Holiday Workouts

It's hard enough to work out during a vacation. It's even harder when you're traveling - my family and I are in the Seattle area for the holidays.

Luckily, somehow I’ve been able to visit the LA Fitness in Bellevue (about 3 miles away from my mother-in-law’s house) a couple times while here. The design for a downtown gym is definitely different from one in suburban Texas – it’s spaced out over four levels:

• 2nd/main floor: entry, Kids Club, cardio equipment, aerobics classroom and weight machines
• 3rd floor: free weights
• 1st floor: locker rooms
• basement: pool and spin classroom

And it was a pretty small & shallow pool - only 3 lanes and probably just 3 feet deep all the way (though Derek says that shallower pools offer more resistance). So the gym as a whole was a little claustrophobic, but everything was workable and I’ll have to admit that the windows/views overlooking the city while running on the treadmill were nice.

Nothing too hardcore training-wise, but if I can just maintain the status quo, I'll be very happy. So far, I’ve done a spin class, some treadmill running, and hit the pool. And my daughter has been enjoying the Kids Club facilities. I had to do something to counteract the big Christmas dinner at my brother-in-law’s house, dim sum, and trips to Old Country Buffet! :-P

Getting Back into the Groove

Monday: Work and a sushi buffet lunch derailed my workout plans. So a "bonus" off-day this week.

Tuesday: Another long run with Derek, Jarrod, and Matt along the Campion Trail. We decided to run "out" for about 35 minutes and then "back" for 40 minutes or less.

I completed 8.82 miles in 1:12:17 for a 8:11/mi pace. (Two weeks ago, I ran 7.41 miles on the same trail in 1:00:29 for a 8:09/mi pace). Today, it took 35:40 to get to my turnaround point and then 36:37 for the return trip. Not too much of a slowdown in the pace, so I am happy.

MotionBased info (map, heart rate, etc.): http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4616087

From the map, it looks like the trail will continue northwest and connect to Sam Houston park so this trail/run might be getting longer in the future!

Wednesday: An hour-long spin class followed by swimming. My heart rate during the spin class was not as high as normal, but I was a little tired from yesterday's run. After spinning, I did 1,500 yds in the pool. It took 31:48 with (decreasing) 500 yd splits of 10:40, 10:36, 10:32 - not too bad.

Thursday: Don left for vacation, Jonathan was sick, and Wilhe had to work from home today. So instead of going to spin class at LA Fitness by myself, I went to swim with Derek, Jarrod, and Matt at North Lake College. I was able to finish 2,500 yards in 51:20.5, which is my fastest time for this distance! Swimming with friends helps keep up your pace. Splits: 9:50, 10:17.5, 10:28, 10:24.5, 10:20.5.

Derek said that the side of the pool that we used (the deep end) made for faster swim times. Something to do with less resistance because we're further from the bottom. Anyway, regardless of the physics, my time was definitely pretty fast. However, Derek was even faster; he lapped me at least three times and finished 2,500 yards in under 47 minutes. Way to go, Derek!

Friday plan: Spend some time on the elliptical trainer.

Saturday morning plan: "Reverse Tri at LA Fitness" - 1 hour treadmill run, 1 hour spin class, 1,500 yd swim.

Sunday: OFF day!

Chilly Weekend

Saturday: I think my plan to skip the FWRC run, though disappointing, was the right one. It was very cold and windy today. So instead, I went to LA Fitness and did some running on the treadmill and most (the first 45 minutes) of the 9:15 AM spin class. Over an hour (7 miles and 900 feet of elevation) on threadmill and a solid workout on the bike. Can't complain.

Sunday: Attended the Santa Scurry 5K run in the morning. I couldn't participate in this event because I was watching Kimberly (note to self: buy jogging stroller), but I wanted to meet up with friends from Team-In-Training (my coach, Todd, was "Santa") and the Fort Worth Runners Club and cheer them on. Plus, the venue was only 5 minutes from my house. Derek did well, running a 7:53/mi pace. Cy from TNT was the official winner of the event, finishing in around 21:30 (all the GPS watches said the course was closer to 3.3 miles than 3.1), and Fiona from the FWRC was right behind him for "second place" and the first female. A few other runners (including Fiona) were faster than Cy, but due to missing signage at the turnarounds they ran a lot further than the actual course. This is the first year of the race, I'm sure they'll get the kinks worked out next year.

The weather actually warmed up in the afternoon - probably hit the mid-50s - so I actually rode a bit with my mountain bike around my neighborhood for about an hour with Kimberly in the child carrier in the back. Not a real workout, but it was nice to get moving and enjoy a respite from the cold.

Actually, this week's weather is suppose to be pretty nice with temps in the 60s - maybe even cracking 70 on Wednesday and Friday. I'll have to try to get in some biking or running to take advantage of the warmth. This week's only plan is for some consistent workouts before Christmas vacation.

Slow Week

Winter weather is getting me down. Cold and/or rainy all week long.

Monday: 2,000 yard swim. Not very fast (44:58), but at last I got it in. I'm feeling very lazy these days. Splits: 10:48, 11:20, 11:23, 11:27

Tuesday: Spin and Run. Was more than 10 minutes late to spin class, so I tried to push my speed/intensity to somewhat compensate. Afterwards, I did about 30 minutes on the treadmill. Started quite slow, but by the end I was running at 8.5 MPH, which I kept up for the last mile.

Wednesday: Too busy at work. Couldn't get to the gym. Just did about an hour on my home elliptical trainer in the afternoon. Didn't wear my heart rate monitor, but it felt like fairly high intensity for most of it.

Thursday: Spin class and then swimming. 1,500 yards in 32:33. Negative splits: 11:13, 10:42, 10:37. It was very nice to speed up for the later laps.

Friday: Had errands to run, so today was an off-day.

I was going to compete in the Fort Worth Tropical 10-Mile run tomorrow, but decided not to because (1) it's too cold, (2) can't get a babysitter for my daughter. So I'll just go to the gym instead - probably run on the treadmill and swim. This cold weather is just beginning. I think I'm going to look for a spin bike or an indoor bike trainer otherwise my biking is going to really suffer this winter.

Run The Rock

Derek, Don, Jarrod, Wilhe and I ran the White Rock Marathon this morning as a 5-man corporate relay team. We finished the 26.2 miles in 3 hours and 50 minutes - good enough for 104th place out of 575 relay teams. I ran the first leg (6 miles with an overall uphill slant) in 50 minutes for an 8:08/mi pace.

The weather was on the cool side (temperatures in the 40s). We also had a few light showers, but thankfully, the heavy rains (scattered thunderstorms were forecast) stayed away.

The starting line was quite crowded (the 15,000 entry slots were all sold out) but I was able to sneak in near the front with the other relay runners. It was quite a thrill to be in a race that was televised on network TV (the local ABC station covered it); I think I may have been captured at the start at the American Airlines Center/Victory Park. (Jarrod is going to check his TiVo :-)

There were a few annoyances: (1) Had to pay for parking - $5 is actually pretty reasonable, but since there were no in-and-out priviledges, we had to pay twice after using Derek's car for relay exchange point transport. (2) Insufficient bathrooms - huge lines at the American Airlines Center at the start and lines at the porta-potties at 6-mile exchange point (after I had run 6 miles). (3) Ran out of food too quickly at the post-race party - our team did okay since we finished in under 4 hours. But I'm guessing that a lot of people that finished in over 4 and a half hours (at a decent 10:20 pace) missed out on the pasta salads, tomato basil soup, fish tacos, cookies, and sushi that the local restaurants offered (in addition to yogurt smoothies, bottled water, coffee, and beer beverage options).

Overall, though, the race was nice - great crowds cheering you on and a pretty good course. I look forward to running the full marathon sometime in the future.

Course map: http://www.mapmyrace.com/races/DallasWhiteRock2006

The Week In Review

Monday:

3,000 yards of swimming today in 1:07:27. It felt slow - not quite as fast as my 4,000 yard swim last month - and it was a (mental) struggle to keep going after the first 2,000 yards. I may have slipped more during the break than I thought.

Splits:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:38
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:45
• 3rd 500 yds: 10:55
• 4th 500 yds: 11:08
• Accel Gel & water break: 0:55
• 5th 500 yds: 11:29
• 6th 500 yds: 11:37

Actually, now that I review some other past swims, I don't feel as bad. It is on par (maybe a little faster) than the 3,000 yards I did on October 22 and the first 2,000 was faster as well.

I'll just chalk this up to a "bad day" and hope to do better next time.

Tuesday:

Since a bunch of us are running the 5-man relay in this weekend's White Rock Marathon, we wanted to get in a good training run. Rather than brave the roads around work, Derek, Jarrod, Matt and I instead ran the Elm Fork of the Campion Trails. I completed 3.72 miles in 29:40 and then turned around to finish 7.41 miles in just over an hour (1:00:29). Although my pace slowed down after the half-way point, it was a decent run and pretty nice trail. I'll have to come here to run again. The trail continued on past the 3.72 mile mark; I'm curious to see how far it goes.

Wednesday:

Another swim day. Had a big meeting in the afternoon, so I only had time to do 1,500 yards. Splits: 10:41, 10:46, 10:43 - kept the speeds fairly steady.

Thursday:

45-minute spin class and then I stayed on the spin bike for additional 30 minutes. As you can see from the graph, the spin class was pretty tough and Leslie only gave us two real breaks - aside from those, my heart rate was at 160-170 BPM. After the class ended (at the 43 minute mark), I was tired and less motivated so the breaks came more (about every 4 minutes).

I can't believe that it has been over a week and half since I've been on a bike (spin or real); the spin class in PA last Sunday was the last time.

Friday:

More swimming - resting my legs for Sunday's run. 3,000 yds in 1:06:36 - a little better than Monday. Splits:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:32
• 2nd 500 yds: 11:19
• 3rd 500 yds: 11:16
• 4th 500 yds: 11:02.5
• Accel Gel & water break: 0:46
• 5th 500 yds: 10:47
• 6th 500 yds: 10:53

USAT Rankings

Since my 2007 triathlon season is over, I surfed over to usatrankings.com and took a look at my scores.

As you can see, my performance steadily increased over the season. Hopefully, that will continue into next year.

So what do these numbers actually mean? It's kinda complicated. The USA Triathlon web site has a few pages explaining how those numbers are calculated, but here is how I understand it:

A triathlete's score for an event is the hypothetical "par time" divided by the participant's finishing time and then multiplied by 100. The "par time" is determined by some crazy techniques of looking at the scores and times of people who have done the race both in the past and this year and then doing some averages and other stuff. I understand it but can't easily explain it (see the links below). However, what I can do is use the Monster Tri as an example:

First, the formula

(par time) / (my time) = (my ranking) / 100

plugging in my numbers

(par time) / 71.5167 minutes = 0.676521

which, after a little math, means that USAT has determined that the par time for the 2007 Dallas Athletes Monster Sprint Tri is 48.38 minutes (or 48:23). Note that it is VERY difficult to meet (or break) the par time; the winner of the Monster Tri did it in 58:20 - so even that lucky person only scored a 82.9371!

If I get my scores to crack into the 70s next year, I will be very happy.

USAT Ranking info:

• http://www.usatriathlon.org/Membership/Rankings/FAQ.aspx
• http://www.usatriathlon.org/Membership/Rankings/Rankings%20Criteria.aspx

TNT Transition Clinic

Today was quite busy. After a 10K race in the morning, I only had about an hour to relax at home and then pack up my bike and the rest of my tri/swim gear for a Team In Training clinic on transitions at the Carroll High School Aquatic Center.

They call transitions the "fourth discipline" in triathlons and even though I've done a few tris I know I still have room for improvement in this area. After a "classroom" (if you can call it that since we were in the natatorium lobby) session on how to set up a transition area and other topics, we did some mini (really mini) triathlons with emphasis on the transitions. 200 meter swim in the pool, a 0.5-mile bike around the rear parking lots and a 0.25 mile run in the front parking lot. We did three of these.

The first iteration I got off to a slow start in the pool since I did about 100 meters of (too) fast warm-up before the timed start. Finished the swim in about 3:33 - thought I hit the "LAP" button on my watch but I guess I missed. T1 (swim-to-bike transition) was a little slow, my helmet was turned the wrong direction and the straps weren't laid out. Felt rusty on the bike (it's been 2 weeks since I'd been on it!) and there was a fairly stiff head-wind. Looked down at my bike computer to check my speed - oops, not on yet, need to hit "START". T2 (bike-to-run transition) was better/smoother. A little trouble with the race-belt, but that always happens. About 100 yards into the run: PAIN - major leg cramp in my right calf - OUCH - flashbacks of when it happened in early in the summer during swim-run sessions at North Lake. Stopped to stretch/massage and limped around the parking lot to finish up. Time: 9:55. Coach Todd says "Good Job," but I know better. More stretching and massaging of my calf.

Second iteration: Before jumping back in the pool, I took two SaltStick tablets and gulp some water. No messing around. Coach says we can do a 100 meter swim this time but I still do the full 200 to better compare my times. Finished the swim in 3:23 - faster than the first time but I am the last one out of the pool - everybody else just did 100 meters. T1 was fairly smooth until I got on my bike ... oops, forgot to stick it in low gear. Back into the transition area for a fast T2 and a decent run. I was second to last because of the longer swim, but my time was 9:13. Much better.

Last time: Since I was almost dead last for the second go-round, I didn't have much time to rest before getting back in the water. So the swim was pretty tough but I still finished another 200 meters in 3:28. Everything else went smoothly and with a final sprint for the run, I completed the last nano-tri (too small to be "mini") in 9:14 (just one second slower than the prior one and I actually finished in the middle of the pack).

Things I learned:

1. Practice makes perfect. I need to make a "transition area checklist" to ensure I don't miss anything.

2. It doesn't matter how short/fast the "race" is going to be, I better take some SaltSticks or risk leg cramps. :-(

3. Swim cap and tri-shorts definitely improve my swim times. On Friday, even for my early laps I had trouble going faster than 55 seconds for 50 YARDS. Today, I averaged 52 seconds for 50 METERS. So I'm glad to know that I am definitely handicapping myself during training, which is my plan so that I can have an easier time of it on race day.

4. Regarding nutrition and other things, don't eat/drink/do anything on race day that you haven't tried before. Interesting example: shaving on race day (or the night before) might be a bad idea if the swim is going to be in salt water (like my Galveston Lonestar Tri!)

5. The small amount of time that can be saved by having bike shoes already clipped into the pedals is not worth the danger of getting bare feet/toes injured by bike gear (e.g., near amputation incident in River Cities Tri earlier this summer). Umm, yeah, I will do T1/T2 with bike shoes ON for the foreseeable future.

Don Zetnick's Winter Run

Don and I ran in the Don Zetnick Winter Run 10K on the UTA (University of Texas - Arlington) campus this morning. Despite cloudy skies and a raindrop or two, no downpour ensued. In fact, the weather was very nice for running - cool, but not too cold; no sun = no sunscreen needed.

The race itself was decent but could have been better. First, the not so good: the 10K race started over 30 minutes late! - 9:46 AM vs. the scheduled 9:15. We were at the starting line around 9:00 so we waited over 45 minutes before the gun. Also, the course only had ONE water stop (that was hit twice on the nearly out-and-back route).

On the plus side, the UTA campus had plenty of parking and the Maverick Activities Center had a lot of room for registration and the awards & door prize activities. The trophies were pretty neat - miniature penguins (the 1K kids' race was called the "Penguin Waddle"). Decent pre-race (bagels & coffee) and post-race (pizza, bananas, sodas, Smart Water) refreshments.

As for my running, I did pretty well and got my first sub-50-minute 10K since my college running days. I ran pretty hard so my heart rate, as expected ,was quite high - an average of 175 BPM for the entire 10K but closer to a 181 BPM average for the second half of the race. I finished the 6.2 miles in 49:20 for a 7:57/mi pace, which is about a minute faster than the Run Off at the Ranch 10K last month.

My goal of a sub-8:00/mi for a 10K has been met!