Well I said that I was going to update this more often but apparently that was a lie!
Now to bring you up to date. I have done a little swimming virtually no running and have been spending almost every night on my mountain bike for the last week. You see I have gone and fallen madly and deeply in love with mountain biking again!
I know I know this is suppose to be about my triathlon training and it still will be but I think that I am going to have to edit my blog to bigmantri and mtb. I just can't really figure out why I stopped riding a few years back. All I know now is that I want to do more. I have been out Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday night this week! The only reason that I am not going tomorrow night is because I still need to swim.
I have my first try-a-tri in two weeks and I totally looking forward to it. I have really been down on myself because of my performances in the pool but maybe doing my first tri is what I need to get my motivation back. I really do hope so because I really enjoy my swimming, running and road riding. I just think for the summer my mountain biking will really take over for my riding days. Honestly it is just as good a work out. I will have to ride the road bike to work on my form and my cadence mainly because it is quite a bit diffrent. But I think that the mountain biking will help me out with my muscle and power.
Now what does this mean for this blog? Well I'm think it will still be mostly about my tri training but there will probably be a whole bunch in here about my mountain biking too. It will basically be my training and my adventures outdoors doing 4 things that I love to do!
So I hope that you stick around for the ride!
SYL
Zap
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
One Month Later
Ok so it has been a little more than a month since I last wrote in here and that is for a pretty poor reason.
I haven't exactly been the poster child for tri training in the last month. I have done a little running and a little running and even a little swimming. But all in all I haven't been doing close to enough.
So here I am again. I am starting from my week 8 training schedule and then I am in my first triathlon on June 6th.
I will be back to making regular updates here to keep you up on what has been happening in my exciting world.
Today I did a 4ooM swim doing 25Mx16 with 10 seconds between reps. Was a good swim. Sometimes I even feel like I'm not going to drown in the pool! That is kind of a nice feeling.
Tomorrow is a run for 30 mins, Thursday is my brick, Friday is a 500M swim, Saturday is a 45 min run and Sunday is a 25Km ride. The only thing that I might change around a little bit is that my ride on Sunday might turn into a mountain bike ride. I am slowly starting to fall in love with mountain biking again!
That's all I have for today and hopefully I'll be back soon!
SYL
Zap
I haven't exactly been the poster child for tri training in the last month. I have done a little running and a little running and even a little swimming. But all in all I haven't been doing close to enough.
So here I am again. I am starting from my week 8 training schedule and then I am in my first triathlon on June 6th.
I will be back to making regular updates here to keep you up on what has been happening in my exciting world.
Today I did a 4ooM swim doing 25Mx16 with 10 seconds between reps. Was a good swim. Sometimes I even feel like I'm not going to drown in the pool! That is kind of a nice feeling.
Tomorrow is a run for 30 mins, Thursday is my brick, Friday is a 500M swim, Saturday is a 45 min run and Sunday is a 25Km ride. The only thing that I might change around a little bit is that my ride on Sunday might turn into a mountain bike ride. I am slowly starting to fall in love with mountain biking again!
That's all I have for today and hopefully I'll be back soon!
SYL
Zap
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Beautiful day for a ride
Ridding outside sure is different from riding inside and is most definitely better!
Got outside for my first ride of the season and it was almost a perfect day for it. Little bit of a chilly wind but once you got going you didn't feel it at all. Went out with my girlfriend and did 21.67 Km in 1:19. It was a nice gentle ride just to enjoy being outside and on our bikes. Plus around these parts there is a tonne of gravel on the roads and paths still so you are being just a little more cautious than usual. Nothing worse than washing out on a corner!
Also today officially marks my first full month of training! Yup that's right it has now been 4 weeks into my training and I am really noticing a difference in all three disciplines. I am really looking forward to my next 4 weeks as everything starts to get a little more challenging. So here is to me and one month down. I really hope that a year from now I am still making these posts and am continuing to train for triathlons. I hope that you have enjoyed my first month of excitement and stick around to see what happens!
SYL
Zap
Got outside for my first ride of the season and it was almost a perfect day for it. Little bit of a chilly wind but once you got going you didn't feel it at all. Went out with my girlfriend and did 21.67 Km in 1:19. It was a nice gentle ride just to enjoy being outside and on our bikes. Plus around these parts there is a tonne of gravel on the roads and paths still so you are being just a little more cautious than usual. Nothing worse than washing out on a corner!
Also today officially marks my first full month of training! Yup that's right it has now been 4 weeks into my training and I am really noticing a difference in all three disciplines. I am really looking forward to my next 4 weeks as everything starts to get a little more challenging. So here is to me and one month down. I really hope that a year from now I am still making these posts and am continuing to train for triathlons. I hope that you have enjoyed my first month of excitement and stick around to see what happens!
SYL
Zap
Long weekend
The Easter long weekend is upon us and a Happy Easter to all!
Thursday night was a nice swim. Did the 8 X 25M with 10 seconds rest between for my main interval set and did a 50M warm up and cool down. Felt ok but it had been a long haul of a week at work and I was starting to feel it. Knocked the swim off though without too much trouble and felt quite good at the end of it! Starting to really see the benefits of the cross training.
Had a great run today out in the sun with a beautiful temperature of 15C. In other words and absolutely perfect day for a run. Did a route that had some good rolling hills with a few good climbs and descents and I took them on and won. Went for 40 minutes and did a total of 5.36 Km plus a 20 minute walk for an additional 1.12 Km. The drawback of running a new route is sometimes the walk at the end is a little longer than you would expect. Also ran with my girlfriend so that made it an even better run. Nice to have someone to run with so you can have a bit of a chit chat. Makes the run go by a little faster.
Tomorrow I am on the bike and I think that I am going to make it my first ride outside of the year. The weather is suppose to be about the same as today so that will make it another perfect day to be outside!
Talk to you tomorrow.
SYL
Zap
Thursday night was a nice swim. Did the 8 X 25M with 10 seconds rest between for my main interval set and did a 50M warm up and cool down. Felt ok but it had been a long haul of a week at work and I was starting to feel it. Knocked the swim off though without too much trouble and felt quite good at the end of it! Starting to really see the benefits of the cross training.
Had a great run today out in the sun with a beautiful temperature of 15C. In other words and absolutely perfect day for a run. Did a route that had some good rolling hills with a few good climbs and descents and I took them on and won. Went for 40 minutes and did a total of 5.36 Km plus a 20 minute walk for an additional 1.12 Km. The drawback of running a new route is sometimes the walk at the end is a little longer than you would expect. Also ran with my girlfriend so that made it an even better run. Nice to have someone to run with so you can have a bit of a chit chat. Makes the run go by a little faster.
Tomorrow I am on the bike and I think that I am going to make it my first ride outside of the year. The weather is suppose to be about the same as today so that will make it another perfect day to be outside!
Talk to you tomorrow.
SYL
Zap
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Another two days
That's another two days of training knocked off and I'm feeling pretty damn good! Last night I made my way to the pool for a nice swim before I went to my EMBA board meeting and tonight I hit the bike for a great ride!
The swim was a whopping 300M that started with a 50M warm up, followed by 4X50M with 15 seconds of rest between and closed out with a nice relaxing 50M cool down. I did my swim in the Olympic pool and I sucked slough water the hole time. I helped shovel by hand 14M of fillcrete at work during the day so my arms were a little on the tired time. But never the less I got my swim in and I am happy with that!
On to the bike! I hate riding the trainer! The good news is that I should be riding outside starting next week. I might even try it on Sunday weather permitting. But I did do 0:32:06 at a good average of 90 RPM for 17 KM with an average heart rate of 125 BPM. All in all I am pretty happy with that but I can't wait to get outside and actually ride on the road!
I like to be able to track my heart rate now. I think that that is a very important thing to do when you are training for triathlon. Let's me know what my target heart rates are for all disciplines and helps me get them to work together.
Well enough with boring you for yet another night. I'm off to my bed. Have a great day tomorrow!
SYL
Zap
The swim was a whopping 300M that started with a 50M warm up, followed by 4X50M with 15 seconds of rest between and closed out with a nice relaxing 50M cool down. I did my swim in the Olympic pool and I sucked slough water the hole time. I helped shovel by hand 14M of fillcrete at work during the day so my arms were a little on the tired time. But never the less I got my swim in and I am happy with that!
On to the bike! I hate riding the trainer! The good news is that I should be riding outside starting next week. I might even try it on Sunday weather permitting. But I did do 0:32:06 at a good average of 90 RPM for 17 KM with an average heart rate of 125 BPM. All in all I am pretty happy with that but I can't wait to get outside and actually ride on the road!
I like to be able to track my heart rate now. I think that that is a very important thing to do when you are training for triathlon. Let's me know what my target heart rates are for all disciplines and helps me get them to work together.
Well enough with boring you for yet another night. I'm off to my bed. Have a great day tomorrow!
SYL
Zap
Monday, April 6, 2009
Need a better week
Another week down. That is three weeks complete in my 11 week program and overall I am about 85% happy with myself. The main reason that I am not happy with myself is due to missing both my rides last week.
Wednesday I decided to go for a walk with my girlfriend which in all reality isn't a bad thing. It was a nice brisk walk and did do 3.88Km in 50 minutes so it wasn't a wasted day. As for Sunday's ride I went for a walk to scope out a trail site for the EMBA (http://www.edmmtnbike.ca/) trail days in June. So that wasn't exactly the most physically demanding hike but I guess at the very least it was better than nothing. But I really should have gone for my ride in the evening even if I was a little on the tired side.
But as for the rest of the week it was great. My numbers for the week go as follows.
Run (distance/time): 7.97 Km / 0:59.0
Bike (distance/time): Didn't do anything this week
Swim (distance/time): 550 M / will be starting to keep time this week
So all in all it was a good week.
As for the start of this week I had to move my Tuesday run to tonight (Monday) because I have a meeting Tuesday night with EMBA. No big deal I can still get my swim done before my meeting tomorrow night but I just wouldn't have had time to do my run and swim.
I have starting to use my girlfriends Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS for my runs and hopefully for my rides when get a cadence meter. I will hopefully do a revue of the Garmin too. But the nice thing is I can now track my runs exactly and my heart rate which is awesome.
So for tonight I ran 3Km in exactly 0:20:11 with an average heart rate of 160BPM. More info that you need but suffer and read it!
Well that is enough crap for you tonight.. Stay tuned for more drivle!
SYL
Zap
Wednesday I decided to go for a walk with my girlfriend which in all reality isn't a bad thing. It was a nice brisk walk and did do 3.88Km in 50 minutes so it wasn't a wasted day. As for Sunday's ride I went for a walk to scope out a trail site for the EMBA (http://www.edmmtnbike.ca/) trail days in June. So that wasn't exactly the most physically demanding hike but I guess at the very least it was better than nothing. But I really should have gone for my ride in the evening even if I was a little on the tired side.
But as for the rest of the week it was great. My numbers for the week go as follows.
Run (distance/time): 7.97 Km / 0:59.0
Bike (distance/time): Didn't do anything this week
Swim (distance/time): 550 M / will be starting to keep time this week
So all in all it was a good week.
As for the start of this week I had to move my Tuesday run to tonight (Monday) because I have a meeting Tuesday night with EMBA. No big deal I can still get my swim done before my meeting tomorrow night but I just wouldn't have had time to do my run and swim.
I have starting to use my girlfriends Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS for my runs and hopefully for my rides when get a cadence meter. I will hopefully do a revue of the Garmin too. But the nice thing is I can now track my runs exactly and my heart rate which is awesome.
So for tonight I ran 3Km in exactly 0:20:11 with an average heart rate of 160BPM. More info that you need but suffer and read it!
Well that is enough crap for you tonight.. Stay tuned for more drivle!
SYL
Zap
Saturday, April 4, 2009
WOOHOO Running Outside
I really hope that the end of winter is finally here and the warm weather they are calling for for the next week is real. I am sick of winter and we have just endured almost 6 months of it here. To add insult to injury it has been a good winter too. And by good I mean bad. It was cold, snowy and long! But alas the spring like weather is starting and hopefully it will stay!
Today was the first day in a long time that I have ran outside. Yes I know I can dress warm enough to run outside when it is -30 but just remember I am a carpenter and I work outside all winter. So after working outside at -30 all day the last thing that I want to do is run outside. Therefore I run inside where it is warm. But today was a different story.
My girlfriend and I decided to run together outside in the balmy +3C. It was sunny and really a perfect day for a run. So the result was a 30 minute run with a 9 minute cooldown for a total distance of 4.77 Km. That was a nice run. Some hills and some flats and I felt really really good at the end.
It's amazing how the different disciplines of triathlon really work together and make you stronger. It doesn't seem like you do alot of distance through the week and then at the end you are doing something and realize how it is all adding together. It's really kinda cool.
Also going to start using a Garmin Forerunner 305 with GPS and heart rate so I will be able to track and post things a little more accurately for my runs and my rides. Will have to start wearing a watch in the pool too so I can see if I am getting any faster or not.
Well that's it for tonight. I'll bore you some more tomorrow!
SYL
Zap
Today was the first day in a long time that I have ran outside. Yes I know I can dress warm enough to run outside when it is -30 but just remember I am a carpenter and I work outside all winter. So after working outside at -30 all day the last thing that I want to do is run outside. Therefore I run inside where it is warm. But today was a different story.
My girlfriend and I decided to run together outside in the balmy +3C. It was sunny and really a perfect day for a run. So the result was a 30 minute run with a 9 minute cooldown for a total distance of 4.77 Km. That was a nice run. Some hills and some flats and I felt really really good at the end.
It's amazing how the different disciplines of triathlon really work together and make you stronger. It doesn't seem like you do alot of distance through the week and then at the end you are doing something and realize how it is all adding together. It's really kinda cool.
Also going to start using a Garmin Forerunner 305 with GPS and heart rate so I will be able to track and post things a little more accurately for my runs and my rides. Will have to start wearing a watch in the pool too so I can see if I am getting any faster or not.
Well that's it for tonight. I'll bore you some more tomorrow!
SYL
Zap
Thursday, April 2, 2009
It's Thursday right!?!
Well I don't know about everyone else out there but man am I glad tomorrow is Friday! I've had just about enough of this week. I hate when spring comes only because of the mud! It is such a pain in the ass to lug 50 lbs of mud around on your boots and to be covered in the stuff at the end of the day! But there isn't much I can do about that for now. Besides it does make my day one big long leg workout. Think positive or some crap like that!
On to my actual training for the evening. Did a 300 M swim tonight and followed my training plan to a T. Turns out it works quite well. Tonight was a 50 M warm up followed by 8 X 25 M with 10 seconds of rest between, followed by a 50 M cool down. Makes sense. An easy way to get your distance up without sacrificing speed. Looked ahead in my training program and it follows this type of system right through. Of course the distances start to increase but you get the idea.
After the swim I did a 30 minute walk for a distance of 2.6 Km. It was actually really nice and relaxing. The walk is a way to do active recovery and to tell you the truth it really helped. This 30 minute walk turns up once a week from now on and I like it. It totally loosened everything up tonight and allowed me to do an awesome stretch after. Nice to just listen to some tunes and relax.
So over all I must admit that I am really enjoying my training. It takes my mind off of things like work and it is really just relaxing. I hope to start my weight training next week and I will be sure to keep you up to date on that too. I am really looking forward to adding another dimension to my training. I also think this training is becoming a habit also becoming a little bit of an addiction. I know it sounds stupid but I fell pretty awesome after my workouts and I am really starting to crave that every night. So hopefully that continues and drives me to get better!
SYL
Zap
On to my actual training for the evening. Did a 300 M swim tonight and followed my training plan to a T. Turns out it works quite well. Tonight was a 50 M warm up followed by 8 X 25 M with 10 seconds of rest between, followed by a 50 M cool down. Makes sense. An easy way to get your distance up without sacrificing speed. Looked ahead in my training program and it follows this type of system right through. Of course the distances start to increase but you get the idea.
After the swim I did a 30 minute walk for a distance of 2.6 Km. It was actually really nice and relaxing. The walk is a way to do active recovery and to tell you the truth it really helped. This 30 minute walk turns up once a week from now on and I like it. It totally loosened everything up tonight and allowed me to do an awesome stretch after. Nice to just listen to some tunes and relax.
So over all I must admit that I am really enjoying my training. It takes my mind off of things like work and it is really just relaxing. I hope to start my weight training next week and I will be sure to keep you up to date on that too. I am really looking forward to adding another dimension to my training. I also think this training is becoming a habit also becoming a little bit of an addiction. I know it sounds stupid but I fell pretty awesome after my workouts and I am really starting to crave that every night. So hopefully that continues and drives me to get better!
SYL
Zap
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Yes I am late again
Well I wanted to post some stuff on Monday and then again yesterday but as you can see it is now Wednesday and I am just getting my act together and posting now.
So I'll start with what I wanted to post on Monday. Monday's are becoming my check up day. It is the day that I weight myself and check my heart rate and all that exciting stuff, so here are the results of that.
Weight: 246 lbs that is now 9 lbs that I have lost. Not bad for two weeks of training, but I am sure how hard I have been working at work has something to do with it. Not to mention the diet that my girlfriend has me following.
Resting heart rate: 60 that hasn't changed and probably won't for awhile.
Body fat: 28.5 so that is .6% that I am down. I can deal with that.
Now on to Tuesdays entry. Did a 250M swim that went really well. Starting to feel a little stronger in the water which is nice. Really starting to follow my training plan for my water work. I skipped ahead and it looks like it really makes sense and ramps up at the right time. Just need to figure out how to kick or I am toast.
My run went really well too. Did 3.2 Km in 20 minutes. I'm pretty happy with that, especially considering I did that right after my swim. On days that I swim and then run I really have to stretch my calves quickly before I run or else I get a really nasty knot in each of them about a minute into my run. Ran on the track at Kinsmen and it wasn't really busy so it made for a great run. Over all I am really happy with all my training.
As for today, I went for a really nice 50 minute walk with my girlfriend. It was really nice. Winter is slowly starting to let go here so it was nice to just get out for an evening walk without having to put on 20 layers of clothes so you do freeze to death. Was suppose to do a 10 Km ride tonight and I might make that up somewhere this week but I am sure that all in all the walk was good for me too.
Work this week has been very labour intense so I am sure that is helping to my overall training. I try to remember when I am working hard that it is just exercise and that it is only helping me to obtain my fitness goals. Ya I know it doesn't really help but it sounds good!
Have a great night and a fantastic day tomorrow.
SYL
Zap
So I'll start with what I wanted to post on Monday. Monday's are becoming my check up day. It is the day that I weight myself and check my heart rate and all that exciting stuff, so here are the results of that.
Weight: 246 lbs that is now 9 lbs that I have lost. Not bad for two weeks of training, but I am sure how hard I have been working at work has something to do with it. Not to mention the diet that my girlfriend has me following.
Resting heart rate: 60 that hasn't changed and probably won't for awhile.
Body fat: 28.5 so that is .6% that I am down. I can deal with that.
Now on to Tuesdays entry. Did a 250M swim that went really well. Starting to feel a little stronger in the water which is nice. Really starting to follow my training plan for my water work. I skipped ahead and it looks like it really makes sense and ramps up at the right time. Just need to figure out how to kick or I am toast.
My run went really well too. Did 3.2 Km in 20 minutes. I'm pretty happy with that, especially considering I did that right after my swim. On days that I swim and then run I really have to stretch my calves quickly before I run or else I get a really nasty knot in each of them about a minute into my run. Ran on the track at Kinsmen and it wasn't really busy so it made for a great run. Over all I am really happy with all my training.
As for today, I went for a really nice 50 minute walk with my girlfriend. It was really nice. Winter is slowly starting to let go here so it was nice to just get out for an evening walk without having to put on 20 layers of clothes so you do freeze to death. Was suppose to do a 10 Km ride tonight and I might make that up somewhere this week but I am sure that all in all the walk was good for me too.
Work this week has been very labour intense so I am sure that is helping to my overall training. I try to remember when I am working hard that it is just exercise and that it is only helping me to obtain my fitness goals. Ya I know it doesn't really help but it sounds good!
Have a great night and a fantastic day tomorrow.
SYL
Zap
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday Becomes Sunday
Well I was bad on Saturday and didn't do my run! I went to my girlfriend's brother's place to help him frame out his basement and just didn't get to my run. Now this is a habit that has to stop. If I am suppose to train on a certain day I have to do it no matter what I am doing that day. It is too easy to say "oh I'll do it tomorrow" and then when tomorrow comes not do it. So far if I have missed a day I have made up for it the next day but I am sure that that trend won't continue. So there is an easy way to fix that and that is to NOT SKIP ANY TRAINING DAYS!
Now on to what I did accomplish today. I went to Millennium Place today and ran on a treadmill for 24 minutes. I haven't ran on a nice treadmill like that for a long time and it was kind of nice. I know that I can't do that all the time because running on a treadmill is not the same as running on the ground but it was nice to switch it up a bit, plus it gives me a little bit of an idea of how I am actually doing. Speaking of which I did 3.2 KM in 24 minutes. That is 15 minutes at 5MPH and 5 minutes and 7 MPH and then a really good 4 minute cool down. So all in all it was a really great run.
I also did my ride for today. I moved my bike computer so that it actually reads my speed sensor on my rear wheel so for the first time I have an idea as to how far I would be going outside. My program called for 13 KM and I had been riding for 30 minutes so I figured that those numbers would be close to each other. Guess they are not that close. I rode for 3o minutes at an average speed of 33.4 KM/h and a total distance of 17 KM. So I won't be dropping my time any but I'll try to let my distance catch up to my time!
I must admit it was a really good day training today and hope that my next week goes even better. I'll be posting all my weekly numbers tomorrow night after work.
Take care and have a great week!
SYL
Zap
Now on to what I did accomplish today. I went to Millennium Place today and ran on a treadmill for 24 minutes. I haven't ran on a nice treadmill like that for a long time and it was kind of nice. I know that I can't do that all the time because running on a treadmill is not the same as running on the ground but it was nice to switch it up a bit, plus it gives me a little bit of an idea of how I am actually doing. Speaking of which I did 3.2 KM in 24 minutes. That is 15 minutes at 5MPH and 5 minutes and 7 MPH and then a really good 4 minute cool down. So all in all it was a really great run.
I also did my ride for today. I moved my bike computer so that it actually reads my speed sensor on my rear wheel so for the first time I have an idea as to how far I would be going outside. My program called for 13 KM and I had been riding for 30 minutes so I figured that those numbers would be close to each other. Guess they are not that close. I rode for 3o minutes at an average speed of 33.4 KM/h and a total distance of 17 KM. So I won't be dropping my time any but I'll try to let my distance catch up to my time!
I must admit it was a really good day training today and hope that my next week goes even better. I'll be posting all my weekly numbers tomorrow night after work.
Take care and have a great week!
SYL
Zap
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