Why am I wasting my time? March 31, 2006
Posted by clayton in : workout , add a commentThe usual 3km warm up run and a morning swim. After I was done with that, I rushed myself to school because I was supposed to buy my textbooks with some friends. Yup, we started bending ALL the papers that we printed out yesterday…ummm, that's like a total of 4000 or more papers. And this book we're making, it's for the class and I have a problem with helping with this. We ABSOLUTELY aren't forced to make it but the majority of the class voted to make it….Me? I didn't raise my hand, neither did my friends. And we're the ones who already did HALF of what needs to be done. All the girls voted to make this book and so far, I only know one who really helped, that's out of 20. There are 40people in our class and 4people finishing half of what needs to be done just isn't fair, especially because we didn't raise our hands during the vote. The deadline is tomorrow and here's my decision, "FU*+ THIS, I'm not willing to sacrifice any more of my time." It just makes me feel stupid. We were told to come tomorrow by some of the classmates and the teacher but my friends and I were like, "Okay, whatever, yaya, like you did anything?" Had an afternoon swim afterwards and I am tired…
The morning swim: 200m warm up and I totally forgot what I did, forgot to look at the workout paper after I was done. But, I remember doing 200m*1sprint, 25m*4sprints and a 100m cool down. Somewhere around 4000m total. Still can't move my body much in the morning but for some reason, I PRd on the 25m sprints. And the PR? I held the same lap time for 3 of the 25ms and dropped it by 0.2sec on the last one.
The afternoon swim: This one was pretty simple. 400m warm up, 100m*8 kick(2:30), 100m*8 pull with pads(2:00), 50m*16 pull(1:10, easy/hard), 50m*20(0:55), 50m loosen up, 50m*20(1:05), 100m cool down. Total of 4950m, I actually did the whole workout!!! YAY;-) Am I the only one who thinks this? When I saw the workout paper and it said 4950m, I thought, 'Why not make it 5000m??"
Tomorrow: 3km warm up run, morning swim, bike to the lbs, come home and go for another swim.
Phew, that took a long time March 30, 2006
Posted by clayton in : workout , add a commentI ate a little piece of bread this morning and went straight to the swimming pool, got the 3km warm up run in and started swimming.
The morning swim: You know what? I'm gonna start taking it easy with the morning swims, my body just doesn't move in the morning. 400m warm up and I have no idea what I did for the rest 1hour30min or so. The plan was to go 5200m so I'm guessing I did somewhere around 4000m. I remember doing some kicks, some pulls, some swims…Sounds like the usual swim, doesn't it?
After the swim, I went to school to help my friend print out a hell of a lot of papers…I was thinking I'd be able to leave school by 12pm and eat, go for a bike ride etc but it was a little past 2pm by the time we finished, that just SUCKS!!! No bike ride and I just went back to the swimming pool for the afternoon swim.
The afternoon swim: 400m warm up, 50m*6(1:05), 50m*6(1:00), 50m*4(0:55), 100m*4pull(2:00), 200m*3 pull with pads(3:00, didn't make it in time), 100m*4 pull with pads(2:00), 4sets of 100m*1(1:40)+25m*4(0:30)+30sec rest+100m*1(2:00), 100m cool down. I noticed that I was going at a 1min05sec/50m pace for the warm up…I used to lose breath going at that pace, amazing. I missed out on some of the 25ms and ended up swimming a total of 3600m. That's about 7600m for today…TIRED!!!
Tomorrow: 3km warm up run and morning swim, go to school to help a friend again and also buy some textbooks. Go home, eat, ride or run and have another swim.
This is why I like training for triathlons… March 29, 2006
Posted by clayton in : workout , add a commentYup, I'm still a beginner, never even raced but hey, atleast I train…Isn't it amazing how a nice bike ride could make up for a horrible swim? Well, I had that happen today. 3km warm up run, morning swim, 40km bike ride and the afternoon swim.
3km run: The terrible thing started from this. Man was I feeling sick…My plan for today's warm up run was to finish it in 12min but ended up doing it in 13'58. I was just feeling awful, dizzy and had a stomach ache at the same time. I found out why, it was the bread I ate for breakfast…It was edible 3days ago but I didn't notice it went bad and just ate it today. Amazing how things change.
The morning swim: Thanks to the bread, I was the first one to start swimming but obviously swam the least. The coach planned a 5950m total workout but I only got 3750m done, the worst I've ever done. 400m warm up, 100m*5kick, 50m*14(0:45), 50m*14(0:50), 50m*27(0:55), 100m cool down. One good thing, the fast guy who burned out is now back, I was pretty lonely swimming with the girls…atleast I made some elementary friends, hehe, they're funny.
The 40km ride: I'd call it SSD, or "short slow distance" the easiest workout that anyone in the world could come up with. I felt sooo bad after the morning swim and decided to just ride as slow as I can and took my heartrate. Max 171bpm, avg 134bpm. Forgot to press the lap button and I'm guessing my avg speed was around 24kph. There was one more reason for this ride, I need to get some sun…The triathletes at the other pool said I should get some sun before the race because if I go without doing so, I'll burn out pretty easily. Nice refreshing ride.
The afternoon swim: Total of 1900m, speed training. This is becoming my favorite. 400m warm up, 150m*3(kick pull swim 50m each at 3:00 cycle), 25m*16(0:45), 50m*8 sprints(2:30), 100m cool down. We always take our lap times and try to get the average time faster on the 50m*8, every Tuesday. I PRd again!!! Even though I stopped to fix my goggles during the last lap, hehe. I actually slipped when I dived and my goggles HIT my eyes, that really hurt…but a PR is a PR. The coach said next Tuesday's gonna be just one 50m and that's all. He told me to come no matter what but I really don't feel like going to the swimming pool for one 50m sprint when I could just run or bike…The coach told me, "It's not all about having 4000m+ swims, you need this kinda practice too." yeah, yeah whatever, hehe. I understand but for me, it's not all about swimming ya know…For some reason, I have NO INTEREST in swim races, hehe. It's fun to watch though…
My plan…Next year, I wanna enter the Miyako triathlon where you swim 3km, bike 150km(155?), and run a marathon. Then the next year, I wanna race in IM Japan. I need to study for college entrance exams but it's not like I'm gonna quit training. Just make it short&high quality workouts.
Tomorrow: Eat a healthy breakfast, 3km warm up run, morning swim, help a friend print out 40books, have a ride or run and then swim.
Holy crap, I swam a little over 8km today March 28, 2006
Posted by clayton in : workout , add a commentSad though, I didn't get on the trainer nor did I go for a run. Wait, I went for a 3km warm up run but that's all. Had a morning swim and an afternoon swim.
Morning swim: 400m warm up, 300m*3kick(7:30, the fast ones did 400m), 100m*14pull(2:00), 4sets of 200m*1(3:30)+25m*8(0:30)+1min rest, 25m*4sprints, 100m cool down. Total of 4300m. I felt strong after I got through the 4sets of 200m+25m*8+1min rest, I really had trouble doing 2sets of these on Saturday. Everything's getting a bit easier but still tough, it's always the first and last few sets of whatever that's painful…Will I make it through? I better or else the coach is gonna stare at me with those sharp eyes, making me feel miserable. The fastest guy came today but he still looked a bit burnt out, he stopped a few times.
Afternoon swim: 400m warm up, 300m*3kick(7:30), 100m*8pull(2:00), 25m*16pull with pads(0:30), 3sets of 200m(3:30)+25m*8(0:30)+1min rest+200m hard(4:30), 100m cool down. I was sooo ready to fight against time during the last 200m hard but my shoulders just wouldn't listen to me and my legs couldn't kick any faster, stamina is what I need. Well, I need everything….hehe. That's a total of 8700m for today.
Tomorrow: Morning swim and an afternoon swim. This time, I'll definately get a trainer ride and a run in. My goal for spring break is to go to all the swims that are planned and run every 3km warm up run…which sadly, the swimmers aren't forced to do. The forecast predicts rain, let's see how much they've improved…
Did I say 8km? March 26, 2006
Posted by clayton in : workout , add a commentWell, I thought it'll be about 8km total for today's swim but it didn't quite go as I thought it would. Had a 3km run, morning swim, 6km jog and an afternoon swim.
The morning swim: Man, was I lonely…None of the swimmers came. Wasn't surprised either because the fastest guy burned out, one girl said she wasn't gonna come, another girl goes to cram school, another girl barely comes and another guy never comes on Saturday morning. 400m warm up, 200m*3 kick(6:00, my weak point…), 100m*14 pull(2:00), 2sets of 200m*1swim(3:30)+25m*8swim(0:30), 25m*4 sprints which turned out to be 30m*4 because the coach said I need to practice my flip turns, then finally 100m cool down. Total of 3400m for the morning. I really didn't have any time to think about how lonely I was, hehe. I felt lonely after the swim.
6km jog: First of all, my way of deciding what I'd call a "jog" or a "run" depends on the distance and time. It it's 10km+, I call it a run. If my pace is faster than or at 5min/km, I call it a run. If not, it's a jog. 1st lap-9'17, 2nd-11'08, 3rd-11'01. Total of 31'26. I wasn't in the mood to go out and run but I felt guilty after saying I'll run and ended up not running for the past few days. So, I went in the middle, went out for a jog. No panting, no pain and it felt pretty good with the sun shining.
Afternoon swim: 400m warm up, 2sets of 25m*16swim(0:30), 50m*40(1:00), 50m*2sprints, 25m*4sprints, 100m cool down. This time, the girl who goes to cram school and the guy who never comes on Saturday morning came. At first, I was shocked when I saw 50m*40 but it wasn't hard at all, I guess I was just scared of the number 40, hehe. Swam a total of 3500m in the afternoon. After the swim, the cram school girl and the guy who never comes on Saturday morning both went home pretty fast so I made a decision…I played around with the little kids. They're funny, first they talk about swimming and 2seconds later, they start talking about cartoons and then after another second they talk about their dreams, amazing… One of the kids came up to me and said, "I wanna ride a bike" because the coach had his outside and the next thing he said was, "I wonder if I could become a professional swimmer" How can they connect "riding a bike" to "becoming a professional swimmer." Anyway, it was nice swimming and playing around.
Tomorrow: I'll take it easy, maybe go out for a ride or stay on the trainer. Maybe go out for another jog. Definately gonna clean my room!!! There's so much clothes on my desk that I found my cat sleeping on it today…
The fastest guy burned out March 25, 2006
Posted by clayton in : workout , add a commentNow this was surprising, the fastest guy is always a swimming machine. I was a bit shocked because he was stopped during the 50m intervals which came first. Kinda like telling a little kid that Santa doesn't exist, hehe. Something really hit me, even the fastest swimmers need rest. It's not like I didn't know this but I've never seen this guy stop. He went home after 30min or so and I spent the rest of the time with another FAST girl.
The swim: 400m warm up, 50m*8 swim(1:10), 50m*8 swim(1:00), 50m*8 swim(0:55), 100m*5 kick, 150m*3pull with pads(3:00), 100m*4pull with pads(2:00), 3sets of 100m swim(2:00 at pr+7sec)+25m*4(0:30)+1min rest+100m swim(3:00 at pr+4sec), 25m*4sprints, 100m cool down. Total of 4050m, it was planned to be 4500m, better than yesterday…If it wasn't for that other girl, I would've been dead by now. I was drafting a bit, hehe. Hope I could lead someday…
Tomorrow: 3km warm up run+morning swim, bike ride, run, afternoon swim. I haven't been doing what I wrote down, feeling a bit guilty these days. That'll probably help me to push myself out the door tomorrow. If I stick with the faster guys, I might swim 8km total tomorrow…Wouldn't it be awkward if I said I ran 3km and swam 8km? hehe.
I guess I'm the living dead? March 24, 2006
Posted by clayton in : workout , add a commentWhen I got back home from school, I hit the bed in no time. My legs were stiff and just sitting around during school is pretty tiring. I planned to have a trainer ride but missed out AGAIN!!! But I did have a deadly swim though…
The swim: 400m warm up, 50m*6kick(1:00), 100m*20pull(1:50), 200m*7(4:00, missed one), 50m*8kick(1:30), 25m*4sprints, 100m cool down. Looking at what I did, nothing really seems impossible but it was the 100m*20&200m*7 that was killing me. There were six of us using one lane and ofcourse the fastest guy starts first and I started last out of the six. So for the last half of every 100m, I was kicking my butt off to run away from the fastest guy, hehe. After the 50m*8kick, two girls looked at me and laughed. I asked why and they both said I look dead, hehe, I kinda noticed that. If I was drooling, I bet I wouldn't have noticed at all, that's how tired I was. Total of 4600m, the faster guys did 5500m…That's nearly 1km…
Tomorrow: Last day of school!!!! But the weather isn't looking too well these days. 5rainy days and finally get 1sunny day, how sad…Trainer ride, run and swim. My legs should be okay by tomorrow.
So what's my maxhr? March 23, 2006
Posted by clayton in : workout , add a commentI read Libor's comment and decided to check my "predicted" maxhr with my hrm. Started at 4:30pm or so and everything went fine, 1min lying down on the bed, pushed the start button and waited for a beep which I never heard…Ended up waking up at 6:15pm and I was sooo confused, hehe. Oh yeah, and my hrmax…It said 196bpm, but I honestly think it's wrong because I'm able to push at 190bpm for a few minutes. Maybe that's why my zone5 time is REALLY long. Is there a specific time that I should do this test? In the morning? Before I sleep? And what does vo2max mean? Everything is so new, am I one of those old people who can't catch up with technology? Anyway, I missed out on the trainer ride but had a 20km ride to the swimming pool and back and also had a swim.
The first 10km: I felt a little sick because I ate some chocolate 10min before I ran, how stupid can I be? hehe…Took it easy for the first half and decided to push the pace up a bit after 5km. 49'37, maxhr 191bpm, avghr 176bpm. I thought that was a decent time for a hilly course like this.
The swim: Man, did I feel tired…But after the 200m warm up and the 100m scarling+pull, I was pretty much ready for intervals. Did another 100m of forming(streamline etc…) and a pre-interval type of thing, 700m swim(200m form, 200m hard, 100m form, 100m hard, 50m form, 50m hard). Then the main intervals, 100m*8(2:00)speed. Went at an average pace of 1min40s or so, not so fast but not too slow either…There's this one 7th grader who's a pretty fast swimmer but he seems to make the same mistakes every week. He uses up all his energy in the middle of the intervals, hehe. He starts in front of me but today, he gave me the "pole position" after the 4th 100m interval. I'm pretty sure he's gonna become a pro triathlete someday if he continues.
The second 10km: My, oh my, I felt pretty bad after it, GUILT!!! I took it too slow the first half, I wasn't able to make it a sub50min run. Ended up running 10km in 51'12, maxhr192bpm, avghr 179bpm. It was awesome how there was NO PAIN in the legs during the run and after. This Wednesday 20km run is some good base training. Total of 1:40'47, much better than last week, and it was pretty hot&humid outside+strong winds like always.
Tomorrow: Trainer ride and then a swim. I'll check up on how the legs feel and decide what kind of trainer ride I'm gonna have. At the moment, I feel like PUSHING HARD!!!
Japan wins!!! March 22, 2006
Posted by clayton in : workout , add a commentI had a 50min trainer ride and a swim today. I was pretty much stuck with my computer to see what's happening with the finals, Cuba vs Japan. Japan led throughout the whole game but on the bottom of the eight inning, the Cubans scored 2 and that really scared me, hehe. I was tired after the game but got on the trainer.
The trainer ride: 5min warm up, 3sets of 1min*3(right, left, both) and 31min of keeping the HR above 80% and then 5min cool down. Max hr was 192bpm and avg was 166bpm. I was surprised because out of the 50min I rode, I was in zone5 for 18'52. Pushing too hard everyday is only gonna lead to over training so I think I'll take it easy tomorrow.
The swim: I remember I did a 400m warm up, 600m kick, and 100m*8 pull(2:00) and then, things got a little out of control. Why? I'm with the faster ones now, they just keep on going and I can't keep track anymore. Swam somewhere around 3500m~4000m.
Tomorrow: Check my form on the trainer and take it easy. Have the 10km run to the swimming pool, swim and run back. Try to make the run at hravg 85% or above, looking outside right now, it looks like it's gonna rain tomorrow…
Funny way to gain confidence March 19, 2006
Posted by clayton in : workout , add a commentToday, I woke up at 7:15am and I was like, "HOLY CRAP!!! I'm gonna be late…" the morning swim starts at 7:30 but before that, we have to run 3km so it starts at about 7:45~50. I got my butt out of bed, got ready in 5min and went out the door around 7:20. Got to the pool at 7:40 and ran 3km in a hurry and I made it on time. I didn't have a trainer ride or a run either but went for another swim in the afternoon.
The morning swim: This is when I gained confidence. 200m warm up and then kick. It was 2000m for the fast ones but I was told to stop when they finish. I did 1500m, so, that means I could take a kick board to the tri and kick the whole 1500m, right? Well, the waves may bother me but still possible. When I feel like stopping, I could just say, 'wait a minute, I kicked 1500m that Saturday…blah blah' hehe. Then came 2sets of 25m*10scarling(0:40)+pull 25m*8(0:30)+pull 50m*8(1:00), 25m*4 sprints, 100m cool down. Total of 3600m…It was only 9:30am and I was dead, hehe.
The afternoon swim: Man, I slept like 3hrs before the swim and I was still tired. The coach told us that we're gonna be doing some speed practice so we wouldn't swim as much. But I got to the pool and for some reason, the coach smiled and handed the workout plan to me. The first thing I did was look at the bottom of the paper where it says TOTAL. This time, it said TOTAL4100M. It reminded me, I'm swimming with the faster guys…Not as much meant 2000m only two days ago, hehe. 400m warm up, 2sets of 25m*10(0:40)+25m*12 pull(0:30)+50m*8 swim(1:00), 200m*6(4:00), 25m*4sprints(2:00), 50m*2sprints(4:00), 25m*4sprints(1:30), 200m cool down. Total of 4000m, I missed out on the scarling part, 2 for each set. 7600m for today…wow, feels so unreal.
Tomorrow: I think I'll take it easy. Definately have a trainer ride but maybe focus on form. Have a run too but don't know how long. Monday and Tuesday is gonna be a deadly day, the pool is closed to public but opened for the swimmers=4000m+swim…ewww. Let's say, I'm not chicken enough to take a day off, hehe.