Category: Overall

Training Day #49

What a Swim Day!

What can I say about today that I can’t say of an unplanned day? So today was an interesting day! It started off to a slow start. I got up 30 minutes later and only left 5 minutes after I usually do. Due to the weather, I hit some unexpected traffic and didn’t get to the gym till 8:30. This is where my previous comments about preparing the night before hit me. I did not realize that I had taken my towel to swap out during my Monday swim session. (My wife even asked me last night if I packed a towel! SMH…) All I had were the clothes I had on, the ones for school, and a small sweat towel. I knew a target was nearby and a school clothing shop, but I only had time to stop at one. You guess it I chose wrong and the school store didn’t have a towel. So I ended up just using the small towel I had. It all worked out ok!

So for the swim workout, today was a leisurely swim. It started with 200 yards of warmup of mixed swimming followed by the main exercise of 4x 200-yard freestyle swim. Then concluded the workout with 200 yards of cool down. All in all, about 1200 yards of total swimming: I began the warmup with a mix of freestyle for 100 yards and backstroke for 100 yards. This was overall a good start. The 200-yard repeats went well, averaging about 2:09 minutes per yard. I felt like I was getting a good breathing rhythm and could go forever. The cooldown was uneventful just repeated the warmup with 100 yards of freestyle and 100 yards of backstroke. I rotated the exercise every 50 yards.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Always listen to your spouse when packing the night prior! It will save you some time.
  2. Even when things don’t go to plan, make the best of it and get your workout in!

Training Statistics:

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
00:28:29
hours
00:25:44
hours
0.68
mi.
2:21
min/100m
1:51
min/100m
0.00
ft.
241
kcal

Training Day #48

Easy Bike Day!!

Today is Easy Bike Day. That is what is on the training schedule—sixty-loving minutes of enjoying the fall temperatures and scenery. The goal of this ride is to keep my pedal cadence around 80 to 90 RPM during the ride and to remain around Zone 1. Like I have said in a previous post, I have a hard time staying in Zone 1. I don’t feel that I get anything out of it. So, honestly, I saw around an hour of easy riding and took off riding. I chose a better route this morning that has lower traffic in the mornings, which was great. I also mostly made right-hand turns except for one, I believe.

When I started my ride this morning, I decided to keep my RPM around 80. Because during my last ride, it seemed that I would lose a lot of momentum as I climbed up hills. It made me more tired, and I seemed to work harder. As I looked at other people’s statistics on their rides, I saw that many people were able to keep their speeds around 20 MPH. Right now, I’m consistently around 12 to 13 MPH per ride. So I wanted to know if this is one of the secrets.

Overall, the ride was delightful and relaxing. I kept my RPM around 80 and made an effort to keep my RPM the same as I climbed some hills. It did help a lot, and I felt that I didn’t lose as much speed as I have historically. Now, this didn’t change my average rate by much, around 14.5 MPH. However, I did have a few stops at red lights. Only time will tell.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Keeping a consistent RPM help reduce fatigue and speed lost during climbs (at least from my limited experience).
  2. Enjoy the ride and the scenery!

Training Statistics:

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
00:56:15
hours
00:53:31
hours
12.96
mi.
14.53
mph
27.51
mph
460.96
ft.
647
kcal

Training Day #47

Monday, Swim Day!!!

I can tell you that preparing for the training session the night before is key for continuing to stay motivated for my training. The training schedule had a benchmark for today which consisted of 300 yards mixed warm-up, 5x 50-yard freestyle swim with a 15-second rest in between, 400 yards of freestyle swim, and 2x 25 yard mixed swim. Then a cooldown of 150 yards freestyle swim. I was excited for this swim because I got some new gear to try out, a swim cap and tri-shorts.

This morning was off to a slow start. I got to the pool about 30 minutes later than usual. This made me rush to the pool and forgot my swim cap for the first 300 yards. After the warm-up, I took a short break to grab my swim cap because we were moved from one pool to another due to swim classes. After the short break, the swim went according to the plan. This workout felt great, and I got into a good rhythm of breathing and swimming.

Every week, I feel like I’m getting fitter and faster. All I am shooting for is 1% improvement.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Packing your bag the night before relieves stress and reduces forgetfulness.
  2. Swim with new gear during training to get use to the way it fits and functions.

Training Statistics:

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
00:34:49
hours
00:24:32
hours
0.65
mi.
2:20
min/100m
0:07
min/100m
0.00
ft.
225
kcal

 

Training Day #44

A Few Detours!!

Well, today’s bike ride was an interesting one. The training plan call for a long bike ride. This would be my longest bike ride so far in my training plan! I have been choosing my routes through Strava to see where most people are riding in my local area. I chose a course that is relatively low-traffic, except for one portion at the very beginning. Unfortunately, it is a stretch of about 1/8th of a mile, and I would have to make a left-hand turn into traffic. This turned out to be as hard as I thought it would be.

I started my ride with my freshly tuned bike from the shop. I dropped it off on Monday afternoon and didn’t expect to pick it up for at least a week. However, on Wednesday, I got a call from the shop saying it was ready. This was great because I didn’t have to miss a bike workout.

Anyway, I started my ride with basically a brand new bike. Once I got to the high traffic portion, I got on the road, but the traffic was too heavy for me to turn left without stopping traffic. So I chose to continue my ride and took the next right-hand turn. This allowed me to turn around and go with the traffic flow to take the road on a right-hand turn. This slight detour allowed me a safer option. Overall this ride provides great hills and scenery. I did get turned around once where I missed a turn, but I caught it pretty quickly.

This ride was a great learning experience of riding in heavy traffic and how to make it safer for myself and other drivers.

This will be the last update until Monday. I’ll be taking off the next two days of training. See you Monday!

Key Takeaways:

  1. Stay away from heavy traffic roads during commuting times!
  2. If you have to take a route with heavy traffic, try to make turns with traffic and not against it!

Training Statistics:

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
00:56:15
hours
00:53:31
hours
12.96
mi.
14.53
mph
27.51
mph
460.96
ft.
647
kcal

Training Day #42

Coffee Run!!

Run day is always my favorite day!!! Just kidding, it isn’t. I don’t like running, but I do enjoy it after it is completed. I think that I mainly because of the endorphins that I get after the workout. I just feel great. This workout routine was a Fartlek. If you don’t know what a Fartlek is, click the word for an article that explains it. However, it is running various distances and speeds and various times. It is meant to improve your speed like sprints.

So, I ended up running to the local Food Lion and back. I started with an HR Zone 1 run for 5 minutes. Then the fartlek began with 4 minutes HR Zone 2 followed by a 3 minute Zone 3. Then a 2-minute recovery jog. I walked a little for this recovery because I was in a little higher zones than my plan. The main fartlek was 4repetitionss of 2 minutes in Zone 3 followed by a 1 minute Zone 1. then 2 minutes in Zone 4 followed by a 1 minute Zone 1. So the cooldown was around 6 minutes in Zone 1.

Overall, this workout was great. It kicked my butt, to be honest. Although, I did grab a bag of coffee at Food Lion to ensure I had a fresh cup when I got home!!

Key takeaways:

  1. These are great to keep my workouts interesting, but they can be challenging.
  2. Make sure you have coffee before you get home for the day, so you don’t have to go for a literal coffee run!!

Training Statistics:

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
00:45:30
hours
00:37:38
hours
3.06
mi.
12:19
min/mile
5:50
min/mile
92.52
ft.
348
kcal

Training Day #41

Swim Day!

It seems that I missed two swim workouts last week due to my schedule not populating correctly on my calendar. However, I’m got back to the pool today! The swim routine was an easy day to build some distance consistently. The workout started with 200 yards of mixed warm-up. The main portion was 200 yards freestyle with a 30-second rest between each repetition. Then a mixed cool-down swim of another 200 yards.

It seems that my watch is not counting my laps correctly because it also tells me I have finished 200 yards, about 15 yards short of the end of the pool. Other than that, this workout was pretty good. I felt great for the entire routine. After my 200 yards warm-up, I did 5x 200 yard swims with the last 100 yards using paddles to work on my form and pull on my strokes. There was a 20-second rest between each 200-yard repetition.  I wanted to use the paddles for more of my main workout, but they seemed to fall apart during early attempts to use them. I have been using the equipment at my school, but I believe it is time to invest in my kit to ensure I get the correct size and function.   My cool-down consisted of using the kickboard to work on my kick for 200 yards.

Overall, I felt perfect for this routine. This swim distance was my longest swim so far.

Key Takeaways:

  1. I need to invest in my swim gear, like paddles and fins.
  2. Eliminating stressors before your training week helps keep you focused on training.

Training Statistics:

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
00:51:27
hours
00:37:54
hours
0.80
mi.
2:58
min/100m
0:12
min/100m
0.00
ft.
274
kcal

Training Day #40

Retaining Motivation #2

Remember the time where I said don’t miss more than two days of a routine. I do because I slide my Brick Workout to Sunday. It has been a jam-packed weekend. My daughter had softball practice on Saturday, and I can’t seem to get back on my routine. On top of that, I realized my workout schedule was messed up, and I missed two swim days last week. There weren’t populating on my schedule, so I assumed they were rest days. Well, here goes to learning!

So today, I did my Brick that was scheduled for yesterday. My motivation to get out of bed was rough, but my wife kicked me out after my alarm continued to go off for an hour. I got up, took care of my daughter, and drank a nice cup of coffee. After my wife got up, I got myself ready and motivated to go!

The Brick consisted of 60 minutes of the bike with varying intensities for 20 minutes, then a steady HR Zone 3 for 30 minutes and HR Zone 1 for 10 minutes. This was a good ride. I still need to get my bike tuned. Overall, it was a lovely day, and the ride was great. I did 13.58 miles in a little over an hour. For the upcoming race, it will be 20 miles.

I ended the bike ride at my house, then changed my shoes and left. I haven’t timed myself in the transition and wasn’t trying to go fast. I started on my run more quickly than I wanted at about 09:30 min/mile pace and slowed back to around 10:00 min/mile pace. The run focused on a high HR in Zone 3 due to the transition. I tried to maintain this for about 10 minutes. The last 10 minutes was to run in HR Zone 1, which I find very hard to do without just walking.  I ended the run with a 5 minute cool down. I finished running with about 2.49 miles in about 25:09 minutes.

This marks the second brick workout I have completed and the last one before my race. The goal of the race is to finish! This next week comes a new week and a new chance to keep to my routine.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Life happens, and family is essential. So don’t worry about rescheduling or skipping. Just keep in mind the “Two-Day Rule.”
  2. Schedule time to maintain your equipment! I need to go drop off my bike before it is too late!

Training Statistics:

Bike

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
01:02:08
hours
00:59:12
hours
13.58
mi.
13.76
mph
27.96
mph
500.98
ft.
692
kcal

Run

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
00:25:09
hours
00:25:09
hours
2.49
mi.
10:05
min/mile
7:53
min/mile
73.16
ft.
298
kcal

Training Day #38

Retaining Motivation

After missing two training days and having four days off, it was hard to get the motivation back to pick up my training. When I have periods of not working toward my goals, i.e., triathlon training, it reminds me of a video by Matt D’Avella explaining his “Two-Day Rule.”  He explains that he doesn’t take more than two days off from working out or skipping one of his routines. The theory is that if he takes more than two days, then his motivation or likelihood to continue the habit dramatically diminishes. This concept definitely hit home for me! Go ahead and watch the video!

So back to the triathlon training! Today was an easy run day according to the training calendar. The workout consists of a warmup for 5 to 15 minutes, a 30-minute run, and a 5 to 10 minute cool down. After reconfiguring my heart rate (HR) zones on my Garmin Forerunner a few days ago, I tried to use this as a basis for my workout. The 30-minute run goal was to remain in my HR zone 1 (130-144 bpm). For me, this is hard to do without just walking the entire time. However, I tried my best. I averaged around 158 bpm. I stayed in the zone for about 10 minutes of the start of my workout and then hovered around 150. The end of my training was all uphill, so naturally, my HR increased.

Overall, this was a low-effort workout to get back into the groove of things and restart my two-day rule. I have found that if I kept going even if it is just to say I did something, my motivation to continue remains high, and my habits don’t break down. So here’s to continuing my training!

Key Takeaways:

  1. Don’t skip more than two days of workouts in a row! (“Two Day Rule” by Matt D’Avella)
  2. Sometimes the HR Zones are just suggestions, do what you feel is the correct zone.

Training Statistics:

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
00:38:49
hours
00:38:37
hours
2.81
mi.
13:46
min/mile
7:27
min/mile
101.05
ft.
336
kcal