouts that you would like.
1. 3-4 days a week (I would suggest 3) consisting of chest and back, then legs and shoulders next, and then finally bi's and tri's. If you are to bring a 4th day into the mix I would probably suggest legs and shoulders again, since you use them the most during your race. Completing it in this order will give you different muscle groups time to heal before they are worked out again. Some muscle groups are not only their own primary muscle group, but some are secondary to other groups you will workout (i.e. biceps support back workout, triceps support chest workout).
2. Calves and abs can be done at every workout. They tend to repair themselves the fastest after a workout, so you can afford to do them every workout if you wish.
3. There are two different schools of thought when you are doing race specific training. One is lighter weights with more reps for endurance, and then heavy weights with less reps for strength. I tend to try and find a happy medium, but I personally stray to the side of a bit heavier and a few less reps. My line of thinking is that I have the endurance to do the distance, I just want to get stronger and faster. (i.e. trying to ride bigger gears.)
4. Make sure that you implement your workout to "compliment" your triathlon training. I see people in sport specific training ruin themselves on their event day or hard training days by putting a workout too close to that day. Example, do not put legs on Friday before your 100mile group ride Saturday morning. I would suggest; Sunday chest and back, Tuesday legs and shoulders, and Thursday bi's and tri's. You could even get away with Mon, Wed, Fri if you want, as long as you are keeping a few days for legs to recover for your brick/long ride on the weekend.
5. Make sure you find someone who knows what they are doing. If not, then stick to the machines at the gym (Bi's and Tri's would be the only exception). People who do not know what they are doing have more problems with free weights despite their benefits, and will end up not progressing or even injuring themselves if they are not watched.
6. Work on form first, then add weight later. If you are not doing the exercise properly, then not matter how much weight you add, it is not going to help. Acutally in most cases it will be to your detriment, usually via injury. Last night I was at the gym and someone was next to me on the lat pull down machine, and he had WAAAY TOOO MUCH weight and had to pull the thing down like he was on the rowing team. I am sure that he woke up this morning with a really sore/injured lower back.
7. Mix it up! Do not use the same weight machines every workout! Try to implement and rotate at least one different workout into your routine! It will help out a lot!
8. When you start your routine (or starting over again), make sure you are starting out with less sets in the first few workouts and then build up sets. Your muscles can fatigue just like when you first started your triathlon expierence and could not run/bike/or swim a mile. Arm/Chest and back days should have no more than 12-14 sets total. Leg days should have no more than 15-17 sets (more workouts to do on legs) for the first few workouts. You can go up from there.
9. Cardio warmup. I suggest 15-20 minutes, but you can do whatever you want, as long as it is at least 10 minutes.
10. Cooldown/Stretch. I personally do not do cooldowns to often except after leg workouts, but make sure you stretch!!!!! Stretch!!! Should be at a minimum of 10 minutes of your total workout time.
I am not a professional body builder or strength trainer, but I have worked out with two different certified personal trainers (both of whom owned supplement stores), as well as Harold Houge(is that how you spell his last name?), who was a WWC wrestler in the 1980's. Man Harold would tear you up and make you cry during your workout! Learning from these guys, I have never sustained a strength training injury and was very satisified with my results.
I hope you are able to use some of these suggestions to your advantage as I have over my life, and I am going to start taking my own advice and using the suggestions above once again.
Talk to you later,
Murtha...
I should have some pics from the Emerald Pointe Triathlon up tonight. These are pics that my friends wife took while she was at the race.
Now, onto the post. In 1999 I went home to Fayetteville for the summer to work and make some money while I was off from university. While I was there, I got a membership at the new local World Gym location in town. Our schedule was 3 days on, 1 day off, and usually we were doing something active on that one day off. During that summer, I had lost some of the weight I had gained from the "Freshman 15" (for me the freshman 45-50, I was skinny in high school). I also had great muscle definition and I was somewhere around 9-10 percent body fat. Needless to say that I felt much more powerful and faster in the sports I was playing at that time. I actually got my bench press up to 245lbs, and weight that months before was way out of my reach.
Fast forward to today, my second official season as a triathlete. Yeah, weight training has not exactly been a part of my life. I am fighting with my weight (not that I am unhappy with it, I just know it could be lower and I would feel better and be faster), and my body fat is hovering closer to 15-17%. I have seem to hit some plateaus in my training/races, especially on the bike. I have also lost some of the muscle definition that I had in my upper body (my lower body is looking good due to all the running and riding that I am completing).
There are many benefits to weight training in your general life, as well as your triathlon training. If you are a triathlete like myself now, you need not borrow my 1999 training schedule, unless you are a semi-pro/pro and you have the extra hour or two a day to workout on top of your other training.
Some suggestions for those of you who want to implement this in your training and/or have not brought the intensity and frequency of weight training to your workouts that you would like.
1. 3-4 days a week (I would suggest 3) consisting of chest and back, then legs and shoulders next, and then finally bi's and tri's. If you are to bring a 4th day into the mix I would probably suggest legs and shoulders again, since you use them the most during your race. Completing it in this order will give you different muscle groups time to heal before they are worked out again. Some muscle groups are not only their own primary muscle group, but some are secondary to other groups you will workout (i.e. biceps support back workout, triceps support chest workout).
2. Calves and abs can be done at every workout. They tend to repair themselves the fastest after a workout, so you can afford to do them every workout if you wish.
3. There are two different schools of thought when you are doing race specific training. One is lighter weights with more reps for endurance, and then heavy weights with less reps for strength. I tend to try and find a happy medium, but I personally stray to the side of a bit heavier and a few less reps. My line of thinking is that I have the endurance to do the distance, I just want to get stronger and faster. (i.e. trying to ride bigger gears.)
4. Make sure that you implement your workout to "compliment" your triathlon training. I see people in sport specific training ruin themselves on their event day or hard training days by putting a workout too close to that day. Example, do not put legs on Friday before your 100mile group ride Saturday morning. I would suggest; Sunday chest and back, Tuesday legs and shoulders, and Thursday bi's and tri's. You could even get away with Mon, Wed, Fri if you want, as long as you are keeping a few days for legs to recover for your brick/long ride on the weekend.
5. Make sure you find someone who knows what they are doing. If not, then stick to the machines at the gym (Bi's and Tri's would be the only exception). People who do not know what they are doing have more problems with free weights despite their benefits, and will end up not progressing or even injuring themselves if they are not watched.
6. Work on form first, then add weight later. If you are not doing the exercise properly, then not matter how much weight you add, it is not going to help. Acutally in most cases it will be to your detriment, usually via injury. Last night I was at the gym and someone was next to me on the lat pull down machine, and he had WAAAY TOOO MUCH weight and had to pull the thing down like he was on the rowing team. I am sure that he woke up this morning with a really sore/injured lower back.
7. Mix it up! Do not use the same weight machines every workout! Try to implement and rotate at least one different workout into your routine! It will help out a lot!
8. When you start your routine (or starting over again), make sure you are starting out with less sets in the first few workouts and then build up sets. Your muscles can fatigue just like when you first started your triathlon expierence and could not run/bike/or swim a mile. Arm/Chest and back days should have no more than 12-14 sets total. Leg days should have no more than 15-17 sets (more workouts to do on legs) for the first few workouts. You can go up from there.
9. Cardio warmup. I suggest 15-20 minutes, but you can do whatever you want, as long as it is at least 10 minutes.
10. Cooldown/Stretch. I personally do not do cooldowns to often except after leg workouts, but make sure you stretch!!!!! Stretch!!! Should be at a minimum of 10 minutes of your total workout time.
I am not a professional body builder or strength trainer, but I have worked out with two different certified personal trainers (both of whom owned supplement stores), as well as Harold Houge(is that how you spell his last name?), who was a WWC wrestler in the 1980's. Man Harold would tear you up and make you cry during your workout! Learning from these guys, I have never sustained a strength training injury and was very satisified with my results.
I hope you are able to use some of these suggestions to your advantage as I have over my life, and I am going to start taking my own advice and using the suggestions above once again.
Talk to you later,
Murtha...
Monday, October 09, 2006
2006 Emerald Pointe Triathlon Race Report
Happy Columbus Day!!!
Man, I love Federal Holidays! I can really appreciate them considering I had jobs most of my life where they were open everyday, including holidays. I worked nights, weekends, holidays, all the time at one point. So I think I have the right to celebrate today. But now for my race report...
Pictures will be here as soon as I get them from the company as well as friends who took pictures.
STARTING THE MORNING OFF...
So I woke up around 5:15 in the morning. After a late night of watching the Dawgs lose to Tennessee, I could have left when the first half was over and get some sleep if I knew what the second half was going to bring. Jackie spent the night, so we left together around 6:15am to head to Lake Lanier. I had a Espresso Love GU and a Snicker Marathon Bar. More on the Snicker Bar later... I stopped off at McDonalds and picked up some breakfast for her. Got to the parking area of Lake Lanier Islands Beach and Water Park, and found that there was not enough parking for all of us... Good thing we brought her Jeep!!! Went straight to body marking and then proceeded to get my chip and unpack at transition.
PRE - RACE...
After unpacking at transition, I went down to the lake to check out the water temp. It was around 75 degrees. Yeah! But the air temp was around 58 degrees and a slight breeze. Booo! I headed to the back up to the transition to get my cap and goggles and then headed to the bathroom before the start.
DO I KNOW YOU...?
So I am up in transition, and who do I see two bikes down from me, but Josh Nickell, a friend from high school! I have seen him on Facebook online and he had asked me questions about triathlon stuff since he had started training for one, and it turns out that this would be his first event. I thought that was great, and I hoped that he would do well during the race. He ended up finishing in about 1:37:?? not too bad for his first race.
THE SWIM
My age group consisted of about 30 guys and we were the first to go promptly at 8:30am. Swim was 400M, and was point to point. Yeah! No rounding turn bouys and then getting caught up in the tri-swim blender (with me being the fruit). I got in the the water for the start, then the horn went off. I started off in the back as usual to get out of the way. Again I had some problems getting into a three stroke rythm, and I did not do it too often, but I was a bit smoother, and felt a bit faster than the previous two lake swim races. Water temp helped out alot compared to the air temp.
Time 9 min 30 sec
TRANSITION 1
We might as call this section... "Climbing Mount T1." The distance to get inside the "pen" (transition area), was about 200 yards away from the water, and you basically had to run straight up a 25 degree embankment to get up to the top near the pen. Finally got into my area and quickly put on socks and shoes, helmet and glasses. I decided not to go with arm warmers, which in the end was ok. My arms got dry quickly on the bike, so that was a good choice. I would say that my "real" T1 time without the 200 yard uphill summit would have put me at 1:30-1:45. However, everyone had to do this, so that keeps everything relative.
Time 3min 02 sec
BIKE
Damn that was a miserable experience, but I got my mind focused on the ride, and that got rid of the cold weather feeling. Please do not berate me if you are doing triathlons up north right now. I know it is colder up there, but I live in the South, so it is all relative. Because of the cold and the hill summit in T1, it took me 5 minutes to get my legs going!! 5 Minutes!! That is not good at all if you are in a Sprint Triathlon. After that I got my legs going. Lots more hills than Tri-PTC in August. Mile 7-13 was pretty much false flats and downhill with the exception of 2 decent hills. Finished pretty strong but early hills and my first slow 5 minutes kept me averaging 17.1 mph for the entire ride.
Time 45 min 43 sec
TRANSITION 2
There was a no pass zone going in and out of the bike of about 20 yards, and it was really steep. You basically had to be in your granny gear or be Jan Ulrich. After the race when people were still coming in on the bike, I saw multiple people fall coming up that hill, they just lost momentum, and it was worse for the people who were clipped in. The pen was small, although there were 630 competitors and my rack was #2 on the left when I came in from the bike. I was quick on the transition and took a bottle with me so I would not have to negotiate in and out of the water aid areas on the course.
Time 1 min 15 sec
THE RUN
The run course did have elevation changes in both directions, but there were never any major hills or anything. I had a problem getting my legs going. #33 and I had spent the 2nd half of the bike together and got out of T2 about the same time, so we hung together for about the first mile or more and then he pulled off after the water station.
I really needed some water to pour over my head (Gatorade Endurance was in my bottle) and I got caught up in traffic of people trying to get it. I tried to catch up with him, but it was not working. I was trying to save a bit for a stronger finish towards the end. When we made the halfway turn, there was a man right behind me, and I decided since I was in front of him I would swing wide and let him pass since he seemed faster than me. When he got up next to me he started talking about some kind of cheating on the run and I could not understand what he was saying, so I was like "whatever" and let him pass. I don't know what he was talking about, but I know that I was not violating any rules or regulations on the run course, so he can just shove it for all I care.
About 400 yards from the finish I picked it up and finished strong with my small cheerleading squad cheering for me.
Time: 29 min 22 sec
Total Time 1hr 28min 50sec (17th place in age group)
Soooo, what does this mean overall. Well first off, I busted my Ass at the end of August with some really good training ( I thought) and pulled about 1hr 22 min and a half, and here I slacked off the last three weeks and pulled a 1 hr 28 min 50 sec race. Now in a sprint tri, that is a lot of time, but it leads me to believe that I was plateauing late in my season. To be quite honest, this race was like randomly waking up one day without any training and then completing the event, only 6 and a half minutes slower than your fastest time. I should nock off about a minute for that damn hill, but there is nothing I can do about that.
I was happy with my finish. I am happy that I had people there to support me. Thank you Jackie, Melissa, Charlie, and Bharat. Josh, great work on your first Tri! I hope that there are many more races for you to come in your future, you will do great I am sure.
Now I have the next 5 weeks off. I will be doing some strength training and some base work, but other than that, no serious schedule and no serious training. I think I am going to go online and get one of these training programs. I have looked at some, and I think I am going to choose Crucible Fitness's 16 week HIM training program. Please let me know if you have any suggestions in this area. I also want to set some goals for next year, since I am upping the number of races, as well as the variety of distances that I am tackling. After I figure out what those are, I will post them on my blog so that we may see how I progress through the next year.
Well that is about all for now, I will talk with you guys and gals later. I need to finish this Miller Lite on my day off, it is beginning to get warm...
Murtha....
Man, I love Federal Holidays! I can really appreciate them considering I had jobs most of my life where they were open everyday, including holidays. I worked nights, weekends, holidays, all the time at one point. So I think I have the right to celebrate today. But now for my race report...
Pictures will be here as soon as I get them from the company as well as friends who took pictures.
STARTING THE MORNING OFF...
So I woke up around 5:15 in the morning. After a late night of watching the Dawgs lose to Tennessee, I could have left when the first half was over and get some sleep if I knew what the second half was going to bring. Jackie spent the night, so we left together around 6:15am to head to Lake Lanier. I had a Espresso Love GU and a Snicker Marathon Bar. More on the Snicker Bar later... I stopped off at McDonalds and picked up some breakfast for her. Got to the parking area of Lake Lanier Islands Beach and Water Park, and found that there was not enough parking for all of us... Good thing we brought her Jeep!!! Went straight to body marking and then proceeded to get my chip and unpack at transition.
PRE - RACE...
After unpacking at transition, I went down to the lake to check out the water temp. It was around 75 degrees. Yeah! But the air temp was around 58 degrees and a slight breeze. Booo! I headed to the back up to the transition to get my cap and goggles and then headed to the bathroom before the start.
DO I KNOW YOU...?
So I am up in transition, and who do I see two bikes down from me, but Josh Nickell, a friend from high school! I have seen him on Facebook online and he had asked me questions about triathlon stuff since he had started training for one, and it turns out that this would be his first event. I thought that was great, and I hoped that he would do well during the race. He ended up finishing in about 1:37:?? not too bad for his first race.
THE SWIM
My age group consisted of about 30 guys and we were the first to go promptly at 8:30am. Swim was 400M, and was point to point. Yeah! No rounding turn bouys and then getting caught up in the tri-swim blender (with me being the fruit). I got in the the water for the start, then the horn went off. I started off in the back as usual to get out of the way. Again I had some problems getting into a three stroke rythm, and I did not do it too often, but I was a bit smoother, and felt a bit faster than the previous two lake swim races. Water temp helped out alot compared to the air temp.
Time 9 min 30 sec
TRANSITION 1
We might as call this section... "Climbing Mount T1." The distance to get inside the "pen" (transition area), was about 200 yards away from the water, and you basically had to run straight up a 25 degree embankment to get up to the top near the pen. Finally got into my area and quickly put on socks and shoes, helmet and glasses. I decided not to go with arm warmers, which in the end was ok. My arms got dry quickly on the bike, so that was a good choice. I would say that my "real" T1 time without the 200 yard uphill summit would have put me at 1:30-1:45. However, everyone had to do this, so that keeps everything relative.
Time 3min 02 sec
BIKE
Damn that was a miserable experience, but I got my mind focused on the ride, and that got rid of the cold weather feeling. Please do not berate me if you are doing triathlons up north right now. I know it is colder up there, but I live in the South, so it is all relative. Because of the cold and the hill summit in T1, it took me 5 minutes to get my legs going!! 5 Minutes!! That is not good at all if you are in a Sprint Triathlon. After that I got my legs going. Lots more hills than Tri-PTC in August. Mile 7-13 was pretty much false flats and downhill with the exception of 2 decent hills. Finished pretty strong but early hills and my first slow 5 minutes kept me averaging 17.1 mph for the entire ride.
Time 45 min 43 sec
TRANSITION 2
There was a no pass zone going in and out of the bike of about 20 yards, and it was really steep. You basically had to be in your granny gear or be Jan Ulrich. After the race when people were still coming in on the bike, I saw multiple people fall coming up that hill, they just lost momentum, and it was worse for the people who were clipped in. The pen was small, although there were 630 competitors and my rack was #2 on the left when I came in from the bike. I was quick on the transition and took a bottle with me so I would not have to negotiate in and out of the water aid areas on the course.
Time 1 min 15 sec
THE RUN
The run course did have elevation changes in both directions, but there were never any major hills or anything. I had a problem getting my legs going. #33 and I had spent the 2nd half of the bike together and got out of T2 about the same time, so we hung together for about the first mile or more and then he pulled off after the water station.
I really needed some water to pour over my head (Gatorade Endurance was in my bottle) and I got caught up in traffic of people trying to get it. I tried to catch up with him, but it was not working. I was trying to save a bit for a stronger finish towards the end. When we made the halfway turn, there was a man right behind me, and I decided since I was in front of him I would swing wide and let him pass since he seemed faster than me. When he got up next to me he started talking about some kind of cheating on the run and I could not understand what he was saying, so I was like "whatever" and let him pass. I don't know what he was talking about, but I know that I was not violating any rules or regulations on the run course, so he can just shove it for all I care.
About 400 yards from the finish I picked it up and finished strong with my small cheerleading squad cheering for me.
Time: 29 min 22 sec
Total Time 1hr 28min 50sec (17th place in age group)
Soooo, what does this mean overall. Well first off, I busted my Ass at the end of August with some really good training ( I thought) and pulled about 1hr 22 min and a half, and here I slacked off the last three weeks and pulled a 1 hr 28 min 50 sec race. Now in a sprint tri, that is a lot of time, but it leads me to believe that I was plateauing late in my season. To be quite honest, this race was like randomly waking up one day without any training and then completing the event, only 6 and a half minutes slower than your fastest time. I should nock off about a minute for that damn hill, but there is nothing I can do about that.
I was happy with my finish. I am happy that I had people there to support me. Thank you Jackie, Melissa, Charlie, and Bharat. Josh, great work on your first Tri! I hope that there are many more races for you to come in your future, you will do great I am sure.
Now I have the next 5 weeks off. I will be doing some strength training and some base work, but other than that, no serious schedule and no serious training. I think I am going to go online and get one of these training programs. I have looked at some, and I think I am going to choose Crucible Fitness's 16 week HIM training program. Please let me know if you have any suggestions in this area. I also want to set some goals for next year, since I am upping the number of races, as well as the variety of distances that I am tackling. After I figure out what those are, I will post them on my blog so that we may see how I progress through the next year.
Well that is about all for now, I will talk with you guys and gals later. I need to finish this Miller Lite on my day off, it is beginning to get warm...
Murtha....
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Bolder's Late Show Top 10....
I was reading through the blogs this morning, and I had not looked at Bolder's in about a month. I was reading through and I thought this blog was awsome (and humorous) as well.
Race tomorrow, I am really excited, as I am sure most of you are, when you have a race coming up. I am going to brick it today, and then get a swim in tonight. Race report out on Monday with my bank holiday.
Murtha...
Race tomorrow, I am really excited, as I am sure most of you are, when you have a race coming up. I am going to brick it today, and then get a swim in tonight. Race report out on Monday with my bank holiday.
Murtha...
Friday, October 06, 2006
Thanks for the Feedback!!!
Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to thank everyone for the feedback!!! I think the great thing is that there are multiple differing opinions and all of them are backed up by experience and knowledge that they have gained throughout their training and racing.
I will just bite the bullet for this race, especially since it is not an A, B, C or even X race for me. I just wanted to do one more before my "season was over." With that in mind, I will just put the quality, expensive wetsuit that I will purchase on my wishlist and get it at a later time.
So my race is on Sunday. And it is even better because I have a three day weekend! How do you ask? Columbus Day. Yes I am one of those "bank people" that all of you loathe so much. Yes we have a holiday almost every month, but the Federal Reserve has to get their days off, so they give them to us as well.
I think I am really going to like this course. I think there are a few small rollers on the bike course, but the rest of the course is flat as a pancake. The run actually takes you around a very small portion of the lake, so there will be a bit of scenery on the run. On this race, I think I am really going to focus on the swim and the run. I seem to have "plateaued" on the bike, and I am not going to sweat trying to go any damn faster for a race that I am not even putting on the priority list. I was clocked an average speed of 20.2 mph in my last race, and it should have been faster if it was not for the .1 mile "No Pass" coasting zone in and out of the bike start/finish area. I understand it is for the saftey of the riders and volunteers, but .2 mile total going in and out, come one! I know that you could cut that down to .1 or even .05 mile and I think it would still be deemed safe for everyone. Even if it was no pass zone, as long as you could go fast until you hit that shortened coasting zone I would be fine with that. However, I am excited that I broke the 20mph average barrier, even if it is only a sprint triathlon.
Anyways back to the swim/run. Have I slacked the last few weeks on my workouts since returning from vacation (where I did work out thank you very much)? Yes. Has it affected my overall performance of late? Maybe just a bit. However, there should be no excuse for how I can bust out a sub 8:00 min 400M split and then I get into a lake or other body of water and swim it in 13-14 minutes... What in the F@(# is going on with that? Seriously....
The run is just getting the leg transition from bike to run earlier in my run. I think I am going to brick today and tomorrow. Since I am not looking for a blockbuster performance on Sunday, I think I can get away from bricking both days before the race, it is just a sprint, and I have taken enough days off lately where my body deserves to be abused a bit.
I have been reading Steven's blog a lot lately. A good post that he wrote the other day talked about progressing on the run and to do so, you have to mix it up. You can read it here. and although I have not really mixed up my runs much yet, I have been varying distances, courses, and intensities. That is a start. I need to find a "public" high school that is not going crazy over security right now so that I can get some early morning or late night track workouts until football season is over, and then I can switch to afternoons. When I look at my times from other races, I know that swimming and running can definately improve. If you compare my transition times from previous years, I have shaved over 2 minutes off of them over all in sprint distance races. I am going to shoot for sub 1hr 20 min, that is just over a 2 min improvement for last race. I just need some kind of goal to shoot for. If I do not beat it, then I am not going to sweat it.
I got really down about the last race, due to the fact all the hard work I put in only netted me 2 minutes better than last year. I am not going to let that affect me this time. I think that some of us set hard goals because we want to improve faster, be better, etc... than what we are actually doing to preform at the time. Not that our preformance is subpar, but that we are expecting more than what our body is producing at the time. A good analogy fits here. Think of your triathlon as a buffet, and how many times, "your eyes are bigger than your stomach."
Oh and yes, I signed up for the raceAthlete registration to be on the team, along with every other tri-blogger out there. I do think that it is a bit unfair that they are limiting by wanting all team members to compete in IMWisconson after it has already sold out, but hey, they made the rules, not me. When I was signing up, I was like, why do they only have 1 IM event on here this upcoming year? Then I read the "fine print" (which was actually 12 point font) and it said that they would like to culminate the teammates experience by having all of them compete in IM Wisconson. I hurriedly went to ironmanlive.com to check and see if the event had sold out. Yup. My heart sank. I submitted my application with the hope that they can look past that and let me sign up for another IM event, such as Florida.
Murtha...
I just wanted to thank everyone for the feedback!!! I think the great thing is that there are multiple differing opinions and all of them are backed up by experience and knowledge that they have gained throughout their training and racing.
I will just bite the bullet for this race, especially since it is not an A, B, C or even X race for me. I just wanted to do one more before my "season was over." With that in mind, I will just put the quality, expensive wetsuit that I will purchase on my wishlist and get it at a later time.
So my race is on Sunday. And it is even better because I have a three day weekend! How do you ask? Columbus Day. Yes I am one of those "bank people" that all of you loathe so much. Yes we have a holiday almost every month, but the Federal Reserve has to get their days off, so they give them to us as well.
I think I am really going to like this course. I think there are a few small rollers on the bike course, but the rest of the course is flat as a pancake. The run actually takes you around a very small portion of the lake, so there will be a bit of scenery on the run. On this race, I think I am really going to focus on the swim and the run. I seem to have "plateaued" on the bike, and I am not going to sweat trying to go any damn faster for a race that I am not even putting on the priority list. I was clocked an average speed of 20.2 mph in my last race, and it should have been faster if it was not for the .1 mile "No Pass" coasting zone in and out of the bike start/finish area. I understand it is for the saftey of the riders and volunteers, but .2 mile total going in and out, come one! I know that you could cut that down to .1 or even .05 mile and I think it would still be deemed safe for everyone. Even if it was no pass zone, as long as you could go fast until you hit that shortened coasting zone I would be fine with that. However, I am excited that I broke the 20mph average barrier, even if it is only a sprint triathlon.
Anyways back to the swim/run. Have I slacked the last few weeks on my workouts since returning from vacation (where I did work out thank you very much)? Yes. Has it affected my overall performance of late? Maybe just a bit. However, there should be no excuse for how I can bust out a sub 8:00 min 400M split and then I get into a lake or other body of water and swim it in 13-14 minutes... What in the F@(# is going on with that? Seriously....
The run is just getting the leg transition from bike to run earlier in my run. I think I am going to brick today and tomorrow. Since I am not looking for a blockbuster performance on Sunday, I think I can get away from bricking both days before the race, it is just a sprint, and I have taken enough days off lately where my body deserves to be abused a bit.
I have been reading Steven's blog a lot lately. A good post that he wrote the other day talked about progressing on the run and to do so, you have to mix it up. You can read it here. and although I have not really mixed up my runs much yet, I have been varying distances, courses, and intensities. That is a start. I need to find a "public" high school that is not going crazy over security right now so that I can get some early morning or late night track workouts until football season is over, and then I can switch to afternoons. When I look at my times from other races, I know that swimming and running can definately improve. If you compare my transition times from previous years, I have shaved over 2 minutes off of them over all in sprint distance races. I am going to shoot for sub 1hr 20 min, that is just over a 2 min improvement for last race. I just need some kind of goal to shoot for. If I do not beat it, then I am not going to sweat it.
I got really down about the last race, due to the fact all the hard work I put in only netted me 2 minutes better than last year. I am not going to let that affect me this time. I think that some of us set hard goals because we want to improve faster, be better, etc... than what we are actually doing to preform at the time. Not that our preformance is subpar, but that we are expecting more than what our body is producing at the time. A good analogy fits here. Think of your triathlon as a buffet, and how many times, "your eyes are bigger than your stomach."
Oh and yes, I signed up for the raceAthlete registration to be on the team, along with every other tri-blogger out there. I do think that it is a bit unfair that they are limiting by wanting all team members to compete in IMWisconson after it has already sold out, but hey, they made the rules, not me. When I was signing up, I was like, why do they only have 1 IM event on here this upcoming year? Then I read the "fine print" (which was actually 12 point font) and it said that they would like to culminate the teammates experience by having all of them compete in IM Wisconson. I hurriedly went to ironmanlive.com to check and see if the event had sold out. Yup. My heart sank. I submitted my application with the hope that they can look past that and let me sign up for another IM event, such as Florida.
Murtha...
Monday, October 02, 2006
Wetsuit anyone???
Good morning,
Up early today! That is a change. Well I was at all3sports this weekend (for those of you who only order from them online, yes they do have an actual physical location in Atlanta), and I was talking to people about the upcoming race I have this weekend. One of the guys in the store told me that he had sold 9 wetsuits for the event just that day, and that more had bee purchased in previous days.
So my next question was, "Do you know how cold the water has been up there?"
"Around 75 degrees the past couple of days."
"?????"
I have been trying to find a website or phone number to where I can call and find out the daily lake temperature for Lake Lanier for this stupid race, but to no avail have I found anything. So this begs the question, " Should I get a wetsuit, even if a cheap Sports Authority (or whatever sporting goods place in your city) Body Glove wetsuit, or not?"
I swam in the Gulf Coast Triathlon earlier this year, and the ocean temp was 76 degrees. I was fine, I was not cold or anything. Also it is supposed to get into the middle and upper 80's through Thursday, which should warm up the water a bit before the weekend.
Really the only concern I have is bouancy(?) for swimming in the lake. I have no problem swimming in the ocean, and I have no problem swimming in the pool, but for some reason I just cannot get it together in the lake. The last two lake races i have swam have been terrible. In the pool for a sprint race I can average 1:45/lap and the only time I have raced in the ocean was a half - iron distance event, and I swam that 10-15 minutes faster than anticipated.
Oh well. Any suggestions from anyone on lake swimming would be helpful.
Sunday is my last race of the year, and for some strange reason I am ready for it. I think it is due to the fact that I have had a lot going on for the past 6 months, and it will be nice to take off the next 5-6 weeks and just do light workouts. Not that my schedule will be getting any easier, that is not going to happen until March or April, but at least I will have one less thing demanding time from my life for a small period of time.
Signing off for now,
Murtha...
Up early today! That is a change. Well I was at all3sports this weekend (for those of you who only order from them online, yes they do have an actual physical location in Atlanta), and I was talking to people about the upcoming race I have this weekend. One of the guys in the store told me that he had sold 9 wetsuits for the event just that day, and that more had bee purchased in previous days.
So my next question was, "Do you know how cold the water has been up there?"
"Around 75 degrees the past couple of days."
"?????"
I have been trying to find a website or phone number to where I can call and find out the daily lake temperature for Lake Lanier for this stupid race, but to no avail have I found anything. So this begs the question, " Should I get a wetsuit, even if a cheap Sports Authority (or whatever sporting goods place in your city) Body Glove wetsuit, or not?"
I swam in the Gulf Coast Triathlon earlier this year, and the ocean temp was 76 degrees. I was fine, I was not cold or anything. Also it is supposed to get into the middle and upper 80's through Thursday, which should warm up the water a bit before the weekend.
Really the only concern I have is bouancy(?) for swimming in the lake. I have no problem swimming in the ocean, and I have no problem swimming in the pool, but for some reason I just cannot get it together in the lake. The last two lake races i have swam have been terrible. In the pool for a sprint race I can average 1:45/lap and the only time I have raced in the ocean was a half - iron distance event, and I swam that 10-15 minutes faster than anticipated.
Oh well. Any suggestions from anyone on lake swimming would be helpful.
Sunday is my last race of the year, and for some strange reason I am ready for it. I think it is due to the fact that I have had a lot going on for the past 6 months, and it will be nice to take off the next 5-6 weeks and just do light workouts. Not that my schedule will be getting any easier, that is not going to happen until March or April, but at least I will have one less thing demanding time from my life for a small period of time.
Signing off for now,
Murtha...
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Looking Towards Final Training Weekend...
Hi!
Well I am sure most of you have seen my lack of postings over the past week since I have been back from my vacation. I have had a lot of stuff going on that has gone from first thing in the morning until I go to bed. This of course has not only affected my blogging, but my training, my apartment state (dirty!). Finally yesterday was the first day I was free after work, and I did nothing but go out to dinner. Oh and I did a load of laundry that is still sitting in the dryer this morning. So to answer your questions, yes, I did slack off of my training this past week up until today!
Thank goodness my last triathlon of the season is next weekend. I have so much stuff going on lately, on top of the fact I have to be moved out of my apartment and into a new one by the 31st of the month, that I am looking forward to working out without a training schedule. I am planning on just completing general training after this event next weekend, and then I will pick it back up for next year in the middle of November.
Still working on whether or not I will be at IMFLA this year to see some of you guys work Panama City. The following weekend is also the 70.3 Championship in Clearwater, FL. Pretty busy November for Ironman competitions.
I do not have much else to post at this time, so I will leave it at that. I will check up on everyone else's blog later on today. I know I need to catch up on Wil's blog since she has completed IMWisconson. Jackie showed me a new blog yesterday from Jessica'a blog where some guys did some serious technicial mountain biking! I mean these guys were going up and down vertical walls, as well as dropping off some serious stuff on their bikes. If you want to check it out, you can link to Jessica's page through my links, and then i think his blog is titled "Fat Cyclist" or something like that on her page.
Murtha out...
Well I am sure most of you have seen my lack of postings over the past week since I have been back from my vacation. I have had a lot of stuff going on that has gone from first thing in the morning until I go to bed. This of course has not only affected my blogging, but my training, my apartment state (dirty!). Finally yesterday was the first day I was free after work, and I did nothing but go out to dinner. Oh and I did a load of laundry that is still sitting in the dryer this morning. So to answer your questions, yes, I did slack off of my training this past week up until today!
Thank goodness my last triathlon of the season is next weekend. I have so much stuff going on lately, on top of the fact I have to be moved out of my apartment and into a new one by the 31st of the month, that I am looking forward to working out without a training schedule. I am planning on just completing general training after this event next weekend, and then I will pick it back up for next year in the middle of November.
Still working on whether or not I will be at IMFLA this year to see some of you guys work Panama City. The following weekend is also the 70.3 Championship in Clearwater, FL. Pretty busy November for Ironman competitions.
I do not have much else to post at this time, so I will leave it at that. I will check up on everyone else's blog later on today. I know I need to catch up on Wil's blog since she has completed IMWisconson. Jackie showed me a new blog yesterday from Jessica'a blog where some guys did some serious technicial mountain biking! I mean these guys were going up and down vertical walls, as well as dropping off some serious stuff on their bikes. If you want to check it out, you can link to Jessica's page through my links, and then i think his blog is titled "Fat Cyclist" or something like that on her page.
Murtha out...
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Keep it up!!!
Yeah, I am an idiot,
So I posted to my blog yesterday, and then I went to edit it, and did not even repost the thing. This was noted to me later on in the day by people who regularly read my blog. Sorry. Yesterday's workout was excellent, with lots of walking throughout the day to boot. My father and I walked for about an hour on Sunday night together, and we walked probably 4 miles or so.
MONDAY
RUN
Time 27:39
Distance (too lazy to figure out, I promise I will do it before I leave tomorrow night)
Pace (cannot calculate until I have distance)
I did lots of walking on the Strip yesterday afternoon, about 3 hours worth. Yes there was stopping in between to window shop, as well as watch some gambling. I am kind of desensitized to gambling now, even though I enjoy it. I sat there yesterday for 15-20 minutes at O'Sheas drinking a dollar draft beer, watching the stickman at the craps table (John) get everyone going at the table. The table was really hot at the time (I would have liked to have gotten on, but there was no room), and it is people like him who make the casino's a lot of money.
I could get used to training on a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis out here, except for the three months every summer where it is 110-120 degrees every day, and if you want to workout outside, you have to do so at 3-4 am, and even still it is 85 degrees outside.
Diet out here has been good as well. Lower Carbs (eating only the good ones), and more fiber/protein in my diet. My race is now in just under 20 days. I am not considering this an A,B,C,etc... race, but I just wanted to get one in before the year was over. I do not care where I finish, I just wanted to get out there and participate. Outside of fiscal constraints and timing, etc... I feel I am slighting myself a bit if I don't do more than a couple of races a year, considering that this is a year round sport (depending on where you are in the world) and it seems year after year there are more and more races to choose from.
I am trying to schedule 5-7 races next year. For me, it seems like a big jump, but I feel that I will be better able to cope with training and my pyschological side if I have something cosistently coming up. I think part of the problem with the tri-TPC in August was that it was too far away from my May race, and although I did train in between the events, I felt that I could have had my intensity a bit higher. Volume was another issue and I will definately take that to heart next year. The longer the race distance you are going to complete the more race volume you will need to get in!!!!
Well that is all for now, I have been trying to fix my mother's desktop computer all morning, and it seems that it is an electrical issue, so she will have to take it in and get it fixed. I am going to spend another day down on the Strip, and then I am going to go out with one of my Fraternity brothers tonight who lives not too far from my parent's house. Should be good times.
Murtha...
So I posted to my blog yesterday, and then I went to edit it, and did not even repost the thing. This was noted to me later on in the day by people who regularly read my blog. Sorry. Yesterday's workout was excellent, with lots of walking throughout the day to boot. My father and I walked for about an hour on Sunday night together, and we walked probably 4 miles or so.
MONDAY
RUN
Time 27:39
Distance (too lazy to figure out, I promise I will do it before I leave tomorrow night)
Pace (cannot calculate until I have distance)
I did lots of walking on the Strip yesterday afternoon, about 3 hours worth. Yes there was stopping in between to window shop, as well as watch some gambling. I am kind of desensitized to gambling now, even though I enjoy it. I sat there yesterday for 15-20 minutes at O'Sheas drinking a dollar draft beer, watching the stickman at the craps table (John) get everyone going at the table. The table was really hot at the time (I would have liked to have gotten on, but there was no room), and it is people like him who make the casino's a lot of money.
I could get used to training on a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis out here, except for the three months every summer where it is 110-120 degrees every day, and if you want to workout outside, you have to do so at 3-4 am, and even still it is 85 degrees outside.
Diet out here has been good as well. Lower Carbs (eating only the good ones), and more fiber/protein in my diet. My race is now in just under 20 days. I am not considering this an A,B,C,etc... race, but I just wanted to get one in before the year was over. I do not care where I finish, I just wanted to get out there and participate. Outside of fiscal constraints and timing, etc... I feel I am slighting myself a bit if I don't do more than a couple of races a year, considering that this is a year round sport (depending on where you are in the world) and it seems year after year there are more and more races to choose from.
I am trying to schedule 5-7 races next year. For me, it seems like a big jump, but I feel that I will be better able to cope with training and my pyschological side if I have something cosistently coming up. I think part of the problem with the tri-TPC in August was that it was too far away from my May race, and although I did train in between the events, I felt that I could have had my intensity a bit higher. Volume was another issue and I will definately take that to heart next year. The longer the race distance you are going to complete the more race volume you will need to get in!!!!
Well that is all for now, I have been trying to fix my mother's desktop computer all morning, and it seems that it is an electrical issue, so she will have to take it in and get it fixed. I am going to spend another day down on the Strip, and then I am going to go out with one of my Fraternity brothers tonight who lives not too far from my parent's house. Should be good times.
Murtha...
Monday, September 18, 2006
Training on Vacation!!!
Good Morning everyone.
For the first time since I have been on this blog, I am actually posting in the time zone that this blog runs on, Pacific Standard Time.
Well, I am in the wonderful city of Henderson (Las Vegas), Nevada. I decided to come and visit my parents at the last minute. I have not seen them since June when they came to Atlanta for somone's retirement event. Before that, it was last October when I came out here to visit them.
I am sure some of you are thinking that I am "burning the candle at both ends." But it is not so! I think this place is just like any other city in that once you have been here so many times, the stuff gets old after awhile. I mean, sure there is a new something on the strip everytime I come out here, and when I fly in/out of here at night, I can tell by the street lights that the place is getting bigger and bigger. However, it is the same old Las Vegas that I visited in 2002 after my Dad moved out here. I digress.
Yesterday morning I went out in cool 60 degree weather running, man it was cold. Don't get me wrong that is great running weather, but I have been used to morning running attempts of 75-80 degrees in the morning with humidity. Oh yes and humidity, there is none of that here! My throat was ON FIRE on the way back from my loop run through the neighborhoods. On a positive note, there was a nice breeze, and the sky was clear (no pollution, no way!). It was also errily (is that how you spell it?) quiet out there. I am sure it is a bit busier during the week, but my parents are the young ones in a retirement community, so there are not too many people getting up and going to work if you know what I mean.
RUN
23 min 07 sec
Distance: ??? (I will figure that out today)
Pace: ??? (I will calculate that when I get the distance)
Doing just what I did above with my workout recap makes me want to get a Garmin even worse.
Oh and by the way to correct myself, My parents place is not 5000 above sea level, it is just 2500 feet above sea level, but every little bit helps, doesn't it.
It is almost 7:20 now and I am going to go out and run about 8:00 this morning. We went grocery shopping yesterday, and I got stuff to make smoothies and other yummy goodness.
Please look at my other blog, jamurtha80.blogspot.com, in the next day or two if you are even slightly interested in football. I could get used to watching football on the west coast........
Signing off for now,
Murtha...
For the first time since I have been on this blog, I am actually posting in the time zone that this blog runs on, Pacific Standard Time.
Well, I am in the wonderful city of Henderson (Las Vegas), Nevada. I decided to come and visit my parents at the last minute. I have not seen them since June when they came to Atlanta for somone's retirement event. Before that, it was last October when I came out here to visit them.
I am sure some of you are thinking that I am "burning the candle at both ends." But it is not so! I think this place is just like any other city in that once you have been here so many times, the stuff gets old after awhile. I mean, sure there is a new something on the strip everytime I come out here, and when I fly in/out of here at night, I can tell by the street lights that the place is getting bigger and bigger. However, it is the same old Las Vegas that I visited in 2002 after my Dad moved out here. I digress.
Yesterday morning I went out in cool 60 degree weather running, man it was cold. Don't get me wrong that is great running weather, but I have been used to morning running attempts of 75-80 degrees in the morning with humidity. Oh yes and humidity, there is none of that here! My throat was ON FIRE on the way back from my loop run through the neighborhoods. On a positive note, there was a nice breeze, and the sky was clear (no pollution, no way!). It was also errily (is that how you spell it?) quiet out there. I am sure it is a bit busier during the week, but my parents are the young ones in a retirement community, so there are not too many people getting up and going to work if you know what I mean.
RUN
23 min 07 sec
Distance: ??? (I will figure that out today)
Pace: ??? (I will calculate that when I get the distance)
Doing just what I did above with my workout recap makes me want to get a Garmin even worse.
Oh and by the way to correct myself, My parents place is not 5000 above sea level, it is just 2500 feet above sea level, but every little bit helps, doesn't it.
It is almost 7:20 now and I am going to go out and run about 8:00 this morning. We went grocery shopping yesterday, and I got stuff to make smoothies and other yummy goodness.
Please look at my other blog, jamurtha80.blogspot.com, in the next day or two if you are even slightly interested in football. I could get used to watching football on the west coast........
Signing off for now,
Murtha...
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
New Friends, and things to talk about...
Good day to you all,
Raining in Atlanta, so much for trying to ride the bike. Oh well there will be other days, and there is always the spin room at the gym if I really want to hit it (yeah there is a trainer on the long list of things I want for my habit).
Did not work out on Monday, which is usually my day off. Did not work out on Tuesday either. You ask, "wait don't you have an event coming up in 20-some days???"
Answer: Why yes I do! Do I care? No!
I am going to put a swim in tonight at the gym followed by a workout with Jackie there. She is finally on that bandwagon 100% and that is cool.
I gave my blog address to some team in training people that I usually ride with on Thursday evenings, so I wanted to give a shout out to all of them. I cannot remember all of their names, but there has to be 15-20 of them I have met now over the couple of weeks that I have hung out with them. There is even a British guy named Andy that I hung out with this past week. Really cool guy. I would really like to do a team in training event at least once in my life, and this is the group that I think it will happen with, at one time or another.
I forget if i put this in my previous post, but I am too lazy to look at it right now. I am headed to Vegas to see family Saturday through Wednesday, and I am using it as an opportunity to complete some high altitude training in the pool and on the roads.
I am going to put in some serious miles over the next 4 days so that I can stress my body enough to be (somewhat) prepared for a higher altitude. I have had a blister issue for the past week or two, but that is subsiding. My plantar fascia is still acting up, and I am hoping that I can just make it through the next 4 weeks and then I can pull back until it heals. I have been icing it, as well as streching and resting as much as possible. It will only usually act up 1 (sometimes 2) days a week, and then the rest of the week it is fine.
Well that is all I have for now.
Murtha...
Raining in Atlanta, so much for trying to ride the bike. Oh well there will be other days, and there is always the spin room at the gym if I really want to hit it (yeah there is a trainer on the long list of things I want for my habit).
Did not work out on Monday, which is usually my day off. Did not work out on Tuesday either. You ask, "wait don't you have an event coming up in 20-some days???"
Answer: Why yes I do! Do I care? No!
I am going to put a swim in tonight at the gym followed by a workout with Jackie there. She is finally on that bandwagon 100% and that is cool.
I gave my blog address to some team in training people that I usually ride with on Thursday evenings, so I wanted to give a shout out to all of them. I cannot remember all of their names, but there has to be 15-20 of them I have met now over the couple of weeks that I have hung out with them. There is even a British guy named Andy that I hung out with this past week. Really cool guy. I would really like to do a team in training event at least once in my life, and this is the group that I think it will happen with, at one time or another.
I forget if i put this in my previous post, but I am too lazy to look at it right now. I am headed to Vegas to see family Saturday through Wednesday, and I am using it as an opportunity to complete some high altitude training in the pool and on the roads.
I am going to put in some serious miles over the next 4 days so that I can stress my body enough to be (somewhat) prepared for a higher altitude. I have had a blister issue for the past week or two, but that is subsiding. My plantar fascia is still acting up, and I am hoping that I can just make it through the next 4 weeks and then I can pull back until it heals. I have been icing it, as well as streching and resting as much as possible. It will only usually act up 1 (sometimes 2) days a week, and then the rest of the week it is fine.
Well that is all I have for now.
Murtha...
Sunday, September 10, 2006
The Week In Review...
Hi Everyone,
Been gone for a week. Not from home, just from the computer. I had a few friends that I sent my link to, email/call me and ask me if there was anything going on, and why I had not posted anything to my blog. Awwwh, Andy someone cares about you.......
Here are the stats for what I did this week. (Note: There was no swimming/running!!! Bad Andy!!! I just did not feel like doing it. No sense of trying to get out there and put up a good training performance when your mind is not wanting to do it...)
Monday
Bike - Silver Comet Trail
Distance: 36 miles
Total Time: 1hr 56min 37 sec
Avg Speed: 18.5 mph
Thursday
Bike - Brookhaven/Mellow Mushroom
Distance: 19.77 miles
Total Time: 1:08:59
Avg Speed: 17.2 mph
Sunday
Bike - Silver Comet Trail
Distance: 40.04 miles
Total Time: 2 hour 6 min 07 sec
Av Speed: 19.0 mph
Not too much to report, which is weird, due to the fact that I have not been on in over a week. I watched lots of football this season, which means I am going to have to complete my workouts in the morning so that I can have my proverbial cake and eat it too.
Oregon is out of the picture for now, I might do that in October or November. Mostly logistical issues, since I wanted to see both sides of the family, and go out to the ranch. Instead, I am going out to Las Vegas to see my parents. I will use it as an opportunity to do some high altitude training. For those of you who live in Boulder, CO, and other such elevated places, you might think, "Las Vegas, that is not high altitude training." Coming from someone who lives in Atlanta, everything is high altitude training. Not taking my bike, since that would be a $400-$600 affair. Heck I could almost buy another basic road bike (or a used one at that) rather than taking my bike out there.
I was happy with my ride on Sunday, I increased my mileage by about 12% from the previous week, and I was still able to increase my average speed .5 mph. I am attempting to get back into my regular schedule this week as much as possible, and then heading to Las Vegas on Saturday night, coming back in first thing on the morning of the 21st.
Unfortunately, that is all I have for now. I will read everyone's blog today and tomorrow, as well as listening to the next installment of "Get your Geek on!" from Iron Wil and the Big Kahuna.
Catch you guys later...
Been gone for a week. Not from home, just from the computer. I had a few friends that I sent my link to, email/call me and ask me if there was anything going on, and why I had not posted anything to my blog. Awwwh, Andy someone cares about you.......
Here are the stats for what I did this week. (Note: There was no swimming/running!!! Bad Andy!!! I just did not feel like doing it. No sense of trying to get out there and put up a good training performance when your mind is not wanting to do it...)
Monday
Bike - Silver Comet Trail
Distance: 36 miles
Total Time: 1hr 56min 37 sec
Avg Speed: 18.5 mph
Thursday
Bike - Brookhaven/Mellow Mushroom
Distance: 19.77 miles
Total Time: 1:08:59
Avg Speed: 17.2 mph
Sunday
Bike - Silver Comet Trail
Distance: 40.04 miles
Total Time: 2 hour 6 min 07 sec
Av Speed: 19.0 mph
Not too much to report, which is weird, due to the fact that I have not been on in over a week. I watched lots of football this season, which means I am going to have to complete my workouts in the morning so that I can have my proverbial cake and eat it too.
Oregon is out of the picture for now, I might do that in October or November. Mostly logistical issues, since I wanted to see both sides of the family, and go out to the ranch. Instead, I am going out to Las Vegas to see my parents. I will use it as an opportunity to do some high altitude training. For those of you who live in Boulder, CO, and other such elevated places, you might think, "Las Vegas, that is not high altitude training." Coming from someone who lives in Atlanta, everything is high altitude training. Not taking my bike, since that would be a $400-$600 affair. Heck I could almost buy another basic road bike (or a used one at that) rather than taking my bike out there.
I was happy with my ride on Sunday, I increased my mileage by about 12% from the previous week, and I was still able to increase my average speed .5 mph. I am attempting to get back into my regular schedule this week as much as possible, and then heading to Las Vegas on Saturday night, coming back in first thing on the morning of the 21st.
Unfortunately, that is all I have for now. I will read everyone's blog today and tomorrow, as well as listening to the next installment of "Get your Geek on!" from Iron Wil and the Big Kahuna.
Catch you guys later...
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Labor Day Weekend, Lots of physical labor!!!
I hope everyone is enjoying their labor day weekend.
I know I am.
Thursday night I went out on the Brookhaven/Mellow Mushroom Ride with the Team in Training folks. Here are the stats
BIKE
Distance: 19.70 miles
Total Time: 1hr 11min 37 sec
Average: 16.5 Mph
It had just rained about half an hour before the ride, so we had to go slower through the silver lake area than before. I met a new guy named Rob, who was out there for his first time, just moved up from Macon and found a new job in the Atlanta area.
Friday night I went to the Chattahooche river to run a 5K nice and easy.
RUN
Distance: 3.1 miles
Total Time: 30 min 15 seconds
Pace: 9:45 min/mile
I purposely ran slow due to the fact that my plantar fasciia is acting up again. I have been trying to rehab and keep training at the same time, but it is really hard. Saturday I worked and then went to Dragon Con, watched some football (Go DAWGS, go Fighting Irish!!!), and went to see the "Wicker Man."
DO NOT GO SEE THE WICKER MAN!!!! IT IS A HORRIBLE MOVIE!!!
If you really need to see it, at least wait until it comes out on Netflix or Blockbuster so it is cheaper for your to rent, and not to pay $9.00 at the movie theater.
Today's ride was pretty good. It was the last day of the borrowed "Aerobars." NOOOOOOO! I was out at the Silver Comet Trail with Jackie today, but we pretty much did our own thing. Here are my stats for the ride.
BIKE
Distance: 36.04 miles
Total Time: 1hr 56 min 19 sec
Speed: 18.5 Mph
Much better than Thursday's ride, but then again, I was on flat ground. At the pace today, that is about a 3hour and 1 min bike ride for a half iron. Was pretty tired when I got done. Downed 2 GU's, bottle of Gatorade Endurance, and a bottle of Water. I tried the Vanilla and Choclate today. Vanilla was awsome, but the choclate had the consistency of someone putting Duncan Hines choclate frosting in the microwave for about 45 seconds. Taste was good, but consistency was horrible!
Tomorrow will be a 20-30 mile ride, but I am taking it easy with Jackie. Probably going to go on the Thursday night route, to show her something new. I need to get a swim in either today or tomorrow so that I will have something going into this week.
I signed up for the Emerald Pointe Triathlon on October 8th this year. It is also a Sprint Distance Triathlon that is located at Lake Lanier Islands Beach and Water Park. The bike and run portions will go out and around parts of Lake Lanier. I should have a small crowd showing up to that one as well, but not as many people methinks.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend.
Murtha...
I know I am.
Thursday night I went out on the Brookhaven/Mellow Mushroom Ride with the Team in Training folks. Here are the stats
BIKE
Distance: 19.70 miles
Total Time: 1hr 11min 37 sec
Average: 16.5 Mph
It had just rained about half an hour before the ride, so we had to go slower through the silver lake area than before. I met a new guy named Rob, who was out there for his first time, just moved up from Macon and found a new job in the Atlanta area.
Friday night I went to the Chattahooche river to run a 5K nice and easy.
RUN
Distance: 3.1 miles
Total Time: 30 min 15 seconds
Pace: 9:45 min/mile
I purposely ran slow due to the fact that my plantar fasciia is acting up again. I have been trying to rehab and keep training at the same time, but it is really hard. Saturday I worked and then went to Dragon Con, watched some football (Go DAWGS, go Fighting Irish!!!), and went to see the "Wicker Man."
DO NOT GO SEE THE WICKER MAN!!!! IT IS A HORRIBLE MOVIE!!!
If you really need to see it, at least wait until it comes out on Netflix or Blockbuster so it is cheaper for your to rent, and not to pay $9.00 at the movie theater.
Today's ride was pretty good. It was the last day of the borrowed "Aerobars." NOOOOOOO! I was out at the Silver Comet Trail with Jackie today, but we pretty much did our own thing. Here are my stats for the ride.
BIKE
Distance: 36.04 miles
Total Time: 1hr 56 min 19 sec
Speed: 18.5 Mph
Much better than Thursday's ride, but then again, I was on flat ground. At the pace today, that is about a 3hour and 1 min bike ride for a half iron. Was pretty tired when I got done. Downed 2 GU's, bottle of Gatorade Endurance, and a bottle of Water. I tried the Vanilla and Choclate today. Vanilla was awsome, but the choclate had the consistency of someone putting Duncan Hines choclate frosting in the microwave for about 45 seconds. Taste was good, but consistency was horrible!
Tomorrow will be a 20-30 mile ride, but I am taking it easy with Jackie. Probably going to go on the Thursday night route, to show her something new. I need to get a swim in either today or tomorrow so that I will have something going into this week.
I signed up for the Emerald Pointe Triathlon on October 8th this year. It is also a Sprint Distance Triathlon that is located at Lake Lanier Islands Beach and Water Park. The bike and run portions will go out and around parts of Lake Lanier. I should have a small crowd showing up to that one as well, but not as many people methinks.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend.
Murtha...
Friday, September 01, 2006
New Month, Hopefully turning new leaf
Hello Everyone,
It's September!!! Maybe it will finally cool down for everyone, it seems to have already done so for Jessica, Jessi, Bolder, Steven, and numerous others in the morning. Oh and don't forget that our workouts are being ruined by less daylight in the morning and evening. I have a feeling that I will need to add a trainer to my Christmas list, since my job is really going to screw with my bike riding in the winter time (too early to be at work to ride in the morning, too late in the afternoon to get home and do a decent distance (15-20 miles max)).
It is still fairly hot down here in Georgia, but the temperature is in the mid-high 80's rather than the mid-high 90's, so I am happy about that.
I am signing up for the Emerald Pointe Triathlon either tonight or tomorrow. I kind of started my training later this week than I would have liked, but I needed to give myself a break for a few days and recharge my batteries. Last night I did the Brookhaven-Mellow Mushroom loop (x2) I will post the details later. Afterwards, instead of heading into Mellow Mushroom, I went to the gym to work out my chest and back a bit. I only did two workouts, three sets each, but it was better than nothing.
I am hoping today to either get some laps in at the pool, or get some running done. I am also going to have to get up ass early tomorrow morning, or I am going to have to find a way to squeeze in my workout tomorrow, since there is football all day long, as well as Dragon Con occuring from today until Monday night. For those of you who don't know, Dragon Con is one of the biggest gaming/sci-fi/fantasy conventions in the world. I have played Magic: The Gathering, and Warhammer off and on for years, and my buddy is going this weekend, I might just stop on by.
Sun/Mon are both going to be riding days for me, I am upping the mileage. 30 miles one day and 30+ miles the next, not sure how much total... I might even make one of them a brick workout depending on how early I get up both mornings.
I hope everyone has a good holiday weekend. Make sure you train hard, party harder (but not enough to mess up your training for the weekend.). I'll see you on the flip side of this 2 1/2 day weekend (for me, I have to work Saturday morning at the bank).
I guess this means I owe all of you two posts now. One to finish this one off, and another that I have procrastinated for two weeks now. I'll get to it this weekend.
Murtha...
It's September!!! Maybe it will finally cool down for everyone, it seems to have already done so for Jessica, Jessi, Bolder, Steven, and numerous others in the morning. Oh and don't forget that our workouts are being ruined by less daylight in the morning and evening. I have a feeling that I will need to add a trainer to my Christmas list, since my job is really going to screw with my bike riding in the winter time (too early to be at work to ride in the morning, too late in the afternoon to get home and do a decent distance (15-20 miles max)).
It is still fairly hot down here in Georgia, but the temperature is in the mid-high 80's rather than the mid-high 90's, so I am happy about that.
I am signing up for the Emerald Pointe Triathlon either tonight or tomorrow. I kind of started my training later this week than I would have liked, but I needed to give myself a break for a few days and recharge my batteries. Last night I did the Brookhaven-Mellow Mushroom loop (x2) I will post the details later. Afterwards, instead of heading into Mellow Mushroom, I went to the gym to work out my chest and back a bit. I only did two workouts, three sets each, but it was better than nothing.
I am hoping today to either get some laps in at the pool, or get some running done. I am also going to have to get up ass early tomorrow morning, or I am going to have to find a way to squeeze in my workout tomorrow, since there is football all day long, as well as Dragon Con occuring from today until Monday night. For those of you who don't know, Dragon Con is one of the biggest gaming/sci-fi/fantasy conventions in the world. I have played Magic: The Gathering, and Warhammer off and on for years, and my buddy is going this weekend, I might just stop on by.
Sun/Mon are both going to be riding days for me, I am upping the mileage. 30 miles one day and 30+ miles the next, not sure how much total... I might even make one of them a brick workout depending on how early I get up both mornings.
I hope everyone has a good holiday weekend. Make sure you train hard, party harder (but not enough to mess up your training for the weekend.). I'll see you on the flip side of this 2 1/2 day weekend (for me, I have to work Saturday morning at the bank).
I guess this means I owe all of you two posts now. One to finish this one off, and another that I have procrastinated for two weeks now. I'll get to it this weekend.
Murtha...
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Decisions.....Decisions.....
First off I would like to thank everyone that posted to my race report. Theme I need to implement "yesterday" would be POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE. Yes Bolder you are correct, I did PR on that race compared to last year, and in my age group AND overall, I did improve.
Last night was an off night. I looked at everyone's blogs, and read alot of people that headed up to Ironman Canada to race, volunteer, and more importantly get numbers for next year's race. Meagan has the ITU world championships this weekend in Switzerland, and I will be getting up just before 2am Eastern Time to watch her race for Team Canada. What, you ask why I am not cheering for team USA??? Well I do not know anyone from team USA, and I read every post that Meagan puts up on her blog since I have been blogging. Might as well root for someone!
I also had all day (through work and home) to think on my race, and what to do for the rest of the year. I think, from people I know, that is about 50% "your year is done", and about 50% "finish with one more triathlon." I think I have decided to race the Emerald Pointe Triathlon on October 8th this year. It is a Sprint Distance Tri, and right now it looks as if there are less than 200 people that have signed up (as of 8-15-06). There have only been 8 men in my age group that have signed up. I thought, "what the heck, if no one else signs up but me, at least I can be 9th place in my age group (last place!)!"
With respect to training for this event, I am beginning tonight with a ride (Sandy Springs), and I am going to attempt to blow it out of the water, since I have been on a taper for the last few weeks. I am going to change my strategy for this small training period, and do three things.
One: Mix it up a bit. I got into a routine (routine part in general is good) but I ended up doing the same thing every week, just varied my distances as well as my intensities. I am going to add in some speed workouts for running/biking, as well as some hills.
Two: Increase my distances. I think one key thing I am missing is that I am training too close to race distances. If I can increase my mileage to 150% or more of race distance then the race should theoritically be easier, since I will have trained for longer distances than the race itself.
Three: Scout and complete a couple of test runs on the actual course. Lake Lanier is not too far away from me, and I have some people who have boats/lake houses up in that area. It should not be too much trouble to get something going up there a few times before the actual event.
I've got six weeks (minus a couple of days). I improved by just less than two minutes from last year. I really want to try and improve more than two minutes, but heck, lets keep things simple. Let us see if I can beat 1 hour 20 minutes!!! I think I can shave off two minutes in the next six weeks.
Any ideas or suggestions on training tips would be great!!!! Anyone who knows about that Fartlek training, please send me some info or a link somewhere, or email me some workouts if you have done any.
Here is Sunday's workout. Actually it was pretty easy for me. I rode with Jackie, and decided this is was a recovery ride for me, so I would just stick with her. The last two miles I just went ahead and finished. I still have her aerobars on, so I used them for about 1/2-2/3's of the ride. I am going to hate giving those back, but I will have to wait until I can afford some.
BIKE
25.12 miles in 1 hour 41 minutes ?? seconds
~14.8 mph
consumed 1 GU and went through 2 bottles of water ~40 ozs
Signing off...
Murtha...
Last night was an off night. I looked at everyone's blogs, and read alot of people that headed up to Ironman Canada to race, volunteer, and more importantly get numbers for next year's race. Meagan has the ITU world championships this weekend in Switzerland, and I will be getting up just before 2am Eastern Time to watch her race for Team Canada. What, you ask why I am not cheering for team USA??? Well I do not know anyone from team USA, and I read every post that Meagan puts up on her blog since I have been blogging. Might as well root for someone!
I also had all day (through work and home) to think on my race, and what to do for the rest of the year. I think, from people I know, that is about 50% "your year is done", and about 50% "finish with one more triathlon." I think I have decided to race the Emerald Pointe Triathlon on October 8th this year. It is a Sprint Distance Tri, and right now it looks as if there are less than 200 people that have signed up (as of 8-15-06). There have only been 8 men in my age group that have signed up. I thought, "what the heck, if no one else signs up but me, at least I can be 9th place in my age group (last place!)!"
With respect to training for this event, I am beginning tonight with a ride (Sandy Springs), and I am going to attempt to blow it out of the water, since I have been on a taper for the last few weeks. I am going to change my strategy for this small training period, and do three things.
One: Mix it up a bit. I got into a routine (routine part in general is good) but I ended up doing the same thing every week, just varied my distances as well as my intensities. I am going to add in some speed workouts for running/biking, as well as some hills.
Two: Increase my distances. I think one key thing I am missing is that I am training too close to race distances. If I can increase my mileage to 150% or more of race distance then the race should theoritically be easier, since I will have trained for longer distances than the race itself.
Three: Scout and complete a couple of test runs on the actual course. Lake Lanier is not too far away from me, and I have some people who have boats/lake houses up in that area. It should not be too much trouble to get something going up there a few times before the actual event.
I've got six weeks (minus a couple of days). I improved by just less than two minutes from last year. I really want to try and improve more than two minutes, but heck, lets keep things simple. Let us see if I can beat 1 hour 20 minutes!!! I think I can shave off two minutes in the next six weeks.
Any ideas or suggestions on training tips would be great!!!! Anyone who knows about that Fartlek training, please send me some info or a link somewhere, or email me some workouts if you have done any.
Here is Sunday's workout. Actually it was pretty easy for me. I rode with Jackie, and decided this is was a recovery ride for me, so I would just stick with her. The last two miles I just went ahead and finished. I still have her aerobars on, so I used them for about 1/2-2/3's of the ride. I am going to hate giving those back, but I will have to wait until I can afford some.
BIKE
25.12 miles in 1 hour 41 minutes ?? seconds
~14.8 mph
consumed 1 GU and went through 2 bottles of water ~40 ozs
Signing off...
Murtha...
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