Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

Man, I am messing up dates left and right...

[B][U]June 27[/U][/B]
Forgot to mention that last night I golfed a few holes to prepare for today. Today I was fortunate enough to walk 18 holes of golf at Winged Foot, where the U.S. open was played. The course beat me up for not playing yet this year, but it was the perfect active rest day!

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]June 28[/U][/B]
[U]At Lunch[/U]
Swam: 2x500M, 1x200M, 1x100M, 4x50M
[U]After Work[/U]
Biked 15 moderately hilly miles (47:35)
Went with a friend tonight, so I was a couple of minutes slower. That's ok, since I'm tapering this week. Felt like crap today, almost like I'm getting sick. A good night's sleep will help.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]June 29[/U][/B]
2.7 mile hill run (untimed)
20 minute TRX circuit
3x10 DH pull-ups
Stretched

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]June 30[/U][/B]
Cycled 15 miles ((463 feet of climbing, 45:31, PR by 5 secs, didn't wear HR monitor since I just wanted to go out for an easy ride)
I surprised myself with the PR tonight since it was supposed to be an easy ride just to keep the legs fresh for the race this weekend. I won't complain!

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]July 1[/U][/B]
Swam: 2x500M, 1x200M, 2x100M, 2x50M
Off to Canada, sprint triathlon on Sunday

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]July 2[/U][/B]
Easy 1.5 mile run
Some light swimming in the lake
Fine-tuned the bike

[B][U]July 3[/U][/B]
Sprint Triathlon (500M swim, 20K bike, 5k run)
1:16 (4th in age group, 22/110 overall, 16/110 on bike, 32/110 on swim, 39/110 on run)

I was hoping for sub-1:15, but didn't quite get it, so I'm a little disappointed, but this is an ok result for the first tri in 12 years. I lost over a minute on the bike course due to traffic issues. I lost a minute taking off my wetsuit since I hadn't practiced that. Took too much time in transitions and, despite telling myself not to do it, I walked through the water breaks on the 5K run instead of just toughing it out for the last 15 minutes. The race was short enough that I didn't need the water station and I had already taken in enough water on the bike leg. Had I done all of that properly, I would have been well under 1:15. Drinking beer by the bonfire at the lake the night before probably didn't help either, but it was fun. It was a humid 97 degrees on the course, so the heat out on the run was brutal and messed with my head a bit. There were some blistering fast 50-54 year-olds. They took 2 of the top 3 spots. I ended up 4th in my age group.

Can't wait for the next tri on July 24th. Hopefully I worked out some of the kinks on this one, because the next one is twice as long.

[U][B]July 4[/B][/U]
Swam: 7x200M, 7x100M, 2x50M

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

Nice job Jim! Sounds like you had some stiff competetion, add in high humidity and 97 degree heat? :super:

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

Thanks Dave! Yeah, there are a lot of very fast 50-54 year-olds. Its one of the most competitive age groups. Seems like only the hard-core stick it out this long.

[B][U]Tuesday, July 5 and Wednesday, July 6[/U][/B]
Busy in general and didn't have time to work out. Probably not the worst idea to take a couple of days off, although I hate doing it.

[B][U]Thursday, July 7[/U][/B]
[U]At Lunch[/U]
Ran 3 miles (first mile at 7.0 mph, second mile at 7.5 mph, third mile at 8.0 mph), then
Swam 1000M straight through. No time on the swim, since there's no lap clock at the outdoor pool. I should start wearing my racing watch.
[U]After work[/U]
Played around with the TRX suspension system and did some jump rope practice.

[B][U]Friday, July 8[/U][/B]
[U]Warm-Up[/U]
3 circuits of (5 DH pull-ups, 15 squats, 10 push-ups, 15 sit-ups, max unbroken DUs). Did 31/39(tied PR)/40 (new PR) on the DUs. Like a dumb-a**, I stopped and celebrated after I got #40 instead of getting as many as I could.
10 minutes of dynamic stretching
Main Workout
20 minutes on the TRX trainer, working the core and legs really hard, then
2.6 mile run (289 foot high hill in the middle, 22:48). About a minute off the PR with very little effort. Ran very easy.

[B][U]Saturday, July 9[/U][/B]
[U]At Lunch[/U]
Swam 1600M straight through, then drove home and
Cycled 25 miles (1300 ft of elevation gain, 1:28).
I was all set to break soundly break my PR on my normal 25 mile route (with 1200 ft of climbing), when I came upon a downed tree and power line. I had to detour over a huge hill, so lost a lot of time, but still beat my old time. Different route though so I won't log the time.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Sunday, July 10[/U][/B]
Ran 20 miles (3:30, 650 feet of elevation gain, HR avg. 134, HR max 150, distance PR by 2 miles).

The purpose the run was to extend my "wall" and not to run fast. The targeted pace was at least 2 minutes/mile slower than my best effort. I'm targeting 9 mins/mile for the marathon in Oct and did 8:28/mile for the half marathon. I ran 4 minutes and walked 1 minute, averaging 10:30/mile. 10:30 might have been a touch fast, but not too far off my targeted pace.

I'm not gonna lie, this wasn't much fun. I didn't run until 2:30, so I think it was over 90 degrees. Two 10 mile loops with a nasty little 150 foot climb at the end of each loop. I didn't take much pleasure out of doing the hill the last time around. Overall, the first 10 miles were easy, the next 5 ok, and the last five would not be classified as entertainment. I forced myself to keep walking after this was over and stretched and rolled thoroughly. Showered and had a little nap, during which muscles I didn't even realize I had started cramping.....lol! Anyway, I feel better now. These runs are hard but necessary and worth it.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]July 11[/U][/B]
Swam 1600M straight thru

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]July 12[/U][/B]
Cycled 15 miles (463 feet of climbing, 44.17 PR by 1:14)

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]July 13[/U][/B]
2.6 mile recovery run (289 foot hill in the middle, 22:48, avg HR 130, max HR 142), then
[U]quick circuit on trx suspension system[/U]
swimmer pull, ab roll-outs, side planks, front planks while pushing up from resting on elbows to resting on hands, leg curls, lunges into high knee step, push-ups/knees to opposite elbow combo, pistol/rear lunge crossover combo, push-ups with hands on trx and feet on medicine ball (15-20 reps per exercise and 1 minute on planks)
Stretched

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]July 14[/U][/B]
Swim at lunch
1x225M, 2x200M, 1x525M, 1x250M, 2x100M, 2x50M
1700M in total

Kind of mixed things up, like a swimming fartlek, today. Just went with the flow. Beautiful day to swim at the outdoor pool. So invigorating!

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[QUOTE=Jim Colby;960626][B][U]July 14[/U][/B]
Swim at lunch
1x225M, 2x200M, 1x525M, 1x250M, 2x100M, 2x50M
1700M in total

Kind of mixed things up, like a swimming fartlek, today. Just went with the flow. Beautiful day to swim at the outdoor pool. So invigorating![/QUOTE]

Must be nice!! I hardly get a chance to swim, I will have to get the kids out and swim this weekend.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

Yeah Nik, I love swimming, particularly at the outdoor pool at lunch. Breaks the day up nicely!

[B][U]Friday, July 15[/U][/B]
Ran 2.6 miles, very hilly, about 23 mins, HR about 129 on average
TRX workout afterwards
3x10 DH pullups
Stretched

[B][U]Saturday, July 16[/U][/B]
Ran 1/2 mile to HS track
3x1 mile, 1x2 miles, 1x1 mile (400M RI, medium pace, about 7:50 mins/mile)
Ran 1/2 mile home
6.75 miles in total
Stretched

[B][U]Sunday, July 17[/U][/B]
Cycled 62 miles, prob 5-6k of elevation gain, about 4 hours (went slow)
Stretched

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Monday, July 18[/U][/B]
[U]Recovery Day[/U]
Swam 1050 straight through at easy pace

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]July 19th[/U][/B]
Ran 4.5 miles (600 ft of climbing, 39:36, HR around 130)
Tapering off this week for olympic distance tri on Sunday.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]July 20[/U][/B]
Rest day

[B][U]July 21[/U][/B]
Cycled 15 miles, moderately hilly
Messed up clock, so didn't get a good time, but I think it was fast.

[B][U]July 22[/U][/B]
Swam 1000M continuously
Packing for Olympic tri on Sunday

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

Go hard at the triathlon Jim, looks like you put in the work for it, 1000m swim non-stop sounds impossible for me.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]July 23[/U][/B]
Thanks Scott! The triathlon swim will be 1500. I want to go out hard, but need to save something for the bike and the run, especially in this heat.

Ran an easy 1 mile today with some accelerations, then stretched.

Jumping in the car now to go register. Next update will be post-race tomorrow night.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

Hey Jim, what gives? No update on the triathlon?! Hope all is well.... :)

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

Sorry, no updates for a while. I've been on vacation and was very busy with work before that. Here's a quick update.

[B][U]July 24[/U][/B]
New Jersey State Olympic Triathlon - This was miserable in the heat and humidity. The water for the swim was 87 degrees and it only got worse from there. It took me 3 hours, which was about 20-25 minutes slower than my goal. I thought I was going to pass out in the run and had to walk for much of it. Half way through the run, my only goal was to not quit and to finish. I was upset afterwards, but I think the weather just got to me in a bad way.

[B][U]July 25-26[/U][/B]
Busy at work, discouraged from the race and rested.

[B][U]July 27[/U][/B]
Cycled 20 miles, ran 3 miles

[B][U]July 28[/U][/B]
Busy at work, so did not work out.

[B][U]July 29[/U][/B]
Cycled 15 miles, ran 4.5 miles

[B][U]July 30[/U][/B]
Swam 1 mile

[B][U]July 31[/U][/B]
Swam 1 mile, Cycled 30 miles, ran 10K (Olympic tri distance + a little more). My splits were equivalent to a 2:50 oly tri and I was not going at race pace. I felt a lot better after doing this, as it means my poor performance the week before was due to the heat. It was a dry 95 degrees today, much better than the week before.

[B]August 1[/B]
Travel day to Canada, so no workout.

[B][U]August 2[/U][/B]
Biked 32 miles, then ran 5 miles.

[B][U]August 3[/U][/B]
10K trail run (52 mins, not race pace)

[U][B]August 4[/B][/U]
1 mile open water swim in Lake Huron (kind of wavy, so tough going against the wind)

[B][U]August 5[/U][/B]
Cycled 32 miles, then ran 2 miles at easy pace

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]August 6[/U][/B]
Cycled 36 miles, then a 1 km open water swim

[B][U]August 7[/U][/B]
Travel day back from Canada.

[B][U]August 8[/U][/B]
[U]Brick Night[/U]
Cycled 15 miles (44:30, 13 secs off PR, avg HR 124, max HR 145), then ran 2.6 miles (22:50, 56 secs off PR, avg. HR 142 max HR 152).
Total time of 1:07:20 (PR by 1:15)

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]August 9[/U][/B]
4.6 mile run (2 steep hills of ~1 mile each, 38:20, PR by 1:15, avg HR 134, max HR 152)
3x10 DH pull-ups
stretched

Felt good. Had to run slow in the dark but still got a PR.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

I've been away on vacation, first to my brother's wedding in Toronto and then driving my son out to school at the University of Wyoming. I did get some workouts in though, as follows:

[B][U]August 10-11[/U][/B]
Can't remember exactly what I did, but I think I swam 2K one day and biked 15-20 miles the next.

[B][U]Friday, August 12[/U][/B]
Drove to Toronto. Rest day.

[B][U]Saturday, August 13[/U][/B]
Ran 13 miles on the waterfront in Toronto (around 2 hours)

[B][U]Sunday August 14[/U][/B]
Drove from Toronto to Chicago.
Swam 2K straight through

[U][B]Monday, August 15[/B][/U]
Drove from Chicago to Omaha.
Swam 1K straight through, then did 150 double-unders and ran 1 mile on the treadmill at 1% slope in about 7:30. The DU/mile run took roughly 10:00 plus or minus (didn't get an exact time).

[B][U]Tuesday, August 16[/U][/B]
Drove from Omaha, to Laramie, WY.
Swam 2K straight through

[B][U]Wednesday, August 17[/U][/B]
Ran 1 mile, swam (10x100M), ran 1 mile, 45 minute TRX bodyweight workout

[U][B]Thursday, August 18[/B][/U]
Ran 1 mile, swam 1K straight through, 3x(10 DH pull-ups, 25 double-unders, 50 squats), ran 1 mile

[B][U]Friday, August 19[/U][/B]
Travel day back to NJ (flew back, left truck w son in WY). Rest day.

[B][U]Saturday, August 20[/U][/B]
Biked 40 miles (about 2000 ft of climbing, 2:12.48, PR by 12 secs), then
Ran 6 miles (about 500 ft of climbing, 52:23, PR by about 5 minutes)

[B][U]Sunday, August 21[/U][/B]
Swam 2K straight through

[B][U]Monday, August 22[/U][/B]
Ran 4.5 miles (about 600 feet of climbing, 37.31, PR by 49 secs, avg HR of 143)

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Tuesday, August 23[/U][/B]
[U]Lunch[/U]
Swam 1 mile (just over 30 minutes, trying to work out a comfortable pace for the half iron man)
[U]After Work[/U]
Ran 4.5 miles (about 600 feet of climbing - two big hills, didn't time myself since I wanted to avoid the temptation going too fast, but felt great tonight, prob took around 38 mins)

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Wednesday, August 24th[/U][/B]
Swam 1 mile. Untimed, but felt good. Probably took about 31 mins or so. Swam it straight through.

[B][U]Thursday, August 25th[/U][/B]
Busy at work. Rest day.

[B][U]Friday, August 26th[/U][/B]
Cycled 15 miles, pretty hilly (44.12, PR by 5 secs, no HR monitor), then
Ran 2.6 miles (2 hills each about 300 ft high, 21.37, PR by 23 secs, avg HR of 143, max HR of 153)
Brick total time of 1:05.53 (PR by 1:27).
I was really happy with tonight's brick workout. First the cycling PR, but especially the running PR. That is a pretty old PR to break and when I last set it I was fresh and going all out. Tonight, it was right after setting a 15 mile cycling PR and not going all out on the run. Very happy.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Saturday, August 27th[/U][/B]
Barclays golf tournament in the morning and early afternoon and then the storm hit, so a rest day.

[B][U]Sunday, August 28th[/U][/B]
13.1 mile run after the wind died down a bit (2:05, HR avg 143).
Didn't push it too hard and felt pretty good. Hilly route.

[B][U]Monday, August 29th[/U][/B]
Swam 2000 yds straight through (38 mins).
Once again, didn't race it. Just trying to settle in on a comfortable pace for the start of the half IM on 9/11.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Tuesday, August 30th[/U][/B]
Cycled 18 miles, then
2.6 mile hill run

I didn't really time today's brick workout since the roads were too messed up, but I think the ride took around an hour and the run around 22 minutes. The ride was slow due to numerous water crossings dead-ends and picking my way around fallen trees and debris. Cycling around here is like solving one of those maze puzzles when we were little kids.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Wednesday, August 31[/U][/B]
Cycled 25 miles. 1:29:45. Not very fast today. Too many road blockages from the storm.

[B][U]Thursday, Sept. 1[/U][/B]
Went to U.S. Open tennis. Rest day.

[B][U]Friday, Sept. 2[/U][/B]
Swam 2000M at lunch (around 43 mins, went easy trying to simulate half IM pace)
After work cycled 12 miles and then ran 2.6 miles on a very hilly route. Didn't time myself, but felt fast.

[B][U]Saturday, Sept. 3[/U][/B]
Cycled very hilly 25 mile course (1:27:40, PR by 1:20).

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Sunday, Sept 4[/U][/B]
Jogged 0.5 miles to high school track
Ran 1 mile (8:30, HR mid-130s), walked 1 lap
Ran 1 mile (8:05, HR around 140), walked 1 lap
Ran 1 mile (7:50, HR in 140s) walked 1 lap
Ran 1 mile (7:05, HR in 150s)
Jogged 0.5 miles home

Almost 6 miles in total. Temp humid and in low 80s. Felt good today. Felt like I could have kept up the 7 min pace for a while. Hoping for a 21-something 5K at some point this year.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Monday, Sept. 5[/U][/B]
Swam: 1x1000M, 1x500M

[B][U]Tuesday, Sept. 6[/U][/B]
Biked 6 miles, then ran 2 miles

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Wednesday, Sept 7[/U][/B]
Ran 2 miles easy (around 18 mins)

Tapering for half iron man on Sunday

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

Good luck Jim, hopefully the weather will be more favorable this go round.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

Thanks Dave! The weather will be great, but the course more more than twice as long. I feel good though!

[B][U]Thursday, Sept. 8[/U][/B]
Swam 1K in lake, then
biked 10 miles

[B][U]Friday, Sept. 9[/U][/B]
Rest Day

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Saturday, Sept. 10[/U][/B]
10 minute open water swim, then
20 minute cycle, then
10 minute run

Easy pace with some accelerations and race pace practice of the transitions between event.

[B][U]Sunday, Sept. 11[/U][/B]
Subaru Ironman 70.3 Muskoka in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada
[url]http://ironmanmuskoka.com/[/url]

Since this was my first half iron man, I was just hoping to finish this one with some semblance of competency. I definitely wanted to beat 7 hours and was hoping that I would beat 6:30 and would have been thrilled with that. I thought I would place in the bottom third of participants since this is a pretty competitive meet.

Well, I ended up with a time of 6:02:59 :kicking0:and placed 22 out of 61 in my age group (18th in the swim, 19th on the bike and 29th on the run) and 334th out of 733 total men. I was quite surprised by my swim time, happy with my bike time and the run time was ok and what I need to work on the most. The course was hilly and very tough but beautiful and scenic. I felt great through the bike and probably about 8 miles of the run and that’s when the Huntsville bear jumped on my back. It started to get sunny and hot, there was no more shade and a there were some hard hills at the end of the run. When I crossed the finish line, my feet were killing me and I had a hard time carrying on a conversation. :zombie: I went to lie down for a while and my sister-in-law Natasha revived me with a wonderful foot massage. I am definitely indebted to her for that!

Well, I'm very pleased with this race, especially after having a bad Olympic Tri in NJ. I think I learned from that one though. I did a lot more bike/run brick workouts and planned my rest, nutrition (before and during the race), hydration and taper extremely carefully this time around and it made a huge difference.

[B][U]Sept 12-14[/U][/B]
Rest days and get caught up at work days.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Thursday, Sept. 15 and Friday, Sept. 16[/U][/B]
Rested again (5 days in a row...yikes!) and caught up on more stuff
[B][U]
Saturday, Sept. 17[/U][/B]
Cycled 15 miles (around 45 mins, didn't push too hard and did some slower riding with another rider while chatting)
3x10 DH pull-ups (these have slipped a bit, but not as bad as I thought)

Took a bit of a break,

Ran 1/2 mile to HS track
1 mile (8:20)
walked 1/4 mile
1 mile (7:35)
Ran 1/2 mile home

Took it kind of easy today since I have a big ride tomorrow, the NJ Gran Fondo bike tour. 104 miles with 7900 ft of hills. Check out the ride profile below. Hills anyone? :devil:

[url]http://ridewithgps.com/routes/700383[/url]

Hope my legs hold up after the race last weekend!

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Sunday, Sept. 18[/U][/B]
Did the NJ Gran Fondo cycling tour. 104.89 miles per my bike computer and 7900 ft of climbing. My first century ride! Felt pretty strong and we rode with a group so didn't set a fast pace, but my legs are feeling it after two consecutive weekends of abuse.

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Monday, Sept. 19[/U][/B]
Took the day off.

[B][U]Tuesday Sept. 20[/U][/B]
Ran 2.6 hilly miles. My quads still felt a bit numb and unresponsive, but I felt fast, if that makes any sense at all. :shrug:

Re: Down in Jim's Garage
 

[B][U]Weds, Sept. 21[/U][/B]
Off

[B][U]Thurs, Sept 22[/U][/B]
Ran hilly 4.5 miles (untimed, late at night in dark)
[U][B]
Fri, Sept 23[/B][/U]
Traveled to Wyoming to see my son at school and watch the Wyoming/Nebraska football game.

[B][U]Sat, Sept. 24[/U][/B]
Ran 7 miles at 7200 ft in Wyoming (~1 hour)

[B][U]Sun, Sept.25[/U][/B]
Traveled home to NJ, so day off

[B][U]Mon. Sept. 26[/U][/B]
Ran hilly 4.5 miles (untimed, since late at night in the dark)

[B][U]Tuesday, Sept. 27[/U][/B]
Off due to work

[B][U]Wednesday, Sept. 28[/U][/B]
Ran hilly 2.6 miles, untimed

[B][U]Thurs, Sept. 29[/U][/B]
Off due to work

[B][U]Fri, Sept. 30[/U][/B]
Ran 4.5 mile hill route again, untimed again

[B][U]Sat. Oct. 1[/U][/B]
Swam 2x500M (about 10 mins/500, not too fast)

Very busy at work these days, so just trying to get some running in before the marathon on Oct. 16th in Toronto. Long run day tomorrow. Back to regular crossfit/ski prep after the marathon. Can't wait to hit the weights again!