Week 6 The Week of the Virus

Virus: (from the Latin:virus meaning toxin or poison) is a sub-microscopic infectious agent that is unable to grow or reproduce outside a host cell. Viruses infect all cellular life. The first known virus, tobacco mosaic virus, was discovered by Martinus Beijerinck in 1899, and now more than 5,000 types of virus have been described. Most viruses which have been studied have a diameter between 10 and 300 nanometres. Now for those keeping track, there are a million nanometers in a millimeter. Can someone, for the love of God, please tell me how something so incredibly small can make me feel like total shit. Hell, I am 6 foot tall. I do not even want to do the math in order to figure out how many times bigger I am than a virus. The bottom line, one of those little SOB's completely fouled up my week. Not to mention, I would be without my bike for the weekend bea\cause of travel. Ahh what a week it was going to be.



The week started off promising, but midway through, I began to have pretty strong stomach cramps, fever and chills. Like an idiot, I went ahead and did my Wed. evening run. The run was a series of mile repeats. We went out near 6:20's and ended up doing three in a row at 6:17. For what it is worth that includes uphills and downhills. I am not sure if the workout helped me feel better at all. I do know that I have felt terrible since then. While away, a perfect Fall day enticed me into my track workout. Although still a little under the weather, I had visions of my high school days blazing around the track. If only for a few minutes, I was able to forget all about my stomach ache and just enjoy the feeling of pushing myself.



I do not know what it is about endurance athletes. Too many of us forget about things like health, sleep and food. Our soul focus becomes the workout of the day. Perhaps it is some sort of primal need to push ourselves beyond our own limits. Who knows, I just know I have it in me and could not get rid of it if I tried. Although I did not get in all my workouts this week, and I have generally felt like poop, I can still look back at the week and relish in the abilty to do the things I enjoy.

Getting healthier,

JTG

Week 5 (A runnin' fool)

Five weeks down and I am still feeling great. As far as exercise goes, the week had a couple of high points worth mentioning. Midweek, I got together with a few friends to run a 5K run test. The last 5K I ran was a huge disappointment. I went out way too fast and blew up big time. It was one of my slowest times in the recent past; 20:00. I had high hopes for the test because my running has been going pretty well. Before we could start we found out the secret service had closed the track we wanted to use because of the VP debates. We made our way to the near by park and let it rip. When the dust settled, my 5K time was 18:20; a sub six minute pace. It has been a while since I went that fast. The amazing thing is my HR average was at least 15 beats lower than the average I held during the bad 5K. I hope that means I have a little more speed in my old legs.

The other workout of note was Friday's run. It was one of those beautiful fall days. A perfect temperature, sunny skies and no wind. I just started running and did not finish until 9+ miles had passed. I kept my HR under 140 and was excited to see that my average pace was 7:43. It was the kind of day that I wish I could have every time I go out the door.

For many others in the world of triathlon, this week marks the beginning of IM week. IM Hawaii, the Ironman World Championships, happens this weekend. The picture at the top of my blog is the water near the start of the swim. It is where I hope to be one year from now. For now, I will be living vicariously through the reports of others on the big island.

Stay focused,

JTG

One month down

I am not sure that a whole month has gone by since I have returned to training. Life is flying by right now. My workouts are getting increasingly harder, but I am still feeling fresh and ready to do them. I went through a monthly bike fitness test with a nice gain. I ended up racing one of the local triathletes through a series of 4 mile repeats @ 6:20. All of this done without too much fatigue. I have been tring to ease into the month because of the all too common fear of injury. These past few years have been the most injury free I have ever experienced and they contain some of the most intense training I have ever done.

October is going to be challenging for me. I will be traveling for 2 out of 4 weekends. It is all too easy to forget that I do triathlons to keep myself sane. I will try to move around some of my bike workouts and focus on the runs during my travels. The trips are too short and too full to even imagine bringing my bike.





Ah my bike, It has been with me through a lot, but before IM CdA, I will be riding a new steed. I have not decided what to get, but rest assured I am excited about the selection process. I am already looking forward to taking the new bike out and pedaling as fast as I can, just like my son showing me how fast he can run with his new shoes.

JTG

What in the heck am I doing?

I was thinking about what I was going to put into my weekly wrap up and thought that a little pre-explanation might be of help. In early 2007, I purchased a power meter and began IM training with the help of Rich Strauss. My first test with the new gear and training program was IM Florida. On what seemed to be a perfect day, I went 10:15. Moments after I crossed finish line I began to think about all the ways I could take time off my IM splits.

That brings me to current day and the crew at Endurance Nation.(see links) Rich and Patrick, have developed an "on-line" tri team. The training is based upon very sound principles. Right now I am in the third week of their Out Season training program. As I have mention before, it is comprised of a lot of short fast workouts. Throughout the 16 week program, I will have the opportunity to test my fitness with a series of benchmark tests. Yesterday was one of them. 2x20min with 2min rest on the bike. My normalized power over the 42min interval becomes my functional threshold. It is a true test of how you can handle the pain. It went well for me yesterday. I increased from 255watts to 272. I hope that it will continue to increase. If anyone who reads this is interested I suggest you head over to the right and click on the Endurance Nation link to see what the training is all about.

JTG

Week 3 (My rebirth into a triathlete)

If you read the previous post, you realize that I am now feeling like an athlete again. It is a funny thing, feeling like an athlete. Being an athlete is something that has defined me longer then my job or my family. I have been swimming, biking or running since grade school. It has always been a part of my life. The fatigue, the soreness, my body does not feel right without them. In fact, my wife would say that I am pretty grumpy when I am not exercising. However, she was amazed at how much got down after Ironman Florida last year.

Now on to the pressing details. Week three, 71 miles of biking and 30 miles of running. Anyone who looks at this, who has done an ironman will be under impressed. What is worth noting is that these workouts were done for the most part at zone 3 or above. My favorite workout of the week was 2 x 1.5 miles at threshold pace. Luckily for me my inactivity lead to a relatively slow definition of threshold pace. A second test in one week should have me at a little faster pace. I went out with someone from my local tri club that has really become an amazing triathlete over the past two years. He is 10 years younger and was pushing me pretty hard. We settled into 6:20 / 6:18 for the two sets. During the sets I really felt as though it was my legs not my heart limiting me. My HR was 160's with a Max of 189. It hurt, but it really felt good to push.

I will do my best to keep this updated. I am hoping to figure out how to add some pictures in order to spice up the thoughts. Everyone should consider themselves lucky that I did not post a pic of all the hair that came off my legs.

Stay focused,

JTG

A Clean Close Shave

Well, it finally has happened. I have completed my transformation into a triathlete. Yes, I shaved my legs. I think that male triathletes have a long standing debate about to shave or not to shave their legs. I have heard so many reason why and why not to shave. All I know is that for the last15+ years my legs have been shaved. Ever since I started competitive bike racing in college my legs have been shaved. The only time I have really seen hair on my legs has been during the last 8 months. To me it represents a change from inactivity to the world of serious training. So, look out. I am back training and I am having a lot of fun.

Tomorrow the weekly recap,

JTG

Week number 2 (Getting back into it)

This overall was a good and bad week. As the exercise goes, I really think that my body is getting back into the swing of things. I am finding a little more power in the legs and i seem to be able to sustain a little more speed when running. It really isn't much, but I put in 58 miles on the trainer and 18 miles running. I know I am starting slow, but the miles I am logging are at near top speed so the going is a little tough.

The bad part of the week can be attributed to the death of my Garmin 305. I really, really love the watch, but this is my second one and it is killing me when it goes down. The worst part is it is my second watch in less than 6 months. I did purchase it from Walmart online and perhaps they only get the crappy ones. I am not sure what to do but I am on the lookout for something.

Until next week.

JTG

The Cda Plan

This is the first sample entry into what will be a review of my life as i make a hard push at the Ironman distance traithlon. It will contain mostly summaries of information along with any random thoughts i will have to add along the way.

JTG