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Dead hot chili peppers… April 30, 2006

Posted by clayton in : workout , 3 comments

First of all, I have to say, I had a miscalculation. I said the ride was gonna be 160km total but that’s when I go from the highway, which bikes aren’t allowed to use. So, the usual route…It was a total of 142km.

And the first half of the ride….I was amazed at myself, don’t know why but I was going pretty fast. It was a bit cloudy but humid and just a bit hot. Until the 60km point, the road was pretty much flat with one or two hills that was/were tough. After that, came the major hills. I mean, once you start climbing, the hills last forever but on the other hand, once you start speeding down, you could speed forever. It was that type of a course. There were times that I was dead tired but then, the next minute I have a smile on my face going 60kph down a pretty darn long hill;-) And this is where I got to.

the old house... The old house, it really needs some cleaning doesn’t it? 71km and my avg speed was 29.9kph!!! Really surprised but I wish I had that 0.1 added so it’ll sound better… 2:21′31, avg cadence 69rpm. And the nightmare starts because of the low cadence…

 The little “party” kinda thing finished in 30min or so. Again, I was surprised, it usually takes more than an hour!!! What a surprising day, I was surprised again, hehe. I met two cousins who just got into highschool and they’ve changed, big time…yup, they’ve gotten cute. *Don’t take that wrong, hehe.

 71km left to go…And the sun is shining right above. It was about 26C with 60~70% humidity, according to the weather clip. But that’s in the city, there obviously was MORE humidity in the forest/small mountain I went through. My ride home was tough from the beginning. I’m guessing it came from the low cadence ride to the old house but my legs were totally worn out. Everytime I finished climbing a hill, it was like there was a heart beating in both my legs or something. I even knew that if I pushed a few more seconds, I was gonna get a cramp. Made 4 stops, 3 to refill my bottle and buy cold drinks and one at the swimming pool, it’s Sunday and they were open!!! I never knew about the practice but I know I wouldn’t have bothered to go anyway. The last 20km was the hardest. Mostly flat but the tiredness and stifness in my legs were trying to stop me. Weird, but the only thing that kept me moving was the heat. I just wanted to get away from it…And the only way out? is to get home, hehe. Avg speed 25.0kph, avg cadence 71rpm, 2:51′14. So that’s a total of 5:12′45(142km) for the day. Can’t believe those IM finishers, they actually go 40 more and then run a marathon…should I change my blog title to, “Someday wanna be an IM finisher?” hehe.

 I’ll think about what I’ll do tomorrow when the time comes…good luck training to all!!!

Unpredicted attack April 29, 2006

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It’s about yesterday. I woke up with a soar throat, a lot of snot, a lot of coughing and some dizzyness. Didn’t go for the workout that was planned(it was already raining anyway) and didn’t go to school either. I stood home, took some medication and a LOT of water. Which I think was good because I’m back to normal today, I went for a crazy morning swim.

The swim was okay, my shoulders felt weird from not swimming for a pretty darn long time but still okay. 5900m, that’s what it said on the paper that the coach handed out. No matter how many times I turned the paper around, begging that it’s a mistake, that’s the number I saw. It was quite simple. 400m warm up, 800m pull, 1000m*2 pull with pads, 25m*24(0:30) pull, 50m*40(1:00) pull, 100m cool down. I finished 5500m, went only 800m on both of the 1000m*2pull. Other than that, everything felt pretty easy. I might start again with the swims next week.

Tomorrow, I’d love to say I’m gonna go for a group ride but nope…I’ve gotta go to this one thing called, “shee-mee.” It’s this one thing where, the WHOLE family(grandparents, cousins etc…) go to the graveyard(way different from the American ones) and wish the grand-grand parents good luck and then we have a little party type of thing and eat. Here’s one thing I’ve been wanting to say, especially after finishing a tri…”Since it’s only 80km away, I’m thinking of going with my bike.” hehe. The prob is, I don’t know the exact route so I guess I’ll have to leave a bit early. The best part is that it’s HILLY!!! and you’ll rarely see cars. Planned to be 160km total but I might make some wrong turns which is good, right? I could just say I felt the need to train more, hehe.

Push or not to push, that is the question!!! April 27, 2006

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Well I did push for the hill climb but my run really wasn’t much…

 I felt pretty strong throughout the climb. My legs weren’t tired because yesterday was more like an active rest day. Yes, my legs felt like they were gonna blow up during the uphills, especially when I just finished climbing and started with the flat, you know, when you have to get the speed back… Here’s the biggest news for today, I PRd!!! My time was 37′35, avg speed 27.3kph, avg cadence 73rpm. The best part of this, is that I know exactly why I was able to renew my PR. My form has changed and I now sit during the whole ride spinning a lot more than crushing my legs and using a lot of energy. I think that led to the high avg speed because I wasn’t left with much fatigue after climbing some of those big hills. Still a bit far from the 35min long term goal but I take it as a BIG step because that’s like 3min off my old PR!!!

 The run/jog? was baaad. After 1km, I got an EMERGENCY call from nature and my right ankle wasn’t in the mood to run. 2km was all I did, 11′11, now that really isn’t the lap time I get for a first lap…I’ll just have to squeeze in a better run next time.

 The textbooks that I ordered came today. The one’s I’m gonna use for my plan, studying and stuff like that. It only takes 30min per lesson so I’m planning on doing 3~4 on weekdays and add 2more for Wednesday and weekends. The plan’s gonna start in about 10days and I’m sure it’s gonna be tiring but I’ll push through it, just to become a better triathlete;-)

 I’m thinking of a morning workout tomorrow because the weather isn’t looking too well. I wish to go for another hill climb but if the road’s wet, I’ll just have a short run. The best I could do, is to make it a brick;-) After school, I’m gonna start figuring out how the textbooks work.

Last Wednesday swim for a while April 26, 2006

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It was raining all day long today…Amazingly, I didn’t get the headache that I usually do on this kind of a day. Came home, slept for a while and went for the last Wednesday swim at the “other” pool.

Since the BIG races are done for now, it was a fairly easy swim. 100m warmup, some drills and some flying around the end. Total of about 1500m? Not sure but it really was easy. Talked about how the race went and everybody said it was pretty bad. The race, “Miyako Strongman”, is a 3km swim, 155km bike and 42.195km run. 1500people are allowed to enter(qualify?) and a little above 100people didn’t finish the swim!!! It really was a stormy day and the waves were just killing the triathletes. There’s this one American who raced(he has all these BIG muscles) and he said he puked 3times before getting on the bike and he also crashed/fell on the first turn. The cool thing is, he finished!!! Everybody had the weird suntan that triathletes get, hehe.

Tomorrow, I’ll have a short brick. Maybe the same as yesterday, 17km hill climb+6km run. Or, I’ll just go two laps on the bike and make some “good” effort.

Strong&weak April 25, 2006

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Had a slow day at school, just like every other day. We were able to go home early a bit, like 10min or so, and I came home at 4:20pm. I felt good so I went out for a hill climb, don’t even remember when’s the last time I went. Still don’t have my computer so no info on avg speed/cadence etc…After the ride, I made it a brick, a 6km easy run/jog.

The ride started out a bit bad because there were a few trucks driving through a one lane road…Are they retarded?? or just a bit too selfish. One truck wasn’t able to make a left turn and ended up stopping 10cars and ME!!! But here’s the bright side of the ride, my legs were floating. I attacked almost every hill and still felt like going for a run!!! I didn’t take my wrist watch either but I still came back home in 45min and my pr is 40min!!! With all that stopping, I bet I could renew that;-) Anyway, it felt just FINE.

The run was at an even pace overall. 1-10′35, 2-11′12, 3-10′45, total of 32′34(5:25min/km). I felt like I could run forever at that pace but I’ve got one problem. I had a hard time pushing the pace up, no surprise, I haven’t been running after the fall. But…It really feels like I’ve lost the speed, sad but all I can do is just start again and I will.

I’ll have an easy mtb ride to the swimming pool, have a swim and ride back;-) Good luck training too all!!!

Felt good;-) April 24, 2006

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ahhh, no tiredness ofcourse, I haven’t been training at all!!! But today was different, I went to the lbs. I just went over to ask how much it’ll cost to get a whole new wheel but decided not to buy it.

 I was stuck in a lot of traffic on the way but still, I heard a high school girl’s voice saying, “Cool, he’s fast!” right when I rode past her and a few others. Didn’t know how fast I was going because I don’t have my computer on the bike yet…probably something like 30kph? And on the way back, I was pushing my butt up the last uphill and one elementary girl said, “Wow, that bikes fast!!” I barely even hear people saying that but it’s the first time hearing two people say it in one day and I feel GREAT!!! hehe.

 Tomorrow, I might have a short run, haven’t ran since the tri…Scared of how slow I’m gonna be but better than never getting back to it, right? No swim, maybe bike.

Nothing but tired April 23, 2006

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Woke up at 9am and went out to get a new computer!!! I had to set it up and it was just soooo tiring, it’s fast computer so that’s one good news. After I finished hooking it up to the internet and installing a few programs, which took me like….uhhh, pretty long(I’m not much of a computer guy) I took a nap. Woke up again and watched the “Miyako Strongman”, a triathlon race held in Miyako which a lot of the people I train with are participating in, and I guess they already finished because I didn’t see any of them. Is that good or bad?… At first, the weather was a bit like last week’s Ishigaki triathlon but this one’s a long race and it got HOT like summer according to the news.

Tomorrow, I’m thinking of stopping by at the lbs to buy a cheap wheel to set on my trainer so I wouldn’t have to keep on changing tires etc. I have to study for college and I really can’t waist any time for this…No swim, no run, just bike.

Phew, today's finally done April 22, 2006

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Had a volleyball tournament at school to welcome the new students that came in on April. Unfortunately, my class lost at the semifinals…I was playing the whole time and we didn't change ANY players, the other guys made some excuses so they could get away from playing…I guess they don't like that nervous feeling. Since I'm still worried about my leg a bit, I was at the back side of the court just receiving and getting away from the need to jump, hehe. It was a long day. When I got home, I took a nap, went to the store to get some tools so I could set my bike back up and I worked on it. All I need to do is, clean the chain, stick the aerobars on, stick the aerodrink bottle on and put the bottle holder, saddle bag etc back on. The simple stuff.

Tomorrow, I'll go for a swim in the morning, come home, bike and run. Not sure about the weather…Oh yeah, and I've gotta say thanks to Tribro, he's helping me out to move my blog;-) You rock!!!

The prototype, my test plan April 21, 2006

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This week&next week is gonna be "test week." To balance out my workouts and study time. And the plan? First of all, I'm gonna have one rest day, Wednesday. Here's how it's gonna go for weekdays. 4swims, 3trainer rides and 3runs.

Monday: I'll wake up early in the morning and have a 50+min trainer ride, go to school at 8:15am as usual, come home around 4:30pm, study for two hours and go for a short swim. I'm thinking of finishing the swim at 8:30pm so I could keep the rhythm and go to Tuesday. Sleep at 10:30pm

Tuesday: Wake up early in the morning for a brick, 25+min trainer ride followed by a 25+min run(4~6km?), the swim finishes at 8:15pm so the rest is the same as Monday.

Wednesday: Rest day for training but it's kinda like speed training for my studies. Come home and study, eat, study and sleep at 10:30pm.

Thursday: Another brick and everything goes the same as Tuesday except I finish the swim at 8:30pm.

Friday: Wake up for a 50+min run(10km?) and the rest is the same as Monday.

Okay…now we're into the weekends.

Saturday: Quit the morning swim and go for a group ride with the bike team, ofcourse they're faster than the triathletes…That's why I'm going. Come home a little before noon, eat, study for 4hours or so and go for a swim. Sleep at 10:30pm.

Sunday: Group ride with the triathletes, most likely they'll be running too. Not really thinking of a swim but I'd love to swim in the ocean because I feel that it really made me stronger with the waves. Study the whole afternoon after taking a short nap.

If I go with this plan, I'll have about 24hrs of study time per week and 18hrs of training. And I'll think of a different plan for summer break. Give me some advice!!! Any kind is FINE!!! thanks;-) Not sure which workout will be speed or lsd pace.

Oh yeah…today was one boring day. There's too much swimming going on these days and I'm getting sick of it!!! After the fall, I haven't been running or biking and that's like 2~3weeks ago? After the race, I haven't been riding or running either…only swimming and it's so damn boring!!! doing all that laps in the pool. I need to clean my bike and hop on it ASAP!!! Goes the same with running. Besides, I'm not really into the swim part of the tri right now, ocean swimming is FINE though, hehe. I have a problem with seeing the same old line over and over 2hrs a day…

For next year April 19, 2006

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Next time I do an oly, I'm gonna swim withing 25min, which I'm pretty sure I could even do it right now, the coach said I could finish in 22min before the race. For the bike, I'll go within 1hr15min and then a 40min run. I need the speed!!! Especially after I saw the pros race, it really motivated me to train…the only problem is that my former road bike that's covered in dirt now, is not back yet. I should take a pic before I clean it.

Yesterday's swim: 3000m+ swim, I don't remember what I did…All I remember is seeing a 50m*8(0:50) pull on the menu because it was pretty shocking, hehe.

Today's swim: Wasn't much, my knee and ankle still feels weird so I sticked with the pull buoy. 400m warm up, 150m*4(3:30), 2sets of 25m*4(0:45) speed and that was it. 1200m? Damn, when was the last time I swam that distance…

Tomorrow: Another easy day. I'm gonna call the post office or whoever has my bike and tell them to bring it. It's already on the island and they tried to deliver it 2times but I wasn't home. I'm gonna start planning for some major base training. The usual swim, mostly trainer rides on the bike and maybe 3or4 runs a week(2speed, 2lsd). If you have any advice, please leave a comment;-) Thanks and good luck training!!!