Wednesday 5/10/2006

Morning Workout: Weights (Power Cycle 2)

Headed to the gym after hitting the massage balls and did workout #2 of the Power Cycle

Dead Lifts:
6 @ 115lbs
4 @ 135lbs
3 @ 165lbs
2 @ 175lbs
3 @ 165lbs

Pronated Pull-Ups:
6 @ -30lbs (using assist machine)
4 @ 0lbs
3 @ +12.5lbs
2 @ +15lbs
3 @ +12.5lbs

Cable Woodchop:
6 @ 110lbs
4 @ 120lbs
3 @ 130lbs
2 @ 140lbs
3 @ 130lbs

Cable Reverse Woodchop:
6 @ 75lbs
4 @ 85lbs
3 @ 95lbs
2 @ 100lbs
3 @ 95lbs

Evening Workout: Long Run (really)

Headed to Ridley Creek again after work, this time feeling a lot better as far as being rested goes. Also made a better effort at taking my bottle earlier so the energy would actually be usable instead of just sloshing around in my stomach.

Did the first loop up the big hill, which gave me a bit more trouble today since I did dead lifts this morning. Did the second loop counter-clockwise and then ran another 1.5 out-n-back when done with that.

For next week's long run, I'll have to park at the other lot so I can stop at my car after each loop to grap a drink and a gel. I was feeling pretty bad at the end of this run from the lack of hydration and food.

13 miles in 1:41 (7:47/mile)

Sunday 5/7/06

Workout: CompuTrainer + run brick

After waking up feeling like a million bucks (two consecutive 'rest' days will do that) with very little piriformis pain (~90% gone) I decided to hit the bike. Riding outside is out until I have more confidence that my piriformis won't flare up and leave me stranded somewhere in the middle of Chester county, but the CompuTrainer is always in since I can just hop off if it flares up.

There was some work to do first, none of it fun. Getting up at 0530 on a Sunday to VPN into work isn't cool. Even more uncool is a two hour outage turning into a 3.5 hour outage. At least I had enough down time in there to do some dishes and get some food in me.

After hitting the massage balls and pre-fueling with ~1500 calories I hopped on the CompuTrainer for some tough love. Since my 'hill' workout on Wednesday went well, I decided to hit the hills again, just more of them.

The session went like this:
Full warmup (~50 minutes)
2 sets of:
- 3 mile climb @ 6%
- 3×0.3 mile climb @10%, standing the last tenth.
2×15:00 TT efforts

And these are the results:

Set 1:
3.0 miles @ 6%: 18:24.0, 254W(306W), 9.8mph
0.2 miles @ 10%: 1:44.0, 272W(324W), 6.9mph
0.3 miles @ 10%: 2:37.5, 281W(366W), 7.0mph
0.3 miles @ 10%: 2:29.5, 281W(349W), 7.2mph

Set 2:
3.0 miles @ 6%: 18:21.3, 255W(323W), 9.8mph
0.3 miles @ 10%: 2:27.5, 293W(367W), 7.3mph
0.3 miles @ 10%: 2:27.5, 291W(361W), 7.3mph
0.3 miles @ 10%: 2:28.8, 282W(384W), 7.3mph

15:00 241W(354W),21.9mph,5.48miles
15:00 241W(319W),22.0mph,5.48miles

I was really pushing it at the end of the second 15:00 TT effort in order to be in the same ballpark as the first and was quite surprised that the numbers were identical.

I took a ~10 minute break and went out for a quick run which ended up being longer than expected due to electrolyte issues which forced me to walk little bits here and there. Lesson learned: I need to make sure I salt my Cytomax.

4.1 miles in 35:11.4 (8:34/mile)

Thursday 5/4/06

Morning Workout: None

Skipped the pool again this morning. Really don't have any excuses other than an incredible lack of motivation to swim.

Evening Workout: Running Hill Repeats

Headed from work to Ridley Creek State Park to do repeats up the monster hill there. It wouldn't be a Thursday hill session if something didn't go wrong and this time it was the battery in my Polar S1 footpod. I guess I just got used to changing it every 6 weeks or so during the winter with the reduced running volume. Oh well, the MUP is marked every 10th of a mile and I did go to engineering school so I should be able to figure it out.

1.6 mile warmup to hill
3x .55 mile up hill followed by .55 mile back down.
2.3 mile cooldown

Total run: 7.2miles (includes run to and from hill and repeats) in 1:01:20.0
152 avg HR, 180 max HR

Tuesday 5/2/06

Morning Workout: None

Big shocker there. Was up late last night taking care of things that I didn't do Sunday (did the Tour de Jersey/PA visiting my family after the ride). I really need to get motivated to swim, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

Evening Workout: Distance Run

The weekly 'long' run in Ridley Creek State Park on the multi-use path. Did two loops of the five mile path, one clockwise up the monster hill (~255 ft vertical in .6 miles) and one counter clockwise. Ran better than last week in that I kept the pacing even, watching my watch during the first 2 miles or so and keeping my speed in check. Fared better on the hill by going a slightly slower but steadier pace all the way up. Didn't have any cramping issues for a change, so the 1/8 tsp. of salt I put in my breakfast/lunch/pre-fuel bottles must be helping.

I did have a slight twinge on knee pain at about the halfway point, but it went away just as quickly as it came on so I continued.

11.7 miles in 1:30 (7:40/mile, 161 avg HR)

Faster than last weeks run at 2 fewer bpm.

Sunday 4/30/06

Workout: Ride outside + run

Woke up really early (0420) this morning to head up to Peapack, NJ to ride the Miles For Matheny '7 Hills of Attrition' ride. The official ride was last weekend, and I had registered for it in advance, but the weather turned on us late in the week, washing us out. A bunch of us had agreed to meet at ~0730 and ride by 0800, which is the usual plan when it's just me or me and my friend L. Today, though, there were eight of us, which was pretty cool, but we ended up not rolling until 0820 or so.

We decided to ride this years course since the little white arrows were still fresh on the roads and part of last years course was recently chip-sealed, making an already hairy descent a death wish.

My right hip decided fairly early on it'd not take part in any climbing. I'm not a great climber to begin with (the reason I do this ride every chance I get), but I'm much worse when I can use my glutes to power over the top of the pedal stroke.

Needless to say, the group fractured and 5 guys went off the front leaving three of us behind to fend for ourselves, which happens on these kind of rides. I'm used to riding solo and this route isn't very paceline friendly anyways so I was cool with it. We managed to ride the course spot-on, only missing one turn that resulted in a whole 50ft detour to get back on track.

The weather was incredible. It started off cool and I dressed with tights, two base layers, a long-sleeve jersey, jacket, and shoe covers. I was sweltering by the ten-mile mark at which point we stopped and I took the sleeves off my jacket. At the halfway point and water stop, I removed my jacket and tied it around my waist for the remainder of the ride.

The new course is nice, and it's nice to see a bunch of last years nasty climbs as screaming downhills. The climbs are rough and a few of them are long with steep sections in them, which makes life worth living.

Total: 49.2 miles w/ ~5000ft climbing in 3:41 (including all stops).

After putting my bike away and changing, L and I, the two trigeeks on the ride, went for a run. I'd had some side cramps during the ride, so I kept the pace slower, around 8:00/mile, and the run short. It felt good to be able to run after a ride like that, especially after riding it on a road bike with a slack seat angle.

Total: 2.1 miles in 16:30, nice and easy.