Week in Training

A good, hard week with lots of variety.  Weight training, running intervals, and the longest bike ride to date with a long run the day after. Plus the Kangoo Jumps of course.  An 11+ hour week with less than 2 hours being low impact swimming is just what I needed.

The long bike ride was on a mixture of pavement and dirt roads up to the mountain town of Gold Hill.  I went up via Four Mile Canyon so I was able to see the damage from the fire up close and personal.  The trip up was a bit upsetting and the trip down was even worse because I went down Sunshine Canyon which seemed to have even more damage and destruction.  I felt that sick, nauseous feeling turning over in my stomach again at the sight of the cleared hillsides and missing houses.  At many points on the descent I didn't know where I was, the scenery had changed so dramatically.

It was a hard climb physically too.  It's been a zillion years since I've done this ride and while I used to do the climb up Sunshine all the time I decided to go up Four Mile because it's not as steep.  But at some points it's still pretty darn steep.  I was fine for the first 1 1/2 hours but that last hour of steep climbing up to Gold Hill was brutal.  The elevation gain from town is about 3000 ft. and 1500 of it is done in the last 3.7 miles or so on steep, dirt, switch back-y roads.  I wasn't doing a good job of eating and got shaky and bonky at some points plus my butt hurt, my foot hurt, wahwahwah.  I remember now why I stopped doing these long rides.  It took me 2 1/2 hours to get up there then another 7 minutes or so to climb out of town to Sunshine Canyon then an hour to get back home.  I stopped at the top to put on a fleece and snapped a couple photos of the Continental Divide.

There's a nicer, unobstructed view on the way up the hill but I was too tired and sore to stop for a photo.  Didn't take any photos of the fire damage on the way up or down, I'm still finding it too upsetting and it was such a long, tiring ride, I just wanted to get home.

I managed a 1 hour, 20 minute trail run with some good hills the next day.  I was expecting some miraculous improvement in my long runs because of all the intervals, strength training, boot camp stuff I've been doing so I was somewhat disappointed at first when I finished the run at much that same pace I've doing for the past few weeks.  Then I realized what tired legs I'd done that run on and that at this time last year I had to do a walk/run combo for a fraction of the distance/time so I could hardly complain.  So thankful to even be able to run such a distance.

I've got an agility trial next weekend and the weekend after that so the challenge will be to get in enough training but still be able to run at the trials.  First race is Xterra Curt Gowdy up in Wyoming in 7 weeks so it's time to start ramping up the training.

WEEKLY TOTALS

Swim: 4,200 yards/1 hour, 50 mins.

Mountain Bike: 39.48 miles/5 hours, 23 mins.

Run: 7.56 miles/2 hours, 21 mins.


Other (Kangoo Jumps, strength training, boot camp):  1 hour, 40 mins.

Total Training Hours: 11 hours, 15 mins.

Week in Training

I never posted last week's training.  In short it was 7 1/2 hours total - 3 hours swim, 3 hours running, 1 1/2 hours biking on roads/dirt roads.   The reason for the shortfall was that Jonny and I dug up and seeded a 600 square foot portion of our yard.  It doesn't sound like much but even with a rented rototiller it was hard work and by the end of the day for the next few days both of us could barely move.  My hamstrings were sore to the touch for days.

I managed to get some decent training in over the weekend to make up for a week with no double workouts.  Would have been good to get some biking in during the week but today's 3+ hour ride on trails marks the farthest I've gone time-wise on the mountain bike in years.  Plus all the crazy during the week - it's hardest to get out on the bike when I'm pressed for time.

Yesterday's run also went well though with such fresh legs it had better have.  No ill effects from the hill sprints on Wednesday so I'm going to try to continue to go to that workout for the next month I have of bootcamp classes.  Never made it to the strength class on Thurs. due to that being my day of Crazy so I'll go tomorrow though tomorrow is shaping up to be busy as well.

Swimming went great this week except for Monday where I got stuck behind slower people.  I led the lane on Tues. and Fri. so I was able to push the pace and not get a break from drafting or held up behind other people.  Some guy did smack into me though, was doing backstroke and ended up in my lane.  This guy already has terrible swim etiquette, leaves 2 seconds off my feet, stops and stands on the side of the wall that you need clear for turns.  I so wish I could get in the next lane up but I'm not quite there yet and probably won't be in the next few weeks before we finally get outside in mid-May.

Such a beautiful ride today on the Blue Sky trail and then the race loop at Lory State Park.  I felt a lot more comfortable on the downhills then I did when we rode these trails a few weeks ago.  Nice and loose and relaxed.  I initially had a refusal at the one sort of, kind of technical switchback/drop off but  then I tried again and did it easy peasy.  Climbs seemed easier today too.  Training must being paying off a little.

More sunny blue skies at Lory State Park

I can't believe how green everything is considering the scant amount of moisture we've had in the past 2 months.  Can't even remember the last time it rained.

A small front did eventually blow in but all it did was provide some nice cool cloud cover, no rain.

You know it's a good day when your legs end up this dirty.

WEEKLY TOTALS

Swim: 6,850 yards/3 hours

Mountain Bike: 24.34 miles/3 hours, 11 mins.

Run: 9.7 miles/2 hours, 52 mins.

Total Training Hours: 9 hours, 3 mins.


I have an ASCA agility trial next weekend but just 3 runs/half a day so it shouldn't effect training too much.  Had a couple of agility practices this past week.  Shot some video but haven't had a chance to review it.  I'll see if I get it done this week.

Week in Training

I know this was supposed to be a rest week but things got a bit ridiculous towards the end of the week.  Tuesday was a scheduled, much needed rest day.  Friday also ended up being a rest day because by the time I was done with clients, the wind was blowing at 45 mph and I wasn't going out in that.  I had big plans for the weekend anyway and figured another rest day couldn't hurt.  Then Saturday morning I came home from walking the dogs and turned my ankle when I stepped off my deck stairs.  Not sure what happened but next thing I knew I was lying on the ground.  I thought I was o.k. so didn't bother to ice anything but within the hour I could barely put weight on my knee.  Must have landed on it when I hit the brick pavers.  I had a huge bruise and another smaller bruise, lots of swelling, very stiff and sharp pain.  No way I could do anything on it.  Even just sitting on the couch Saturday night it was painful and throbbing away despite lots of icing, compression, etc.

It felt much better when I woke up Sunday and I was able to walk the dogs but biking was still out of the question since the range of motion required caused pain.  Wasn't sure if running was a good idea either and I figured at this rate just one more day of rest and it would be back to normal.  Was such a gorgeous day though, couldn't sit around so we went for a short, easy 1 1/4 hour hike at Betasso.

You can see the burn area from the Four Mile Canyon fire on the far hill.

Was a nice hike but I was jealous of all the people out on bikes.

Ah well, these things happen.  Then I twisted my other ankle on nothing in particular while we were hiking.  It occurs to me that the past couple of weeks I've had this occasional fleeting thought that since my training is going so well that I'm just about due to have something bad happen to me.  And of course having those types of thoughts is a great way to manifest having something bad happen to you.  I think this comes from about 6-7 years ago, this same time of year I was also in a very good place training wise and was planning on doing a half Ironman distance triathlon over the summer then got hit by a car, fractured pelvis, was out most of the summer, etc. so now every time I feel like I'm starting to get into good shape I feel like something should happen.  So I've been doing some mental re-programming and today while running I started to twist my ankle again but before it could really twist I managed to re-center myself and straighten my foot out before hitting the ground no problem.  The mind is a powerful thing.

Good news is that the knee is about 90% back to normal this morning and I had a good run with the dogs and I'm guessing that swimming later will be no problem.  I knew resting it one more day would be all it needed.

Strum had one agility practice last week and it went o.k.  I set up a handling exercise and it felt good to be practicing again.  I spent way more time setting it up then we spent practicing though.  I didn't want to overdue it so we only did 3 of the 6 possible exercises.  The dogwalk was down low and I couldn't be bothered raising it so I thought I'd let him do the low dogwalk and have some easy success but it was quite the opposite.  I got a couple good hits and decided to leave it be.  Looks like we need a remedial refresher course, maybe even some back chaining and the treat gizmo.  We've got a half day/3 runs at an ASCA trial at the end of the month for fun and to get us back in the ring before the 2 USDAA trials in May.  It's the same weekend as USDAA Regionals so I'm guessing it won't be too crowded and it's in one of my favorite parks in Denver so it should be a fun, relaxing trial.  I decided on only one day so I don't lose too much training time and so Strum doesn't overdo it.  He's shown no signs of lameness but I'm still being careful with him focusing more on conditioning (ie running with me) than agility.

WEEKLY TOTALS

Swim: 7,050 yards/3 hours

Mountain Bike: 0

Run: 3.1 miles/42 mins.

Total Training Hours: 3 hours, 42 mins.

Week/Month in Training

Another week of playing in the sun and warm weather.  2 hours of swimming, 5 of biking and 3 of running is close to what I'll be doing during the peak weeks of my training program so it's good to know I can nearly pull it off this early in the season.  I backed off the swimming this week because I felt like I needed a break from it and because I was tired from the biking and running which is harder on my body.  I used my 2 workouts more as recovery, took it easy and focused on drills and good form and other strokes, mainly butterfly.

The nearly 3 hour mountain bike ride the day after a longish run knocked the stuffing out of me though.  The trails weren't super hard - Blue Sky, Indian Summer and a short loop over at Lory - but it's a long time for me to concentrate on the trail.  My big endurance workout in the peak of training will require 3 hours of biking then an hour of running once a week and it's apparent I'll need to spend the next month working up to that.

I was at about 32 hours for the month at this time last year, 2 of which were a power hike,  and only 2 hours, 40 minutes of running for the whole month and 10 miles of running vs 54 miles for this month.  SO happy to have those running numbers up at this point.  Bike numbers are about the same and swim numbers are down by 3 hours/7000 yards which I find surprising but not alarming.  The swim is the shortest part and this time distribution between swim/bike/run is actually better.

Last year I was tracking walking miles as well but I see I've given it up this year.  Oh well, there was a lot of walking thanks to dogs.

I do need a rest this week though, will have to force myself to take it easy.  I've got a slight pain beneath my bad knee that is more in my lower leg but could be originating from the knee.  In any case I'll have to back off the running this week to let it heal up a bit.

This next month I'm going to start going to more of the harder masters workouts rather than all drills workouts.  I'm also going to introduce some running and biking drills.  I should put together a strength training routine too, ugh, my least favorite thing but it's important, especially for off-road triathlons.

Toying with the idea of a little sprint road triathlon at the end of May.  Could be a good warm-up for my first race in June even if it is short and on road.  I keep hoping I'll see a discounted entry for it.  I've wanted to do it since they first started it years ago but it always seemed to fall on an agility weekend.  But I'm not doing the May DOCNA trial this year due to 2 USDAA trials already in May so this would be a good year.  Not sure why it appeals, it doesn't look particularly scenic or interesting but something about it makes me want to do it.  Must be the pelicans.


WEEKLY TOTALS

Swim: 3,900 yards/2 hours

Mountain Bike: 21.26 miles/2 hours, 52 mins.

Road Bike:  28 miles/2 hours, 4 mins.

Run: 13.11 miles/3 hours, 4 mins.

Total Training Hours: 10 hours


MONTHLY TOTALS

Swim: 21,550 yards/9 hours, 48 mins.

Mountain Bike: 120.77 miles/14 hours, 34 mins.

Run: 53.93 miles/13 hours, 19 mins.

Hike:  8.7 miles/3 hours, 15 mins.

Total Training Hours: 40 hours, 56 mins. (37 hours, 41 mins. without the hike)

Week in Training

Another good solid week of training despite taking 2 well needed rest days.  I backed off the biking and running a little and increased the swimming which is kind of cheating as far as training volume goes but my legs were crying uncle.  Weather says June buy my quads still say January.  I especially have to be careful with running because that's the place I'm most likely to injure myself if I get overzealous.  Had a great nearly 2 hour run yesterday on the very steep Hogback trail and no knee pain at all so for now I've got the balance just right.  And that was after 18 miles of biking on the trails at Lory State Park the day before so I was pleased to pull that off.  Running speed is still hopelessly slow but I feel so close to breaking through a plateau and having an improvement if I keep plugging away.

Strummer had 2 agility practices this week on his own out at the training field.  No problems whatsoever with the tire as first obstacle.  I'm convinced he was having over stimulation/start line issues rather than tire issues at that trial, it just happened that the tire was the first obstacle for so many courses.  His dogwalk fell apart yesterday, not sure what was going on but I'm hoping it's a fluke, he's been doing so well with it.  Otherwise he was great and I was horribly rusty.  Was rushing my cues, being unclear, not supporting things properly.  That will come back with practice though.  I've enlisted the help of my training partner so Strummer can go back to having some practices while he's wound up.  I also want to do some remedial start line stay training.  I can't have this dog lose his solid stay.  If he breaks his stay in training he'll lose his turn and the other dog will get to go.  Not sure if this will work because he actually likes watching the other dog but we'll give it a shot.

I've been loving the freakishly warm, sunny weather but March is normally our snowiest month and we haven't had any snow or moisture at all and this last week looks like yet more sunny and dry 70's as well.  Great for training but not so great for fire danger.  Hopefully we'll get some nice soaking rains in April.

Swim:  8100 yards/3 hours 35 mins.

Mountain bike:  32.12 miles, 3 hours 45 mins. (trails)

Run:  8.85 miles/2 hours, 19 mins.

Total training time: 9 hours, 39 mins.

Week in Training

Not sure how it's Wednesday already and I forgot to post my training for last week.  Was such a good week though, better late than never.  The high volume, especially of biking, was due to a solid week of sunny weather mostly in the 70's.  I need to be putting in that kind of time/mileage on the bike all the time.  Got in some good solid running too.  My knee was feeling off for Thursday's run so I only went swimming on Friday and it felt fine for Saturday's ride with lots of climbing at Hall Ranch and Sunday's run with lots of climbing up the Hogback.  Knee is complaining a little this week so I'll step back a bit especially from the running.

So happy to get nearly 11 hours of training in though, especially so early in the season.  However I got a bit of a reality check riding at Hall Ranch.  Had to stop numerous times to catch my breath up the steep climb at the start.  The plan is for lots more climbing on both the bike and run for the next few weeks.

No agility training for Strum this week.  I planned to go out on Friday morning but it was already too hot before the field even opened.  No point driving out there and paying the drop-in fee for just a few minutes of practice before Strum started overheating.

I'm thinking about doing a cross country mountain bike race down in Pueblo next month but we'll see.  There are all different distances and I'd do either 12 or 23 miles.  Not sure it's something I want to spend the money on.  We'll see how crazy gas prices get next month.  I'm also not thrilled at the idea of driving 2 1/4 hours to ride in Pueblo.  The trails are supposed to be nice but such a long way to drive when there are nicer trails that are closer.  I've only ever done one cross country mountain bike race and I didn't care for it but I've got a lot more biking under my belt now so it might be a different experience.

Swim:  4800 yards/2 hours 13 mins.

Mountain bike:  42.5 miles, 5 hours 20 mins. (trails)

Run:  12.81 miles/3 hours, 18 mins.

Total training time: 10 hours, 51 mins.

Week in Training

Another good training week, especially good for running which is what I need to focus on.  Got in all the swims and runs I was hoping for.  Unfortunately no biking because Sunday's planned long ride turned into a hike due to high winds.  There was no way I was going out in that wind for 3 hours.  Instead we hiked for 3 1/4 hours at Heil Ranch where we were sheltered from the wind in the trees.  A beautiful hike, dry trails and no problem with the wind which is grating on everybody's nerves these days.  Normally I don't count hiking as part of my training but I did treat it more like a training session than a La De Da hike, moving faster than my normal stroll.  Not quite up to the level of Power Hiking but it was nearly 9 miles so I picked a good pace for that distance.  I was so sore afterwards so I decided darn it, I'm going to count it.  It's not a replacement for running or biking but right now I'm working on base building and it's great for that as well as strength so I'm counting it this time.

I did get out for a long bike today.  Beautiful 60 degree weather and it was supposed to be calm but I got about 12 miles from home on the dirt roads out east and the freight train winds started up again so I decided to bail and head home.  After a horrible slog uphill into the wind for miles, just as I got to the end of the big hill, the winds died.  So I took a longer route home on some trails.  After today this will be a step back week.  I have an agility trial this weekend and it's USDAA Team so I'd like to not be exhausted and try to qualify for Nat's. and do a good job for the team.

Strum had another great week of no limping.  I alternated 2 mile runs, 3 mile walks and recovery 2 mile walks and he did great.  On Sunday I put him over some single jumps and a set of 6 weaves in my yard and he had no problems.  No limping afterwards so far.  He was so excited to play with his toys.  The big challenge this weekend will be to keep him from going crazy when he finally gets to play.  I'll take him to the practice field this week for a very short practice to get him on the equipment and get those agility muscles moving but he'll have an easy week as well.  Right now I'm convinced all he had was a simple strain like the vet suggested and he just needed some time to rest.  Going forward I'm going to be careful about how many runs he does in a day at trials and limit his training even more than I already do so hopefully it won't recur.  Unfortunately he has 4 1/2 classes on Friday for Team but there's not much I can do about that.  I pulled him from all his titling runs so he only has Grand Prix and Steeplechase on Saturday and no runs on Sunday.  I'd love to get out of Novice but for now qualifying for Nat's. takes priority.

Swim:  6750 yards/3 hours

Mountain bike:  None

Run:  13.99 miles/3 hours, 20 mins.

Hiking:  8.7 miles/3 hours, 15 mins.

Total training time: 9 hours, 35 mins. (3 hours 15 mins. of which are hiking - Heil Ranch)

Week in Training

Another good solid week, even got a nice long ride in.  Thought I'd be too sore for running on Sunday after Saturday's long ride but it turned out to be a great run, no knee problems or any residual soreness.  Would have liked to have one more short run but with the longer bike mileage maybe it's for the best.

I experimented with wearing fins and swimming in the fastest lane on Friday.  Lots of fast people were there and I had to struggle to keep up even with the fins.  I was able to keep up on the pull set and did the drills without fins so I did about 1150 yards of the 2850 yard set without fins.  It was fun and kind of interesting.  I felt like I was working hard to keep up but my arms weren't tired afterwards.  Don't think I want to do this every week but maybe every other week.  It is good to feel what it feels like to go fast.

Mr. No-limpian had another limp free week.  He's up to 2 miles of walking on leash.  This week I'll take him on some short runs and try to get in some off leash running towards the end of the week then try him on some jumps and weaves the following week.  The agility field is dry just now but I want to give him another week of healing just to be sure.  He's still got plenty of muscle mass despite the rest.  Aside from all the conditioning he gets I think he runs agility in his sleep.

Swim:  7450 yards/3 hours

Mountain bike (on dirt roads): 35 miles/3 hours, 20 mins.

Run:  10.1 miles/2 hours, 25 mins.

Total training time: 8 hours, 45 mins.

Week in Training

Finally a good solid week of training in the thick of winter weather conditions no less.  Highlight was today's 1 1/2 hour run then 38 minute bike ride on dirt roads out near the Rez.  Was hoping for an hour recovery ride on the bike but it was 37 degrees with cloudy conditions and a wind chill that made it feel like 34.  I was fine except for my hands, didn't bring my warm gloves because I was too hot with them on yesterday's bike ride.  Yesterday was also 37 degrees but sunny, blue skies so it felt a lot warmer.  Anyway, my hands warmed up but I was riding too fast in order to keep warm and on top of it my knee started talking to me so I cut it short.  The long run was the important part of the day anyway and it went well, nice consistent pace, tired for the last 10-15 minutes or so so I picked a good distance.  Felt good to be running on smooth ground after slogging it out on the snow/mud/ice the still plagues the trails by my house.  Also felt good to get up into the double digits for running mileage.  The run is by far my weakest event right now and it only makes sense to give it priority especially with the weather being cold for biking.  Knee is holding up though hamstring is starting to nag a bit.  May have to give the dry needling another thought.

Yesterday's bike ride was also a good workout, did it mostly in one gear since the shifters for my rear cog set weren't working.  Forgot to spray them w/ de-greaser and discovered the problem a mile or so into the ride.  Couldn't  be bothered to go home to fix it and the rear cog set was stuck in the granny so I figured I'd be fine.  Did some high cadence drills and single leg drills on the downhill to make up for the light gear and still had shifting in my front ring for the few steep bits.  Nothing like a technical problem to shake up your workout.  Usually I won't bike outside when the temps. go below the mid-40's but I couldn't bear the thought of the trainer so I bundled up like the Michelin man and dealt with it.  So much happier riding outside, saw lots of hawks and livestock, grooved out in the sun yesterday, totally worth it.

Operation No-limpics is going well I think.  No solid limping all week.  I thought he looked a little off when he got off the couch once Friday night but hard to say.  He's a little worried now with me staring at him all the time when he gets up from resting so maybe it was me freaking him out.  Tomorrow I'll start him on short leash walks and build him up throughout the week then the following week I'll start him back on short runs w/ me if all looks well.  Hopefully by two weeks from now the snow in my yard will be gone so I can test him out on some jumps and weaves the week before his trial.

Swim:  6400 yards/3 hours

Mountain bike: 7.35 miles/38 mins.

Road bike:  14.28/1 hour, 2 mins.

Run:  14.25 miles/3 hours, 22 mins.

Total training time: 8 hours, 2 mins.

Week in Training

Not sure what happened this week but it was dismal for training.  You'd think with having to miss the DOCNA trial over the weekend that I'd have made up for it with training but the weather was not inspiring, high in the teens on Saturday, low 20's on Sunday and cloudy/overcast with that midwestern damp chill in the air.  I did pull out the fleece and the Yax Trax and HTFU on Sunday for short trail run but it was too little too late.

Was a good week for work/clients though, had some interesting sessions including the artist.  Unfortunately his exhibit won't be shown locally, only in New York and LA so I won't get to see the final product in person but hopefully some of it will be up on a website at some point.

Strum was going 2 days with no limp then I'd see a limp then 2 more days, then a limp so I broke down and had Jonny bring his crate back into the house.  I'm not crating him full time, just at night and when I'm not home, but Saturday morning was the  last time I saw a limp so I think he's on the mend.  I'm also doing what I can to limit his crazy running around the house and yard and I shut him off from the bedroom so he can't fly on and off the bed.  Surprisingly he's being a good sport about  it all.  I think he missed his crate, he likes going in there especially at night but it's so big and my bedroom is so small, I'm not happy to have it back.  The one plus side to all of this is that there's still so much snow on the ground we couldn't practice anyway even if we wanted to.  Still, I was sad to miss a DOCNA trial only 20 minutes from my house.

I found a worrying lump on Lola on Sunday night, different from the ones I normally find, and brought her into the vet yesterday but thankfully it seems to be harmless.  My regular vet only works part time so it's pretty much guaranteed that I can never get in to see her on short notice so I had to see her partner.  I figured it was pretty straight forward to stick a needle into a lump so I was o.k. with it but still I wish I could find a full time vet that I liked.  This guy was o.k. I guess and at least he didn't keep me waiting the typical 15-40 minutes that the regular vet does which is always super fun when you have dogs that don't like being at the vet.  But the exam he did on her wasn't very thorough, just felt her lymph nodes and listened to her heart.  Hardly seemed worth the $49 he charged on top of the fees for the needle aspirate and culture exam.  He was nice though and very good with her.

I discovered a new Xterra race in Colorado, Xterra Pueblo.  It's on Sept. 9 so the points would count for 2013, not this year's Nationals but still it might be fun.  On the other hand, could be HOT.  Like in the 90's hot.  That would be not so very fun.  Pueblo is about 2 1/4 hours to the south of Boulder and it can run up to 10 degrees hotter down there.  Also it's 2 weeks after Xterra Lory, 2 weeks before Nationals so could be a bit much for me both physically and financially.

After all the hemming and hawing I did sign up for the Xterra Mountain Champs. in Beaver Creek.  I'm glad I did, it's partly what motivated the intervals last week and will keep me motivated these last few weeks of winter.

Had my regular chiropractor do the adjustment on my knee that the dog chiropractor normally does.  I don't think he likes doing that particular adjustment but I pleaded with him since I didn't want to go to the expense of taking Lola to the dog chiropractor on top of all the other vet expenses right now.  He's a good guy and agreed to do it and did a few others as well so my knee is feeling much better and I'll get back to running more this week.  I think maybe I was avoiding running last week since my knee was bothering me after 2 1/2 days of agility.

Swim:  7200 yards/3 hours

Mountain bike:  none

Run:  5.37 miles/1 hours, 22 mins.

Total training time: 4 hours, 23 mins.

Week in Training

Got in as much tri training as I could at the beginning of the week due to the dog agility seminar-o-rama and snowstorm that I knew were coming at the end of the week so not too bad for only 4 days of training.  Also I did some intervals on the bike then a short run right after for the first time since summer so that brought the time/mileage down for the bike this week.

I'll write more about the seminar later but for now I have more pressing real world things to deal with.  In short, it was great and we learned a lot.  I ended up doing 3 days instead of the planned 2 and at first I considered this lucky since I was able to get into my first choice session at the last minute but in the end it worked out for the worse since Strummer came up limping on his front leg on the afternoon of the last day.  I pulled him from the last half of the session as soon as I noticed him looking sore but later in the evening he was limping more obviously.  Today he seems fine, no limping at all, but I'll pull him from the DOCNA trial this weekend and get him in to see an orthopedist this week.  Normally these days I'd rest him for 4-5 days then gradually bring him back to activity but he's on a team for USDAA in mid-March and if the injury is serious I need to know right now so my team mates can make other plans.  He has 5 weeks to recover and build back up and I'd feel better if I had an expert opinion on whether or not that's feasible.  Ugh, I hate dog injury drama, didn't sleep so well last night.  Keeping this dog quiet is not going to be easy.  Jumping off furniture and charging around the house from room to room is his normal, he never calmly walks anywhere.

Boulder supposedly got 21" of snow but somehow it doesn't seem that much.  I'm going to try to get to North Boulder Park in the next couple of days for some cross country skiing before it melts too much.

Swim:  6700 yards/3 hours

Mountain bike:  6.6 miles/51 mins. (intervals up Linden on mountain bike, 4 x 5 mins. at 138-148
                           bpm/AT zone then 12 min. run afterwards at 119-129 bpm)

Run:  7.31 miles/1 hours, 48 mins.

Total training time: 5 hours, 39 mins.

Week in Training

A good solid week of training, finally.  Too much swimming relative to biking and running but that always happens this time of year.  Would have liked to have a couple short runs in that mix, not sure what happened this week.  I think I was tired with the swimming.  Though it's only 7 hours of training I had another 4 hours of hiking (and more of dog walking).  I don't count it as training but it does count as something, especially since some of the trails were super steep.

Had an odd revelation today when I went to enter one of my planned Xterra triathlons, the Mountain Championships in Beaver Creek, CO in July.  It's a longer race than normal and you get more points for your placements but it's also more competitive and one of the toughest Xterras.  There's an early bird discount fee, $75 compared to the regular $95 fee if I enter by tomorrow so I went to the registration page today.  And balked.  Hmmm.  Such a long, hard race and the logistics of it are a pain in the ass plus the huge amount of money to spend the night in Beaver Creek though I suppose I could sleep in the car somewhere nearby.  Somebody who's done it has told me about it and it doesn't sound appealing, especially the swim.  It's kind of an ordeal of a race all the way around and the only reason to enter it would be to qualify for Xterra Nationals and to have something to push myself for mid-season.  But there's pushing yourself and there's sucking the fun out of everything and this is kind of straddling the line.  The thought of bagging it makes me heave a huge sigh of relief but then leaves a hole.  I think for now I'll leave off entering and just suck it up and pay the higher price later.  But that feels like wimping out.  If I enter now, I'll start pushing myself now and be uber ready in July.  But while goals should be challenging they should also be fun and I'm not so sure this race sounds like fun.  Then there's the matter of I was doing these jumps in the shallow end of the pool today per the masters coach to practice pushing off the wall and even though I was jumping in water my knee was all, 'What the . . . ???!!!##%^$%#%#'  Seems way too early in the year to be stressing over races.  What is May going to be like?

This week and next will be disrupted again by an agility seminar and a trial but then it's back to business.

Swim:  8100 yards/3 hours, 17 minutes

Mountain bike:  17.94 miles/2 hours, 10 mins.

Run:  6.38 miles/1 hours, 38 mins.

Total training time: 7 hours, 5 mins.

Hiking:  9 miles/4 hours, approx.

Week In Training

Another low volume week but I got a couple of key workouts in nonetheless.  Clients cancelling and re-scheduling and cancelling again completely messed up my training schedule.  Finally went to a masters swim workout that wasn't drills and it was fun to just hammer out a bunch of 100's.  The main set was:

1x100 on 2:05
2x100 on 2:00
3x100 on 1:55
2x100 on 1:55
3x100 on 1:50
4x100 on 1:45

for a grand total of 15 x 100 yards.  I made all the intervals too and led for the first part of the set then begged off and drafted for the last half.  There was more stuff before and after but that was the meat of potatoes of the workout.

Had in interesting long run on Sunday where I got the idea stuck in my head that I wanted to run the Hogback Loop from home even though it was windy down in town.  This was not one of my brightest ideas.  Why didn't my husband talk me out of these shenanigans rather than egging me on?  It's about 6 miles from the Wonderland Trailhead plus .4 or so miles of walking to and from the trailhead.  Can't remember the last time I ran that far but I wanted to get some steep hills in and increase my mileage.  I had this plan of running loops of the Hogback all winter long to build up my climbing muscles and improve my pathetic run times but the trail's been covered in snow and ice up until a day or two ago.  Even yesterday there were a few snowy patches on the north side.

Anyway, it was 47 degrees and sunny but windy at my house and I felt under dressed when I started out because of the wind.  But I figured I'd get plenty warm once I got going and it was so sunny and warm when the wind stopped.  There was only the occasional gust but those gusts were icy cold.  This was also not one of my brightest ideas.  The wind got a little crazy heading up the steepest part of the Hogback trail on the approach to the ridge and by the time I got to the top of the ridge the wind was howling like freight train and so freezing cold.  I crouched down on the trail a few times because I was worried I'd get blown over.  I'm guessing the winds were at least 40 mph, maybe more.  I turned a corner and got hit by a blast so strong and cold it felt like I had the wind knocked out of me.  I stopped behind a tree for a minute or two to see if the winds would stop but I soon realized it was going to be windy the whole time up on the ridge so I decided to press on and get off the ridge lickety split.  Luckily you're not up there for very long, maybe 5-10 minutes but the trail is rocky so you have to be mindful.  Sure enough as soon as I got off the ridge the winds were back to occasional gusts of about 20 mph and periods of calm.  The last couple few miles didn't feel so good though, kind of crampy and wishing I was done.  Looks like I need to do more longs runs to build up endurance.  Good news is my knee was fine despite having problems with it while walking the dogs all week.

No biking due to messed up schedule, wind, fence repairs, etc.  Excuses, excuses.  No agility training either for much the same reasons.  I'll get back on both of those this week.

Swim:  7800 yards/3 hours

Mountain bike:  Nada

Run:  10.18 miles/2 hours, 43 mins.

Total training time: 5 hours, 43 mins.

Somebody posted this on my Facebook and it gave me a laugh this morning.  'These are my casual compression socks.'  Heh.  Melanie McQuaid is an accomplished pro triathlete, won XTERRA Nationals the past 4 years or something as well as many other accomplishments.

Week In Training

A great week all the way around though light on triathlon training volume due to a trial over the weekend but still not too bad.  Highlight of the week had to do with work.  I had a couple with marital problems come into my office absolutely seething at each other.  You could practically see the waves of hostility emanating off their bodies and at some point early in the over an hour drive to my office they had stopped talking to each other.  Well, they left my office smiling, laughing, high five-ing each other,  I was so happy for them the rest of the day.  They've got kids as well so it was particularly satisfying to see them work things out.  I love my new job.

Also had a break through in my swimming this week.  I didn't have any workouts with timed intervals so I don't have hard numbers but I felt faster and was getting stuck behind people who are normally faster than me and sort of, kind of keeping up with the really fast people in my lane.  By Friday I couldn't wait for masters to start.  I've upped my consumption of 'super greens' (kale, spinach, chard) having them at least once a day, sometimes twice, in addition to regular salad greens and I definitely felt better and had more energy.  Popeye has nothing on me.

I found out my road bike cyclometer is messed up so I hadn't ridden at a 12 mph pace the other week.  Phew.  My pace for the same route this week was 14.4 mph which is still woefully slow but I hardly ever ride my road bike and there were a few good hills plus I'd gone for a run earlier in the day and had tired legs.  Plus I don't have the best attitude about riding my road bike but I wanted to get some biking in this week and it's better than the trainer.

Strummer got his first Grand Prix Q with a beautiful run.  I'll have a full post on the trial but I'm waiting for the video of his Grand Prix run since someone else filmed me on their camera.  It was my first time ever running in Championship Grand Prix and it was  kick in the pants with all the people yelling in the stands.  Very fun.

Swim:  7000 yards/3 hours

Mountain bike:  Nada


Road bike:  14.28 miles/59:23 mins.

Run:  9.22 miles/2 hours, 29 secs.

Total training time: 5 hours, 59:52 mins. (let's call it 6 hours)

Would love to rest on my laurels but another week awaits.

Week in Training

I went to enter Sunday's long run into my online training log and realized I hadn't entered a single workout for the week.  Great way to start out the new year.  So I'm going to go back to posting a weekly training post.  Though lately I'm having (more) doubts about how useful time/distance metrics are.  Speed work brings the numbers down but is probably more beneficial or at least as important as long slow workouts.  I've been pondering a way to track the numbers so they're more useful but haven't come up with anything solid yet.

Highlight of the week was biking on trails in shorts on Thursday.  Was in the 60's and sunny, warm, fabulous.  Then back to snow on Saturday, just a light layer of less than an inch but enough to make the trails slippy for Sunday's 'long' trail run.  Knee was plaguing me for that one but got better after a while and I managed a whopping 5.2 miles including some short but steep hills.  I may need to take Lola into the chiropractor so he can adjust my knee.  My regular chiro. is awesome but that's the one adjustment he doesn't do.  He doesn't like it in general but it works a charm for me and dog chiro. guy doesn't even charge me when I come in with Lola.  Did I really just type all of that?  Life takes us down weird and unexpected paths.

Swim:  6700 yards/3 hour, 4 mins.

Mountain bike:  18.32 miles/1 hour, 48 minutes

Run:  11.25 miles/2 hours, 39 mins.

Total training time: 7 hours, 31 mins.

I keep forgetting to weigh myself at the Rec. Center, will have to remember for next week.  Got to a weight I was happy with and lost interest with the scale.

It looks like August 2 was the last time I posted a weekly training report and I was still on a walk/run schedule.  I can't even remember when I made to transition to running with no walking and I'd forgotten I'd even been doing it.  I was feeling a bit like my running was still so slow and going nowhere after Sunday's run but now I realize I've come quite far to be able to run 5 miles with no walking.  Barely even noticed my hamstring either.  By this summer's races I should be running like a runner again.

Got in 2 agility training sessions as well.  Strummer was 100% on the dogwalk for both of them.  First session I had quite a few reps., maybe as many as 8-10, and I had the stride regulator on for all of them.  Second session I only did 3-4 reps and took the stride regulator off for the last rep.  I set up a handling exercise for practicing weaves and he did awesome with the weave entries but my handling, wow, I'm out of practice.  Was much better by the second session though.  I've got a USDAA trial this weekend, better get a couple of more practices in so I feel sharp for those tournament classes.

Week in Training

Numbers are way down this week, especially running.  I had 2 rest days, one 2 days after my race and the other the day before my agility trial.  I put in one last day of intervals on the bike on Weds. and I had some tired legs by Friday.  Also starting to taper for my race.  Also the agility trial wore me out.  I don't count it for training but it does put wear and tear on my legs and makes me need more recovery.  My quads were so sore the day after the trial then I went mountain biking.  This week will be more taper, no intervals, no hard work of any kind but I will do a little bit of something until Friday.  The course is open for pre-riding starting Thursday afternoon and I'm debating going up there for that.  On the one hand there's a downhill section I'm itching to see if I can ride, on the other hand I'm not sure it'll be good for my tapering efforts.  I'll see how my legs are feeling on Thurs.  Right now they feel pretty tired.  In fact I feel way too tired for such a small training volume.  Stupid agility trial.  I love agility but a full day of trialing is always more tiring than I think it should be.

Looked at the elevation chart for the bike and the steepest grade I could spot was 8.3% for .27 mile.  The longest climb is as I suspected, the service road right at the start of the bike.  It's .59 mile of 7.0% grade.  There's another climb of 6.8% grade for .53 miles and a 6.1% grade climb for .14 miles.  Terrain is an issue as well, some of those climbs are rocky.  And there are 2 loops so I have to do it all twice.  Distance is 14 miles with a total elevation gain of 1581.4 ft for both loops combined and a max. elevation of 9646 feet.  Overall I'm confident about it.  Swim temps. shouldn't be as bad as the last time I did it.  Should be in the low 60's which is cold but do-able.  Much better than the high 50's anyway.

Run course is 4.1 miles, elevation gain of 430 feet.  Worst climb is 2.7% grade for .22 miles.  There are lots of other little climbs, shouldn't be too bad though, looks like lots of uppy downy rolly stuff, my favorite sort of run because I'm constantly shifting which muscles I'm using.

Swim:  3020 yards/1 hour, 7 mins. (1 swim at the Rez, 1 swim at Stroke-n-Stride)

Mountain bike:  17.16 miles/2 hours, 37 minutes

Run:  3.4 miles/51 mins. (running the whole way, no walk/run)

Total training time: 4 hours, 35 mins.

Week in Training

This was my peak training week for the Indian Peaks Xterra in 2 weeks.  Same exact total training time as last week, kind of freaky.  This week didn't include any hiking and did include the Lookout Mountain Triathlon Sprint race.  I did go for a hike on the Mesa Trail/Skunk Canyon on Sunday in the heat of the day but it was a slooow pace so I didn't count it in training.  Probably shouldn't have done it and recovered from my race instead especially since I'd done the pre-ride for the Xterra in the morning and was pretty trashed but I couldn't bear to sit around the house all afternoon while the hills beckoned.  My quads are planning a revolt I'm sure.

Run numbers are up again which is good considering the run was by far my weakest event at my race.  The run will be my focus for the next 2 weeks.

I was hoping the next 2 weeks would be a nice taper but there are still some solid workouts staring me in the face.  I also have an agility trial on Saturday only so that jacks up the training schedule a bit.  It's hardly a rest day but can't count as training.  There isn't a single rest day called for between now and the day before the race and that doesn't seem right though the volume is reduced and most days are only one workout rather than 2.  Still these old bones need more recovery than what's called for so I'm going to pick some key workouts to keep and skip some of the others.

Swim:  7723 yards/2 hour, 57 mins. (2 swims at the Rez)

Mountain bike:  16.0 miles/2 hours, 30 minutes

Run:  13.96 miles/3 hour, 22 mins. (6 min. run/1 min. walk for some runs)

Bike (road):  10.0 miles/48:31  mins. (Lookout Mtn. Tri., 1100' elevation gain, 10% grades)

Total training time: 9 hours, 38 mins.

Week in Training

A nice solid training week, swim and bike numbers are up, run numbers are down mostly because I decided to skip Sunday's long trail run and go for a hike instead.  I only counted an hour of the 3 1/4 hour, 6 1/2 mile hike because in my experience hiking doesn't count very much for training.  However some of the trail was steep and I was pushing it a bit so I want to count something.  Put in another nearly 2 mile swim at the Rez on Thursday and upped my LT bike workout to 6 reps x 5 min. at LT heart rate.  I go up a steep road near my house and I think all the hard climbing is helping my mountain biking.  Saturday's ride at West Mag went great, rode a whole bunch of stuff I've walked in previous weeks and realized it wasn't so much my skills that were suffering as it was my strength.  Finally felt some climbing power this past weekend.


This weekend is my first race of the season, a little on road sprint tri up at Lookout Mountain in Golden.  Sounds like a pretty course with a hilly bike ride which I think will play to my strengths at the moment.  Not sure about the run but it's only a 5k.  It's a 'B' race for me meaning I'm going to race it all out like a real race but I'm not going to taper for it and my training hasn't been geared towards it.  I entered mostly because it sounded like fun but it'll make a nice hard training day as well.  My strategy for sprints is to go all out for the whole thing, nothing too complicated there.  Fueling strategy is simple too, a water bottle on the bike and that's about it, probably won't bother with food.  I'm hoping to finish in 1 hour 15 mins. or so.  I'm not sure how hilly the bike is or how my running will hold up so this could be an ambitious prediction but that's what I'll shoot for.  I went to masters today to see how my swim pace is holding up and I managed 1:36-1:38 with no drafting and lots of rest in between for the very few 100's we did so the 1:50/100 yards pace group I signed up for for 525 yards sounds about right though I'll confess I have no idea what that pace feels like.  My plan is to draft off the person in front of me in my lane as long as they aren't going too slow.  I'm most looking forward to the bike, I love hills.  Whee ha, should be a fun race.

Swim:  8286 yards/3 hour, 17 mins. (both swims at the Rez)

Mountain bike:  21.98 miles/3 hours, 38 minutes

Run:  6.9 miles/1 hour, 43 mins. (6 min. run/1 min. walk)

Hike:  1 hour, 2 miles (approx.) steep uphill hiking at approx. 10,000 feet

Total training time: 9 hours, 38 mins. (8 hours, 38 mins. without the hike)

116.1 lbs! (-1.4 lbs. from last week, I'll shoot for 114 for my race in 3 weeks)

Week in Training

Lots of running this week, almost triple what I've been doing and I feel fine with it.  One workout short of both swimming and biking but it was worth it to bring up the running numbers.  The long brick (bike then run) on Saturday was encouraging, was pushing it on the mountain bike climbs and ran about 12 minutes straight before remembering I was on a 4 min. run/1 min. walk regime.  Didn't quite stick to that for that run, was more like 6 min. run after I remembered to walk.  Took 2 rest days, one that I needed and one that I didn't plan but that felt awfully good.  Was starting on a bike ride yesterday and I hadn't even made it past my house when it started thundering.  I don't mess around with thunder so a rest day it was.  Added another rep. to my LT bike workout, I'm up to 5 reps. of 5 min. at LT.  Finally got my heart rate up to 150 for the last rep. so maybe my LT rate is really that high and not around 145.  Ah well, it's close enough. 

Went to masters at the Rec. Center today to get in a skills/drills workout.  Don't want to get sloppy with my form with all the open water swimming and also wanted to be sure I get in that 3rd workout this week.  Swimming is sort of arguably the least important of all the 3 disciplines in triathlon, even more so for the off road tri's, but I like to swim and I'm trying to get faster even if the effort is hardly worth the small gain in overall time.  I'm also a little concerned about the pool swim for my little sprint tri.  It's only 525 yards which is barely a warm-up for me but I found out I'll be with 3 other people in a lane and the race director wanted a fairly accurate estimate of swim time so we're not lapping each other.  I put in for a pace of 1:50/100 yards which seemed reasonable given that I've been swimming 1:36-1:43 for 100 yard intervals during masters but in open water tri's I usually end up with a pace of 2:00-2:10 min./100 yards so I don't know.  Who knows how accurately the other people in  my lane will rank themselves and will I be able to draft?  That makes a big difference.  Anyway I wanted to check my pace at masters and I think I'll be o.k.  I found out the hard way that my watch isn't waterproof so I can't time myself for my Rez swims so I haven't been monitoring my pace.

Also checked out the scale when I was at the Rec. Center and I'm down into the 117's which is near where I was hoping for.  Would be good to be down around 114 for racing but that may be unrealistic to shoot for for 3 weeks from now.  I saw a study somewhere showing that more than a 200 calorie deficit per day has a negative impact on training.  Some days I can't help having a much higher deficit but I usually make it up somewhat on rest days.  In any case I'm eating lots of good stuff these days with all the wonderful fresh summer veggies and fruit hitting the stores so I suppose I'll be happy enough to get down to 116 by my early August race.

Swim:  4800 yards/1 hour, 40 mins. (both swims at the Rez)

Mountain bike:  17.28 miles/2 hours, 58 minutes

Run:  14.56 miles/3 hour, 27 mins. (4 min. run/1 min. walk)

Total training time: 8 hours, 5 mins.

117.5 lbs (-1.5 lbs. from 2 weeks ago)

Week in Training

Kind of a disastrous training week.  I had some kind of stomach bug on Weds. and Thurs. and there was no way any training was going to happen.  I was sad to miss Thursday's Rez swim and I briefly considered giving it a go but in the end I decided that being in the middle of a lake in a wetsuit and having an attack of G.I. distress was not a good plan for anybody.  Then there was an agility trial on Sunday so I lost 3 days of training.  I suppose 6 hours isn't bad for 4 days but still.

Swimming is motoring along.  I wish I could figure out how to be faster in the open water.  I've been experimenting with breathing patterns, ie 4 breathes to my good side then 2 to my bad, etc.  My conclusion so far is that the alternate breathing feels faster but even with breathing several times to one side I'm still more out of breath but even worse is that breathing to my off side causes me to swim way off course because I'm still so uncoordinated on that side.  I'm going to keep practicing it though.  I'm determined to be able to learn to breathe on both sides.  But I'm not going to do it in races until I'm competent at it in practice.

Not much biking this week and I was still guarding the hamstring on the ride I did do.  Running continues to get better.  Hamstring still a little sore but continues to improve.

Swim:  6400 yards/2 hour, 45 mins.

Mountain bike:  10 miles/2 hours

Run:  5.0 miles/1 hour, 13 mins. (4 min. run/1 min. walk)

Total training time: 5 hours, 58 mins.