swimming, biking, rain...

apologies for the gap in posts... 

I've been very consistent about getting my swim workouts in.  With a week to go in the month of march I have 88400 yards logged.  Looks like I should easily cruise past 100,000 for the month.  I've also been picking up the bike workouts.  I had two nice 3-hour rides with Kent last weekend, then a solid 2-hour ride on Wednesday evening and a local road race today.  Good times.  Monday morning I test my foot on an outdoor run for the first time in a month and a half.  Four underwater-treadmill runs over the last two weeks have gone well.  I guess I'm cautiously optimistic...

I think I'll swim the 500 at the mid-April masters swim meet in Federal Way.  It will be cool to race in the pool again and useful to see where I'm at relative to the USAT Developmental Team cut times.  The "B" cut is 5:18 and the "A" cut is 5:01.  I expect to be somewhere in between.

After the bike race today I had some fun at the pool.  I was just going to do some long-stroke/technique work but then I found my fins in the car.  Mwah hah ha...  I threw in 5x200 K and 5x200 S, both sets descending on a 2:40 send-off.  I was amazed at how quickly I could cruise through the water with the flippers.  Some of it was just perception, as my head was up out of the water... but I had this killer wake trailing behind me.  For those who love keeping score at home, my kick 200s went from 2:29 down to 2:16 and my swims went from 2:16 down to 1:55.  Tucking into a streamline and kicking the length of the pool before coming up for a breath and flip-turn... a very cool feeling...

I am signed up for the first few Tri-California races but I'm holding off on Honolulu Cup plans until I see how my foot feels as I start re-building the run.  I got a letter from the Philadelphia Triathlon the other day and I'm thinking I'll sign up.  I've heard great things about the race and it will be a good excuse to see my grandparents (and maybe my brothers, too - DC ain't far from there).

3.5 weeks until I head to Austin for a 5-day minicamp with Markie V, Freer, Don and whoever else wants to join us.  It's gonna be fantastic...

I will leave you, as always, with a picture of fruit.  This is from last Saturday - I just hadn't gotten aorund to posting it yet.  I've managed to start a "Produce Club" at my office.  I got this comercial top-load display fridge from my uncle and we have an Honor System about keeping it stocked - if you eat fruit, but fruit from time to time.  We'll see how it goes, but it's a good group of folks so I doubt we'll have understocking issues.  Anyways, the pin-up picture, appropriate for your locker or closet door or whatnot:

more swimming... doctor checkup tomorrow

I swam 6 out of 7 days this week.  Not too shabby.  Also got in some good lifting sessions.  Watched a bike race.  Attended a charity auction for the Marymoor Velodrome and continued to get ready for the BikeWorks auction next week.

Excellent produce run today: strawberries, bananas, oranges, apples, pistachios, tomatoes, avocados, a green pepper, broccoli, some organic spinach, a can of tomato paste, two cans of beans, two zucchinis and a bag of craisins.  Fabulous...

This week's workouts:

Mon 5 Mar: 2hrs worth of bike commuting; 45min swim
Tue 6 Mar: 45min on the exercise bike; upper-body lifting; 1500yd shakeout swim
Wed 7 Mar: solo swim workout (3650 yds); PT
Thu 8 Mar: 4k siwm including a ladder of steady swimming at 1:20 base and 100 repeats at 1:10 (1500 worth of each)
Fri 9 Mar: late-night computrainer session watching The Usual Suspects... 1:45 of ride time... plus some ankle & foot exercsies afterwards
Sat 10 Mar: ez 45min ride at Mason Lake while watching Jessi; upper- and lower-body lifting; 1k shakeout swim
Sun 11 Mar: 4k swim

produce time again

It is Sunday and you know what that means - time to buy this week's load of delicious fruits and vegetables.  In an effort to branch out a bit more this week I went to the QFC in Woodinville where my uncle manages the produce department.  Aww yeah...

From the top, we have Fuji apples, a sweet chunk of pineapple (he showed me their coring machine in the back), four zucchinis, four texas pink/red grapefruits (sweeter than the florida kind), 3 organic yams, 3 cucumbers, some bell peppers (on sale!), a bunch of organic carrots, some organic bananas, a small pile of blueberries and two mangoes (also on sale!).  If I can figure out the recipe then we're gonna have Mango Sticky Rice tonight at the homestead.

Here is my training log from the last week.  On Tuesday Dr Adams advised me to not run or bike until we get my foot figured out.  I went in for an MRI on Tuesday night and I am eagerly awaiting my follow-up appointment to discuss the results.  Due to the Presidents Day holiday tomorrow I am stuck waiting until Tuesday.  I've been dealing with the forced downtime via a few coping mechanisms:

• See the downtime as a healthy opportunity to not be so focused on all training, all the time... catch up on some household chores... I sepnt this morning pulling weeds!  Maybe pull out the guitar again a bit more regularly...
• Keep doing "non-right-foot" exercises, like the handcycle at the gym, one-legging it on the exercise bike or indoor trainer, swimming with one-footed push-offs and lots of lifting.  Although I've been lifting somewhat regularly I don't think I'd been hitting it hard enough (or consistently enough) to get a real benefit.  These changes in my training should show some kind of results, just by getting my out of my normal routine.
• I played poker at Tulalip with my friend Ashwin twice this week.  I generally go about once every month or two but without being able to put in the heavy training volume I have a bit more time and don't need as much sleep...  it sort of helps fill the void

So anyways, the log:

Tue: ez 2hr on Computrainer watching a movie - this was before I went to see the doc.  Masters swim in the evening, using only my left foot to push off

Wed: 30min of handcycle, upper body strength work, 2k swim w/ one-legged push-offs

Thu: an hour of one-legged biking on the exercise bike at the gym; lower-body lifting; 2k ez swim

Fri: another 30min on the handcycle; some core strength work; heavier upper-body lifting than I'd been doing; 2k shakeout swim

Sat: an hour on the computrainer at 125-150W, using just my left leg; 3k-ish swim with some moderate intensity

Sun: recovery day... some gardening and other household errands...

a week of training, a week of produce

Last week was a bit of an easier week since Jessi & I took a vacation to San Francisco.  It came at a good time since I was due for some recovery days and my right foot has been hurting since last Sunday's long run.  Anyhow, first the summary of last week, then the produce, then today's workouts.

Mon 5 Feb: 8-mile ez run in bridle trails

Tue 6 Feb: 9.5-mile ez run in bridle trails; masters swim workout

Wed 7 Feb: 45-minute ez spin on trainer; group run workout: 6x stairclimbs up Capitol Hill.  Roughly 300 stairs per rep.  Fun times!

Thu 8 Feb: 3k ez solo swim; airplane ride

Fri 9 Feb: 30min ez on the exercise bike, some strength work

Sat 10 Feb: fun ride on a rented tandem w/ Jessi - we went over the Golden Gate Bridge and whatnot...

Sun 11 Feb: ez 4-mile run with Jessi, some core strength work, another airplane ride

Sunday Night I made what is becoming my weekly Produce Run.  Every since reading Loren Cordain & Joe Friel's Paleo Diet for Athletes I've been eating a lot more produce.  So every week I buy about 10 pounds of whatever looks good.  Always lots of bananas... then usually some apples and oranges - Fuji apples have been good this year...  then maybe some pears or strawberries or avocados...  I may make the Produce Picture a weekly feature on here and see where it goes.

  

Alright, with that out of the way, today's workout:

Mon 12 Feb: woke up early to get in a 4500yd swim & 2hr bike ride before work...  then I got to buy a new set of tires for my car - they're more expensive than bike tires - and set up an appoinment with the doc tomorrow to check out my foot.  Hopefully it will be something minor that will heal quickly.