YO DUCKS!!

Since I am blogging tonight I should mention them ducks puttin the smack down. YO DUCKS!

Monday-did a long swim. in the water 35 min approximately 17-20 laps. I lost count. lol....then a quick 20 min bike ride on the indoor trainer. P90X ab ripper workout and yes they are sore. Today did a bike workout known as "toes on top" where you concentrate on keeping your toes on the top of your shoe and it removes the mash aspect of the stroke relying on everything else to pedal and I can attest to it. Hammies were fired up, ant tib too. 10 min warm up, 20 min toes on top, and 10 min cool down. Then P90X arms and shoulders pooped too. Tomarrow run, thursday swim, rest fri....long weekend with multidiscipline action.

I can attest to my friends notion that you should exercise a cold. I have and each time I feel better. DO IT.....if you have a fever though seems to me like you shouldnt push through that. Otherwise go for it...

quote:

"No-one can make you feel inferior without your consent"
Eleanor Roosavelt

happy training,,,,happy new year to all!! (I suppose thats you Karl)

So far so good.....

Things are going quite well as far as training goes. Getting more and more into this tri business. Signed up for TRITONMAN-san diego. Officially signed up with USAT with a member number and everything. FEBURARY 21, 2008.
Friday ran some intervals. Finally a serious run. 1 Mile warm-up, 5 X 2 min on/2 min off, 1.3 mile cool down for 4.3 total miles. Saturday 20 min easy swim with sore shoulders from the gloves then a 13 mile bike ride on a very cool trail that I may be hitting every saturday. 1:11:44 covering 13 miles. Today a 15 min "spin" using the indoor trainer and then 4 miles at 10 min/mile pace. Ended up like a 9:50 pace, felt good. Great day to run. No wind barely cold. LOVED IT. Weekly totals:

Swim total time 1:14 covering a distance of 2153 meters or 1.4 miles
Bike total time 2:27 hard to know distance since the inside trainer 13+
Run total time 1:20 covering a distance of 8.3 miles
STRENGTH NONE =)

Do have to do more on the strength. Time and energy spent on christmas and family. This weeks quote:

"If you don't have confidence, you'll always find a way not to win."
- Carl Lewis

this changes for me daily. Proud of it too.

Merry Christmas

Well Merry Christmas. I got some tri stuff. Tri shorts and top, swim gloves (used em today), tri bag with lots of compartments for gear, bike bag, bike pump, indoor bike trainer (soooo sweet) and some apparel. GEARED UP. Since my last post, I put my trainer to use. Yesterday I did a total of 40 min, 10 min warm up on the big ring, 5 intervals of single-leg biking ( 1 min R, recover both, 1 min L) X 5, 1st and 2nd on the big ring, 3-5 on the second chain ring, then ten min cool down. Would you beleive that my core is what wouldnt allow the one-leg biking? WOW that was a challenge. Today swam. (ahhh a christmas swim with my wife.) 4 lap warm-up using my speedo swimming gloves in 8:30 including rest, 7 intervals with times of 0:57, 1:01, 1:07, 1:05, 1:08, 1:12, and 1:08. Then a 2 min cool down in 3:42, 24:38 total. The gloves signifcantly increase shoulder muscle work. Lats and rotator cuff felt the most. Run tomarrow, swim/bike saturday, and bike/run sun. Hope all is well. Hows this for a christmas quote:

"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."
--William Faulkner
Thats why we swim on cristmas.

cold cold cold

cold sucks. this week had rain, snow, and cold. Friday did not get my run secondary to extreme leg soreness from my P90X leg/back workout. BRUTAL. Saturday had an easy 15 min swim, 7 laps followed by a 53:59 bike that was scheduled to be 40 min but ran into some ICE and had to walk the bike a ways so I made up for it. Sunday an easy 15 min bike ride followed by 4 mile run. No details were available secondary to the watch dying before I even started.

WEEKLY TOTALS:
swimming approximately 50 minutes in the pool traveling 1500 meters
Biking 2:15:00 traveling 15 miles
running 45 minutes traveling 4 miles
strength 1 hour legs/back (need more next week)

Overall, decent week. Looking forward to more distance covered. It is after all the first week. With an indoor trainer (that I will get this week) I will be able to be warmer. I'm not liking this cold business. Long swim tomorrow followed by short bike. quote:

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
-Steve Prefontaine, American running legend

what a wierd first week....

My first full week of training and I had to move my days around to avoid the snow. Thats right snow in vegas. Wed night off because of the snow and swim intervals tonight. A workout given to me by my friend Jen who is a club swimming coach. 4 lap warm-up easy pace, then sprint a lap for 1:30, if I finish early then I can rest to until 1:30 then go again X 5, then 2 lap cool down. Lap times were 0:59. 1:10, 1:17, 1:25 (stole extra 15 sec of rest), 1:25 rest 2 min then 2 lap cool down. My swimming is more fluid and I was flying those first couple. My breathing is hard after I turn around. No flip turns they require more practice. Overall Id grade myself a B.

Strength training when I got home. my first offical P90X workout of legs and back and I am Freakin sore. Very challenging. Very functional strength driven, with stability and balance at work the whole time. Looking forward to more challenging workouts with my DVD's.

Tomarrow Intervals running (if my legs will allow). Im shooting for 5 Intervals with a mile warm-up and mile cool down. Then saturday short swim and long bike, then sunday short bike long run. Then post =)......

"Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can."

Lowell Thomas:

Getting Settled In

I am getting settled in with my training schedule. Yesterday I began the push for Tritonman. A sprint triathlon February 21, 2009 in San Diego. It actually is the location of the first triathlon ever. What a place to start my triathlon career. Yesterday i did a 600 meter time trial in the water. A slow 19:29. I rested a few minutes of that 19 but overall it went well. I missed last weeks swim while recovering from Vegas and felt it in the water. Today I have already been to spin class to get some warm weather (inside) biking going. That will be my routine for tuesdays. Tomarrow I will run intervals. Speaking of running, Julie and I are seriously considering running the Surf City half marathon. It would be tight fit but I think we can make it fit.

I found a diary for triathletes that was written by Joe Friel, the guy who wrote the book I read on traithlons. Its really cool. Lots of details to record that I will be able to look back on and analyze. ALso, it will help me post this blog because it can serve as a template. I find it hard to make time to blog. I am trying to get better at it....SWEET....I want to start ending this posts with quotes here is my first one:

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."
-John Bingham, running speaker and writer

I just realized something

After thinking about the details of the timing of the race I realized that I never did figure out what my first 10K time was. When I add up the times I had a negative split!! About 2 min faster on the last half then the first half. Pretty cool.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

here are the official results:

Ron Jr 2:13:08
Julie 2:18:35
Ron Sr 2:19:29

To answer Karls question how did I feel the last 3 miles? I felt like I could keep going but probably not that fast. I tried to step up and shoot for under 10 min miles but the water stations slowed me down. With more experience I will do better. (obviously)

UNofficial results are in

Ahhh the Las Vegas 1/2 marathon was over in a flash. A lot of people big, small, short, tall, elite, not-so-elite were there. Its the people that make a good race. Of the people close to me who were running I finished first. My poor wife was sick this week with a gnarley bug of some sort. It takes her being real sick for me to beat her. But she gutted her way through it and I am very proud of her because it wouldnt have been real easy to quit. My dad did his best and he also had a PR. He did quite well considering he did not know how to speed train. Hes got guts. Art poor guy wasnt prepared. For as good a runner as he is he could have demolished me but on this day I was faster. Unofficially I had a 2:12:29 on my watch. Mile splits are as follows:

10:23
10:16
10:04
10:13
10:03
9:55
10:21
10:08
9:50
10:09
10:17
9:56
10:07
40 sec tenth with a max speed of 7:21 pace

I had trouble wtih the people in the beginning. Weaving in and out. I tried to make up for it and just couldnt keep my pace up. The water stations allowed for slight walking but otherwise no walking. Overall I am very happy. I wanted 2:10, I wanted to maintain a 10 min/mile pace and achieved 10:07. Not bad for my first half some 18 min slower and walking those 18 min. Triathlon training begins. This week we pick a race and start official training (easy runing Karl) prolly next week.

2 CA RUNS

So sorry for the lack of posts but here we go....after my 11 miler I did a recovery run...thurs a turkey day 4 miler, including 2 mile up and 2 mile down in Murietta, CA. Averages 10 min miles.

Sunday 6 miles and ave 10:20 on the same route. 3 laps around a 2 mile loop in 1:07. The hill was 6% grade and I kicked its ass. Very pleased with my pacing.

So far I am happy to report that Vegas is a few days away and I cant wait to see how I perform. Can I do it in under 2:10? Will I even push it to 2:05?

big 11 miler

I did better with pacing yesterday during my big 11 miler.....here are my mile times....
9:53 ( a little fast)
10:26(slight uphill)
10:02 (slight downhill)
10:02 (slight downhill)
9:58 (downhill)
10:10 (slight uphill)
10:18 (UPHILL)
11:40 (UPHILL)
12:29 (pooped....big uphill)
13:25
12:59
so I did better with my pacing. My legs got tired on a downhill and then couldnt answer the uphill challenge for the rest. The good news is I went 11 miles and for about 7 of them I was on pace. I hope I can keep it up for the race. The good news is my time for this 11 compared to my time for disneyland (3-4 months ago) was 15 min faster. WOW.....

I swam today. 25 laps in 40 minutes. I couldnt get my flip turn in. Water in my nose and ears messed with my head and breathing. In case you think in meters that is 1250 meters. A sprint is 500-600 depending on the race. I cant wait for a sprint.....im ready.

A THOUGHT: Is it possible non-fat chocolate milk has the same physiological response as gatorade? I read that in a few unrelated places....talk amongst yourselves.

INexperience rears its ugly head

ok here are my mile splits from my run today.....

9:16
9:34
9:38
9:52
9:45
10:13 (10K of 58 minutes and some change)
13:49
12:44
13:17
10:04

Did I go out a little fast? LOL...WOW...Karl I am sure your laughing. I have a good mile time on Saturday which gives me info on whether or not I am on pace for my goal at Vegas. Im more than on pace I just dont know what to do with it....LOL. After reanalyzing the info provided my VDot I am going about this long run all wrong. I need to slow down a bit. Turn it on for the race. Funny....

My dad is running his mile time trial to find his pace on Tuesday. Then we will see where him and I are in preparation for Vegas. We want to pull each other to sub 2:10.

Watched the Ironman lake placid, NY this morning and I am pumped for the next push to multisporting. Also had a very encouraging conversation with my wife about the whole thing too. Full speed ahead after Vegas. After Vegas we will begin an official program to get ready for a spint. Where she goes from there she doesnt know. Im looking forward to 2009 even more fit than 2008.

THIS WAS WORTH A QUICK POST:

vdot equivalents
race	time
m	7:17
1600 m	7:49
mile	7:52
3000 m	15:28
3200 m	16:34
2 mi	16:40
5000 m	26:31
5 mi	43:43
10 k	55:04
15 k	1:24:51
10 mi	1:31:27
half	2:02:04
marathon	4:11:51

THIS WAS WORTH A QUICK POST:

You may also enter vdot value directly.

vdot:

Type		mile	1600m	1200m	1000	800	400	200
Easy/Long	E/L	11:06	11:02		6:54		2:46
Marathon	M	9:36	9:33		5:58		2:23
Threshold	T	8:58	8:55		5:35		2:14
Interval	I	8:17	8:14	6:11	5:09	4:07	2:04
Repetition	R					3:57	1:57	58

This table shows the recommended running training paces for someone with a current vdot of 35.73. For more information about the types of training referenced, see here.

These values are derived from Daniels' Running Formula, 2nd edition. Note that the new E/L paces are

a little lazy....

This weekends softball tournament took it out of me. We did ok, 3-2 but it took its toll. I got my run in on Sunday but it was miserable. Wind, cold...I was tired and very sore. I didn't nourish either so I was hungry. I did the same run as last week but in reverse I knew I didnt have the hills in me. Chose sleep on monday am instead of long swim, and julie and I talked ourselves out of recovery run in lieu of dinner and a movie no tuesday (madagascar 2....really funny.) Rest again on wednessday, but run today. 3.14 miles in 30 min with a couple of hills. My plan is saturday to do a time trial of 1 mile and plug it into a formula that will give me an idea if I am ready to keep my goal pace at Vegas. Softball tonight, my last week for a while.

1/2 of my "followers" require some definitions and I hope this helps if it doesnt let me know.
Sprint triathlon=0.5 miles swim, 12 mile bike, and 5K (3.1 miles)
olympic distance= 0.75 mie swim, 25 mile bike, and 10K
1/2 iron man or silverman= 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 1/2 marathon 13.1 miles
full iron man or silverman=2.2 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and full marathon 26.2 mile run
silver man vs. iron man is the same as coke and pepsi
intervals are a speed workout designed to work at a hard pace for shorter times but slowly build the amount of times you go faster
hope that helps stevo......

The silverman of nevada was here this weekend and is was rough. My goal was shaken since it will be grueling. The swim was postponed an hour and a half for wind and rain. The lake was very very choppy. The ride was cold, wet, and windy....most cant prepare for that. Utter misery. What they will have to be sure of is training for hills on that bike. Boy narley hills and lots of them. Winds through henderson via prominant hills. The run a 13.1 mile loop around the GVR/Multigenerational center. if you did the full-2 times around. Very steep hills. I want to run them myslf to put the garmin (my GPS watch aka my virtual partner) to work and figure the hill details. I realized that my times and expectations cant be with the top amatuers (yes there are pros there) but with my fellow clydesdales. A clydesdale is a racer over 200 pounds and they have a special category for us since we cant compete wtih the little guys of the world. The clydesdale winner will race a sub 6 hour 1/2 silverman (5:55 to be exact). He swam for 40 min, bike for 3;20, and ran a 1:30 min 1/2 marathon with transitions in between. Some 45 min to an hour behind the overall winner. Now I will be happy to finish...Just to DO it.

midweek....

Mondays swim was ok....16 laps in 30 min. Roughly a 1/2 mile. I am nearly ready for a sprint. Some fellow sprinters tell me I am ready. I ran across an easy sprint called the turkey tri and I think I could do it. My problem is its too close to vegas. At vegas I have a goal in mind sub 2:10 and possibly 2:05. So cooler heads may prevail and concentrate on vegas. There wont be enough recovery time for the 1/2 marathon. Nice and easy recovery run this a.m.. Softball tonight...may be spin class tomarrow...dunno.

What a week...

Since my last entry I have been up to a lot. Last saturdays ride didnt turn out to be that much since Julie is focused on the Vegas run than multisporting. So a nice and easy 2 miles to the gym for an easy swim and 2 miles back.

Sunday-A long run of 8 miles. Slow since Julie and I are working out some wrinkles in our "training." But logged the miles.
Monday-Long swim.....600 meters in 24:51 and I performed 21/2 laps without stopping. The technique is coming along and I am feeling more comfortable in the water. Later that night recovery run of 3 miles in 29 min. Funny how I hardly sweat and no real challenge to a 3 miler. That used to be a long run for me.
Tuesday-No cardio only softball
Wednesday-Intervals.....boy what a challenge they are. Warm-up 1 mile...5 intervals of 2 min on/ 2 min off finish off with close to a mile. A total of 4 miles (3.88 to be exact) with an ave pace per interval as 8:01/mi, 8:33/mi, 9:35/mi (up hill), 9:45/mi (up a steeper hill), 8:55/mi......burned 791 calories total. Whew...legs pooped...cardiovascular system not threatened.
Thursday-Funny story....Julie and I decided to sleep in and wait till friday for training run.
Friday-(according to my virtual partner) 4.1 mile out ant back. up hill 2 miles, back down hill 2 miles. Total time 39:58. Mile times 9:43, 10:19, 9:41, 9:26, and 47 sec for that last tenth. Need to set the watch to stop when I stop at traffic lights. Had a long stop during that 2nd mile and screwed up my speed numbers. although slight; a negative split.
Saturday: The red rock loop on a bike. I had the opportunity to pick the brain of a more experienced rider named Jake. He took my out to red rock and we played with changing gears and climbs. Boy they were some climbs. Again the cardio was there...my legs not so much. I walked a good part of the hardest climb because I physically couldnt push my legs. I dont have clips and that may not be good for force transfer. When I am ready I am going to take Jake back out there and hang with him.
I had a watch issue and it only recorded 11.13 miles of the over 13 mile journey. I did reach my max speed on a bicycle for me at 27 miles/hr. Pretty scary. A georgous ride with quite a challenge. Afterall I did experience a 12% grade up hill. OUCH. Here is a link to check out some of the ride details. http://bicycling.trimbleoutdoors.co/viewtrip.aspx?tripId=200546

long run tomarrow....long swim on monday....rest of the week to be determined by collection of forces that is sat/sun/mon....

I have thought of this for the last week. I am drawing my line in the sand. 1/2 iron man distance is my goal at next years Silver man. (this years is next weekend and I will be there to witness) Whats a 1/2? a 1.2 mile swim....56 mile bike.....and 13.1 mile run. In order to get ready I want to 2 sprints..one olympic....and then the half at silverman. Check out silvermannv.com for details. Whew im pooped.

boy am I sore.....

My first "recovery and rejuvenation" week as went well. meaning only 2 swims and 2 rides instead of 3 of each. This is my 3rd week of multisporting and my legs are POOOPED. I skipped my running intervals today in lieu of rest. I am still playing softball and staying out late doing that took a lot out of me. Doing cardio just about everyday in some form has taken its toll as well. Yester day I ran 4 easy miles at a bit over my race pace but there are no details since my virtual partner didnt charge his batteries and failed less than 1/2 mile into it.

My leg tone has changed considerably in the last few weeks. I hardly could fit into my jeans because of the change in girth. LOL....funny didnt expect that. I am reading a book called "your first triathlon" by joe Friel, a world renowned tri coach. It was recommended to me when I went to a store called "run, bike, swim." There I learned some interesting facts. Triathletes are there for the "doing" aspect of things. They just want to be out there doing it. Very nice, very helpful, not competing with each other. I like that. In the book I think I will follow the runners program to completing a triathlon. More details to come.....Tomarrow is the first ride for my wife and I and we will also incorporate a swim. I cant wait to hang wtih her.

Whew....I got a bike

Finally I got a road bike. I decided to take advantage of REI's excellent customer service for members and went with them. If I dont like it I take it back at no expense to me. Is it a top of the line bike? No. But I dont need that. It was on clearance and after my ride today I figure this bike is more than I need. I had a great ride. In true Karl fashion my ride details are as such (courtesy of Garmin 205):

ride length: 13.45 miles
Ride time: 1:06:36
Calories burned: 968

I watched the triathlon called the "Ironman" at Kona, Hi on TV every year as a kid and thought I cant do that. That is not my thing. I dont have the body for that. It turns out I didnt have the discipline or the mental toughness. Now am I signed up for Kona? uhhh no. This is the world series of tris. It is a 2.4 mile (3.86 km) ocean swim in Kailua-Kona Bay, a 112 mile (180 km) bike ride across the Hawaiian lava desert to Hawi and back, and a marathon (26.2 mile, 42.2 km) along the coast of the Big Island (from Keauhou to Keahole Point to Kailua-Kona); finishing on Ali'i Drive. But then again I never thought Id run a half marathon either. Yeah did that. In fact 3 in 2008 (with vegas coming up). Palos Verdes (long Beach, CA), disneyland, and vegas. Now I am running at a less than 10 min/mile pace around 9:40. Now the folks spilling over from Karls friends/family will not be impressed by that time, however, you must know that palos verdes was finished in 2:29:43. Improving my time to sub 2:10:00 around 2:08:00. My goal will be sub 2:10.

Ive been swimming too. For 2 weeks now I have been puttin in some swimming. Yesterday completed 500 meters for my long swim for the week in 24 min or so. Not bad since I haven swam a lap since pre-highschool. What will help is taking a "masters" swimming class at the local communtiy center. Once I a comfortable with the swim. Im in...lets do this.

I started looking at potential tris and I have no plans for a race. Its more about training right now.