Road Biking

So what do you think the correlation is between you running outside in cold weather and being sick? Or in your case not getting better? I biked 12.3 miles on Tuesday. Monday was Christmas and the kids didn’t take naps so I just played with them a bunch. Of course Monday was sunshiny, clear, and beautiful. Tuesday was chilly and blustery. I biked Tuesday. Took it pretty easy mhr did reach 177 bpm with an ahr of 145 bpm. Did lots of flat stuff with one good climb up Hillsborough over by the old townhouse. That got the thighs cooking a bit. It was fun to get up to 35 mph on the street coming back home. What wasn’t fun was almost getting hit by a car! It wasn’t that close a call, but some old man did a left turn right in front of me as if I wasn’t even there. I understand not being seen, but this guy was looking straight at me.

Mostly I think I’ll be sticking to trails round town. A friend of mine in the ward got hit by a car back in the fall. He’s been trying PT, but it’s looking like the doctors going to start cutting next.

I’m going to need to get on the phone with you and chat. The bike computer is not wireless and I’m not real interested in wiring up a bike computer just for indoor use. I’m seriously considering rollers, but I’ve got to figure out how hard it’s going to be to bike on them. Nashbar does have something you can add to the rollers that holds the front of your bike steady. The only thing is that w/o a bike computer all I’ll ever know about how far I’m going is my cadence; decisions, decisions.

Still haven’t swum in a while. I’m missing it a bunch. With a baby getting here in 15 days I don’t see it happening soon. I wonder how much your new baby is going to throw off your schedule.

Wednesday Brief Update

I just wanted to test this link function out. I ran 2.76 this morning in 21:27, ahr 159, mhr 177. Monday I ran a little over 4 miles but I don't have my ipod on me right now so no info. Saturday Night I biked on the trainer for an hour keeping my heart rate up above 155, while I watched fellowship of the ring. Anyway, I have alternated swimming biking and running in the last two weeks and I am feeling pretty strong. My times aren't good for anything but my weight seems to be coming back down a little bit. I measured 188 on Christmas before my run and after my lunch.

Long Run

This week's long run was nine miles. I didn't run Monday because my mom was in town and I wanted to hang with her for the night. But I knew if I blew it off Tuesday I'd miss my long run for the first time. I've missed short runs, but I've never missed my speed work out or long run. The problem was that it was 41 degrees last night at 8:00 pm and the wind chill had it down to 37'ish. I don't even own long running pants. So I turned to my only other option and did the impossible; nine miles on a treadmill. Because I was indoors I could listen to a podcast while I ran. Even with the distraction it was quite difficult; long and slow.
I was trying to keep my heart rate around 165 bpm so I stayed at a steady 6 mph (10:00 pace.) Sometimes I dipped to 5.9 mph and sometimes I pushed up to 6.1 mph, but overall I kept it in a very steady range until the last mile and a half when I finished strong at 6.5 mph (9:10'sih). The run was pretty tough. That probably sounds ridiculous, but it was.
The treadmill said I burned 1,375 calories. I went straight from the treadmill to the bathroom, and when I was finished I'd lost three pounds in an hour and a half; down to 182 lbs. That weight is a cheat but it was nice to be back down in that range. I'm going to continue to avoid that form of torture in the future, but I didn't miss my run and that's the important part.
The miracle is that I've managed to shed a couple of pounds while starting work. I'm eating pretty carefully by really sticking to the salads at lunch. I'm sure some of the weight loss is muscle which sucks. I haven't lifted since you were here John. Last time I was under 180 lbs I was reading 18% body fat on the scale. These days I'm basically sitting at 20%. I'm still hopeful that some time after the baby Kristi and I can start lifting again; hopeful anyway.

Swim like a fish

Easy post tonight. Swam a mile, 35:16. It was fun. Keep it up Mike, and stick with reasonable goals, keeps you motivated and focused.

Wednesday

I ran this afternoon in shorts and a t-shirt, with a windbreaker vest and a pair of thin gloves. The weather was 50 and breezy so I was dressed perfectly. I started off a little fast but it is the middle miles that just tear me up, then I finished real strong. Ended up at 5.01 miles, 37:02, 7:23 pace. Average heart rate 160, max heart rate 182. That's right, I was cooking at the end for the final half mile. Thought I was a goner for sure. I had my heart rate above 175 for at least 8 or 9 minutes on the way back. Proud of me Jason? Ha. Tomorrow I plan to run a short recovery run in the morning and swim long but easy at night, maybe try to swim a mile, but not worry about pushing it. Just remembered that on Tuesday night one of the female lifeguards walked in on me getting dressed after the post-swim shower. So, they just installed an actual soap dispenser in the shower and I was enjoying it, which delayed my departure. She thought that I had already left and was coming to lock up an turn off the lights. She was surprised, so was I. Wonder how awkward it will be on Thursday. I'm no great shakes to look at, and I am far too married and old to be embarrassed, but I feel bad for her. In every sense.

Monday/Tuesday

Biked around 20 minutes on the trainer Monday night. Tuesday night swim. 100 free warm-up, 5x200 (50 br, 100 free, 50 br; 50 ba, 100 free, 50 ba; 50 br, 100 free, 50 br; 200 free; 50 ba, 50 br, 100 free) @ < 4:10, 100 free warm down. Felt great and swam okay. I am getting pretty good at the kick turns, I only touch turned once tonight. My breast/free 200's were always under 3:50 and my final 200 free was around 3:30. Is anybody out there? Are you experiencing difficulties with the new beta blog, or just busy with work and school? Hope all is well.

Friday

I ran in the cold dark mississippi river air again. 4 miles, 29:41, ~7:24 pace. The trail go pretty icy in a couple of spots and I almost went down. My gear keeps me pretty warm and I enjoy the fact that I am a little nutty (people staring, etc.). I kept my heart rate to 159 average but it maxed at 181 the last 4oo meters when I was running a 6:30 pace. This felt like a good solid tempo run, no way I could have kept it up for another mile or two. Hopefully, I will be able to bike outside Saturday, the temp is supposed to be around 40. John

End of the week already

I haven't had as much time to run and blog this week. I'm back to getting up early for work. Alarm goes off at 5:30 to get me to my desk before 8:00. Then I'm back home a little before 7:00 and this week I was at the church for tithing settlement late on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Monday Kristi tried to get me to postpone my 8 mile run. She had made me a nice dinner to celebrate my new job. It was very sweet of her, so I ate light and headed out. It was 8:00 when I started and for the first time in a while I really didn't want to go. I was suppose to keep my slow steady pace of 10:17. I averaged 9:47. AHR 164 Max 174. As I got back close to home at mile 6 I really wanted to wrap it up and go sit on the toilet, but I did the last two miles anyway.

I missed my three mile easy run yesterday, and I've got a work party tomorrow night so I went ahead and did my tempo run tonight. Six miles total; warm-up; four miles at 8:48 (I did a 8:50 pace); and a cool down. Honestly the 8:50 was tough. I'm pretty tired getting less than 7 hours a night this week when I'm used to a solid 8+. Plus using my brain again is tiring too. And to complain even more I ate a sandwich before I went because I was starving and that just sat in my stomach. But I did it even thought I just wanted to sit my fat butt down for a rest then go to bed.

I'm determined to finish out this schedule and get faster. Hopefully it won't be as tough to get it all in after a couple of weeks. I'm busten my butt and I'm still slow. You two make me jealous. Well, at least it gives me something to work towards.

Monday

Ran 2.75 in the bitter cold tonight, in the dark, on the Mississippi River Trail. I wore my running pants with warmups over those, a long sleeve shirt, windbreaker, balaclava and gloves. Actually had to pull the balaclava up until the way back when the wind was in my face. I have discovered my gloves are perfect and the balaclave is perfect too. It is real easy to pull it up over my face but still cover my ears, etc. Anyway, I only had 20 minutes to spare so I ran the 2.75 in 20:12 for a pace of 7:23, ahr 161, mhr 177. My leg felt good too, and for the first time in more than a week my lower back doesn't throb. We will see how I feel tomorrow. John